Not patch notes. Each entry starts with the real Wheelchair Rugby League reason for a mechanic, then follows it into gameplay, player attributes and the Unreal Engine 5 implementation.
In-game footage — basic chair movement, current pre-alpha build
Everything starts with moving the chair. Wheelchair Rugby League should not feel like a standing character with wheels underneath them: acceleration, momentum, steering and grip all need to shape how a player approaches space, pressure and contact.
Normal movement builds speed rather than snapping instantly to a fixed value. Steering works alongside momentum, while custom grip behaviour keeps the chair responsive without allowing it to slide sideways unrealistically through every turn.
Speed and Acceleration are part of the player data rather than one universal movement setup. That gives the foundation for quick players, powerful starters and slower players to feel different before any special traits are added.
The movement system is Blueprint-led. Early tuning included acceleration curves, momentum, braking behaviour, tyre grip, controller input and push-animation response. Custom lateral-friction work was added specifically to remove the unwanted sideways sliding that appeared in early builds.
Once normal chair movement felt dependable, the next step was giving the player another gear: sprinting. The goal was to add a meaningful burst of pace without replacing the underlying movement model.
In-game footage — sprint and recovery, current pre-alpha build
Players do not move at one permanent pace. Bursts of speed matter when attacking space, chasing a break or recovering into defence, so sprinting needs to feel like an extension of chair movement rather than a simple on/off speed cheat.
Sprint input raises the player's available pace and push intensity while keeping the same acceleration, steering and momentum foundations underneath it. Returning to normal movement should feel continuous rather than switching to a completely different movement mode.
Sprinting and recovery behaviour are pulled from the player's stats rather than being identical for everybody. Normal Speed and Acceleration still define the base player, while the relevant sprint and Recovery data can change the burst and how quickly that player is ready to go again.
The sprint system was built on top of the existing Blueprint movement logic so it continues to respect acceleration and chair handling. Push animation rate also follows the change in pace, helping the visual effort match the movement rather than leaving sprint as a hidden numerical boost.
With normal movement and sprinting established, body position became the next layer. Leaning could then affect what the chair does during a sprint or turn instead of being developed in isolation.
In-game footage — upper-body lean range, current pre-alpha build
A player is not fixed upright in a sports wheelchair. Body position changes reach, balance, space and how difficult a shoulder tag is to access. Leaning therefore needs to be part of the player's decisions, not simply an animation layered over movement.
Lean mode gives the right stick direct control over upper-body position. The player can move the torso directionally while driving, making leaning a deliberate gameplay input that can be combined with steering and sprinting.
Agility controls maximum sideways lean. The current mapping runs from roughly 6° at very low Agility to around 22° at maximum Agility, giving players genuinely different functional movement ranges.
The system is being built primarily in Blueprints and reads player data directly. The important design rule is that ratings should connect to behaviour rather than live only on a roster screen.
Lean position feeds naturally into stability and, later, physical tag accessibility. The intended tackle model can consider shoulder-tag world position, defender reach, angle, attacker lean and contact state rather than applying a generic tackle-resistance bonus.
In-game footage — leaning affecting chair handling, current pre-alpha build
Body position in a sports wheelchair is part of driving. The same player can make a different turn or create a different burst of speed depending on how committed their body position is.
Forward lean during sprinting can provide a small speed advantage. Leaning into the direction of a turn increases rotation, allowing more aggressive committed turns and making the chair feel less like a character controller on wheels.
Because Agility controls the available lean range, agile players have more body-position range to exploit. The benefit therefore emerges from the same underlying player attribute rather than from a separate invisible bonus.
Current tuning reaches about 5% maximum forward-lean sprint boost and roughly 40% lean-assisted turn boost. Analogue diagonal input was also corrected so controller movement remains consistent through mixed steering inputs.
The performance benefit comes with risk. The same lean direction used to attack a corner will feed the stability model, so good body position should help a player hold the chair while poor positioning can move them closer to tipping.
In-game footage — chair tipping, current pre-alpha build
Fast turns, poor body position and contact all affect chair stability. If the game is going to capture the physical decisions of WRL, tipping cannot just be a random physics accident.
Speed, steering input and lean direction combine into a stability calculation. Leaning into a turn helps maintain control. Leaning away from it reduces stability and increases the chance of the chair going into a tip.
Agility determines how much a player can tip before losing control. A player with low Agility has a narrower margin before the chair goes over, while a highly agile player can sustain a tip longer and recover from positions that would drop a less agile player.
The system is Blueprint-led and reads directly from player stats. The transition is designed to be readable: the chair enters a tipped state first, giving the player a window to recover before a full fall is committed.
From here, players will have an active window to fight the fall — a save attempt that can pull the chair back before it fully commits. Whether that save works depends on how long the chair has been tipping and how agile the player is. Otherwise, down they go!
A tip in real Wheelchair Rugby League does not always end in a fall. Players fight to stay upright — pushing back, shifting weight, reading the chair. That moment of recovery needs to exist in the game as a genuine skill decision, not a passive animation.
Once the chair enters a tipped state, time matters. A player who reacts quickly and inputs the correct recovery has a window to save the tip before the chair commits to going over. Leave it too long — or not react at all — and the fall happens.
Agility directly controls how much a player can tip before the save window closes. A high-Agility player can be in a tipped state longer and still recover. A low-Agility player has a much smaller window — the same tip that is recoverable for one player is a fall for another.
The fall state itself will be driven by agility threshold and time-in-tip rather than a single fixed point. The save mechanic requires a deliberate player input during the danger window — the goal is that it feels earned rather than automatic, and punishing when missed.
Once the fall and save are stable, contact becomes the next input into the system. A collision adding instability while a player is already tipped should be able to close that recovery window — turning a near-miss into a tackle outcome.
Tags, defender reach, chair contact, tipping, big-wheel defence and the restart that follows.
How left/right passing respects the defining WRL rule, then evolves into tap/hold power and teammate targeting.
Why tries require a player input in-goal, how Home/Away zones work, and how scoring connects to match state.
Speed, Agility, Handling, Tackling, Aggression, Passing, Kicking, Recovery and the move toward individual traits.
Roster loading, AI, switching, control modes and making a full team feel coherent rather than ten separate characters.
Venues, kits, crowds, officials, camera language, replays and the broadcast identity that will sit on top of the gameplay.