---
title: Intended workflow
product: Advanced Framework Pro
version: 1.0
engine: Unreal Engine 5.8
updated: 2026-10-05
canonical: https://docs.human-codeable.com/guides/workflow.html
---

# Intended workflow

How the framework expects you to work. Following this keeps your project updatable when a new framework version ships.

## The golden rule

**Never edit the framework plugins.** Everything you build lives in your project's own content and subclasses or references the framework. This is what lets you drop in a new version without merging.

## The normal build order

1. **Set up the level.** Create the `PDA_Level`, the map and the `BP_MapInfo` actor. Get the right pawn spawning before anything else — most confusing early problems are the wrong pawn.
2. **Subclass the pawns.** Derive from the showroom pawns and add the abilities your project needs. Remove the ones it does not.
3. **Build interactables.** Add interaction components to your actors. Start with the simplest capability that works, then add conditions.
4. **Add UI last.** The UI system binds to state; build the state first and the UI has something to bind to.

## Where things belong

| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Your interactable actors | Project content, subclassing nothing framework-specific |
| Your pawns | Project content, subclassing the showroom pawns |
| Your themes | Project content, new `BP_PDA_Theme` assets |
| Your settings | Project content, subclassing `BP_Value_Settings_*` |
| Your widgets | Project content, deriving from `WBP_Base` |
| Your levels | Project content, with a `PDA_Level` each |

## Iteration tips

Tip

Set **Pawn Select** to Force Desktop on a working copy of your level data asset while iterating. Launching VR preview for every change is the single biggest time sink in VR development.

Tip

The example maps are the fastest reference. When something is not behaving, open the example map for that feature and compare component settings — the difference is usually one property.