In Episode 01 of my Ultra Modular Interaction + Inventory System series, I’m starting from a completely fresh UE 5.4 third-person template and showing how I like to conceptualize these “embedded in the fabric of your game” systems. The whole point is to build a generic, scalable framework that you can migrate into any future project, instead of customizing one project’s inventory until it becomes unusable anywhere else. I’m aiming for something that can handle basic pickup interactions now, but also expand into UI popups, different interaction outcomes, and eventually the systems you’d need for a full game. In this video I set up a clean folder structure, import free Kenney Food Kit meshes/icons for testing, and then lean hard into Gameplay Tags as the backbone (hierarchical tags like Item.Consumable.Food.Mushroom). I build a Primary Data Asset pipeline for item definitions, a Data Table that maps item tags to those assets, and a Blueprint Function Library function to fetch item data by tag—so we keep a single source of truth instead of duplicating item variables across UI, actors, and components. From there I wire up test item blueprints to auto-assign meshes in the construction script, add a reusable “update item physics” function, and start laying the foundation with an Item Container Component and an Interaction Manager Component on the character.