Team Manager

Updated May 25, 2026

The Team Manager provides team creation, team assignment, balancing, lobby team persistence, AI team handling, team colors, free-for-all support, and integration with Player Manager, Score Manager, Session Manager, and Game Mode System.

Player Manager is required. Set up Player Manager first, then Team Manager. Team Manager binds to Player Manager join, leave, and rejoin events so it can assign players, remove players, and restore teams reliably. For shared setup guidance, see the Migration Guide and Integration Guide. Use the System Atlas to look up functions, variables, events, components, and ownership references.

System Role

The Team Manager is the central authority for team structure. It creates teams, assigns players, tracks members, balances teams, supports team switching, and persists lobby teams into gameplay.

System	Relationship to Team Manager
Player Manager	Required. Provides player join, leave, and rejoin events plus connected player data.
Score Manager	Optional. Uses Team Manager data for team scores and team member lists. Score Manager owns score tracking.
Game Mode System	Optional. Uses teams for Team Deathmatch, Domination, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, team spawning, and win conditions.
Session Manager	Optional. Supports lobby team selection and persistence from lobby to gameplay through Game Instance storage.

Recommended GameState component order from the source document:

AC_SessionManager
AC_GS_ScoreManager if used
AC_GS_TeamManager
AC_PlayerManager

AC_GS_TeamManager should be above Player Manager so it can bind to Player Manager events.

Core Components

AC_GS_TeamManager

AC_GS_TeamManager lives on the GameState and manages global team state on the server. It creates teams, deletes teams, assigns and removes players, balances teams, assigns AI, removes AI when real players join, saves/restores lobby teams, and broadcasts team change events.

Setting	Purpose
Maximum Teams	Maximum number of teams allowed.
Amount of Teams to Create Initially	Number of teams created on level load. If 0, teams can be created on demand.
Automatically Assign New Players to Team	Assign players when they join. If false, players require manual team selection.
Maximum Team Members	Maximum members per team, such as 4 for squads or 8 for team games.
Maximum Team Balance Difference	Maximum player-count difference allowed during auto-assignment.
Balance Teams	Balance teams during assignment instead of filling teams in order.
Add All Players to One Team	Free-for-all mode structure: one team contains all players.
Allow Friendly Fire	Allows same-team damage. Required for free-for-all behavior when all players are in one team.
Own Team Color	Color used for the player’s own team in UI, outlines, or indicators.
Opposite Team Color	Color used for enemy teams in UI, outlines, or indicators.

AC_PS_Team

AC_PS_Team lives on the PlayerController. It stores the player’s replicated TeamIndex, supports team switch requests through server RPC, and gives quick access to the player’s current team without looping through all teams.

TeamIndex 0: Team A.
TeamIndex 1: Team B.
TeamIndex 2+: additional teams.
TeamIndex -1: not assigned.

Team Data

F_Team_Info

F_Team_Info is the team data structure used by Team Manager.

Field	Purpose
Team Name	Human-readable name such as Team A, Team B, Red Team, Blue Team, or Alpha Squad.
Team Tag	Gameplay tag identifier such as Team.0, Team.1, Team.2, Team.3, Team.4, or custom tags such as Team.Custom.Red.
Members	Array of player names from PlayerState/GetPlayerName, including AI names if AI is assigned to teams.

Teams can be identified by index, tag, or name. Use index for fast access, gameplay tags for filtering or game logic, and names for UI display.

Team Creation and Assignment

Teams can be created initially, on demand, or manually.

Initial creation: create a configured number of teams on level load.
On-demand creation: create the first needed team when players join and no teams exist.
Manual creation: create teams from gameplay code, interaction pads, or custom UI.

When a player joins, Team Manager receives the Player Manager join event. If auto-assignment is enabled, it assigns the player to a valid team. If balancing is enabled, it chooses a team that keeps the member count within the configured balance difference. If auto-assignment is disabled, the player remains unassigned until a manual selection happens.

Team-Based and Free-for-All Modes

Mode	Configuration	Behavior
Team-based	Amount of Teams to Create Initially: 2+; Add All Players to One Team: False.	Players are distributed across teams for Team Deathmatch, Domination, Capture the Flag, and Search and Destroy.
Free For All	Add All Players to One Team: True; Allow Friendly Fire: True.	All players are structurally in one team for scoreboard/system support, but can damage each other and use individual win logic.
Battle Royale squads	Multiple teams with Maximum Team Members commonly set to squad size.	Players are grouped into squads while game mode logic handles survival/winner rules.

