RhythmGameplayPlugin — User Guide

The Rhythm Gameplay Plugin is a Unreal Engine plugin designed to help developers build rhythm-based mechanics quickly. It combines music playback, beat & melody detection (via LoudnessNRT), and note spawning logic into a single workflow.

With this plugin you can:

• Import any song and automatically detect beats/melodies.

• Spawn notes in sync with music, using flexible track configurations.

• Adjust difficulty dynamically through density control and event filtering.

• Choose between moving or static note styles to match different gameplay genres.

1. Getting Started

1. Enable the Plugin

   • Place the plugin into your project’s Plugins folder.

   • Enable it in Edit → Plugins inside Unreal Engine.

2. Add NoteSpawnManager

   • In your level, place an BP_NoteSpawnManager (derived from ANoteSpawnManager).

   • This actor controls audio playback, beat/melody detection, and note spawning.

3. Add songs
   • Import Audio:  Import your music file (e.g. .mp3 or .wav) into the Content Browser.
   • Create LoudnessNRT Assets:  Following Epic’s documentation on Audio Synesthesia → LoudnessNRT, create two LoudnessNRT assets for each song. One for Beat analysis. One for Melody analysis.
   • Configure Song List:  Open your SongData Asset (e.g. DA_SongList), and add a new entry for your song.
4. Assign Required Assets

• Song Data Asset (DA_SongList) – contains your audio files and LoudnessNRT analysis.

• Note Visual Asset (DA_NoteVisualSetting) – defines meshes/materials for each note type.

2.  Music Playback and Difficulty Settings

• Use the following functions in Blueprint or C++:

• StartMusic() – starts playback and enables beat/melody detection.

• PauseMusic() – pauses playback and stops detection.

• ResumeMusic() – resumes playback and detection.

Difficulty settings

• Easy → fewer notes .
• Normal → balanced.
• Hard → dense.

3. Detection

• Beat Threshold → sensitivity (low = more notes).

• Beat Spawn Rate → cooldown between beats.

• Melody Threshold / Spawn Rate → same for melody.

• Offset → time correction (e.g. -0.08 = spawn 80ms earlier).

• Beat Tracks / Melody Tracks → which lanes spawn which notes.
• Z Positions → optional height offsets.
• Y Positions → lanes.
  

4. Spawning Modes

• Moving → notes move with DefaultMoveSpeed, optional target & lifespan.

• Static → spawn ahead of player; controlled by AheadDistance, PlayerMoveSpeed, NoteInteractionDelay

Disclaimer

The sample track included in the plugin folder (AIKA - Sakumellia) is provided for reference and testing only. It is not licensed for redistribution or commercial use. Please replace it with your own properly licensed music when developing your project.