Balancing and Capacity

Maximum Team Members prevents a team from exceeding its capacity. Maximum Teams caps how many teams can exist. Maximum Team Balance Difference controls how far apart team sizes can drift during auto-assignment.

Balancing only applies to auto-assignment. Manual team switching or manual assignment can be validated by server-side logic and custom UI rules.

If Balance Teams is true, players are assigned to the team with fewer members where possible.
If Balance Teams is false, teams can be filled in order.
Force Rebalance can redistribute players when teams are already uneven.
If all teams are full, OnPlayerJoinedButFullTeams can notify gameplay or UI logic.

AI Handling

Team Manager can assign AI to teams and remove AI when real players join. This supports modes that fill empty slots with AI while still allowing real players to replace AI later.

A player joins.
The manager checks whether teams are full with AI members.
If needed, one AI is removed from a team.
The real player is assigned to that team.
Total team capacity stays valid.

Lobby Team Persistence

Lobby team selection can persist into gameplay through Game Instance storage.

Players select teams in the lobby.
Team data is saved to Game Instance.
The gameplay level loads.
Team Manager restores team assignments from Game Instance.
Assignments can persist across multiple games in a playlist.

Team Switching

Players can switch teams during lobby or gameplay if the mode allows it. Interaction Pads in the example level demonstrate manual selection, and custom UI can provide the same behavior through AC_PS_Team and server validation.

Server validation should check whether switching is allowed, whether the target team exists, whether it has capacity, and whether the switch violates balance rules.

Events

Event	Use
OnTeamInfoChanged	Broadcast when team membership or team information changes. Use it to refresh UI, scoreboard, spawn logic, or game mode logic.
OnPlayerJoinedButFullTeams	Broadcast when a player joins but no team slot is available. Use it to show UI feedback, trigger AI replacement, or handle fallback logic.

Integration Notes

Player Manager: Team Manager binds to join, dropped, and rejoined events. It uses the connected player list and restores team state where possible.
Score Manager: Team Manager provides team membership and team structure; Score Manager tracks actual scores.
Game Mode System: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, and similar modes use team assignments for win checks, spawning, scoring, and objectives.
Session Manager: Lobby team selection can be stored and restored across travel and playlist games.

Common Configurations

Use case	Typical settings
Team Deathmatch	2 initial teams, auto-assign true, balance true, max balance difference 1, max members based on player count.
Free For All	Add All Players to One Team true, Allow Friendly Fire true, individual scoring handled by game mode.
Battle Royale Squads	Multiple teams, Maximum Team Members set to squad size, balancing enabled as needed.
Lobby Team Selection	Auto-assignment optional, manual switching enabled, teams saved to Game Instance and restored in gameplay.

Workflows

Set Up Team Manager

Set up Player Manager first.
Add AC_GS_TeamManager to the GameState above AC_PlayerManager.
Add AC_PS_Team to the PlayerController.
Configure maximum teams, initial teams, maximum members, balancing, auto-assignment, colors, and FFA settings as needed.
Run a multiplayer test and verify player join, assignment, leave, rejoin, and UI updates.

Create Custom Teams

Define custom team tags, such as Team.Custom.Red, Team.Custom.Blue, Team.Custom.Green, or Team.Custom.Yellow.
Create teams manually with the desired name and tag.
Assign players automatically or through manual UI.
Validate team capacity and balance rules on the server.

Implement Team Selection UI

Create a team selection widget such as BP_TeamSelection.
Populate the team list from Team Manager data.
Add join buttons for each available team.
Call the server-side team switch flow through the player team component.
Refresh the UI when OnTeamInfoChanged fires.

Summary

AC_GS_TeamManager owns team structure and server-side assignment. AC_PS_Team stores each player’s replicated team index and supports player-side team switching. Player Manager is required for join/leave/rejoin events, while Score Manager, Session Manager, and Game Mode System consume team data for scoring, lobby persistence, team-based gameplay, and win conditions.