book

Game Development Patterns with Unreal Engine 5

by Stuart Butler, Tom Oliver

January 2024

Intermediate to advanced

254 pages

6h 13m

English

Packt Publishing

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ForewordContributorsAbout the authorsAbout the reviewer
Who this book is forWhat this book coversTo get the most out of this bookDownload the example code filesConventions usedGet in touchShare Your ThoughtsOnce you’ve read Game Development Patterns with Unreal Engine 5, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Please click here to go straight to the Amazon review page for this book and share your feedback.Download a free PDF copy of this book
Technical requirementsIntroducing Unreal Engine 5Installing Unreal Engine 5 and preparing your development environmentThe “Fuzzy” layer – bridging the gap from C++ to BlueprintProperty SpecifiersFunction SpecifiersUseful inheritanceTranslating back from Blueprint to C++Worked exampleSummaryQuestionsAnswers
Technical requirementsS.O.L.I.D. principlesSingle responsibilityOpen-closedLiskov substitutionInterface segregationDependency inversionExploring solutions to common problemsThe moving box problemThe rotating box problemThe cascading cast chain problemThe trade-offSummary
Technical requirementsDouble bufferFlyweightSpatial partitioningIntroducing World PartitionUnderstanding when objects are loadedEnsuring actors are loaded when requiredEnabling World Partition on an existing levelSummary
Technical requirementsUnderstanding and creating componentsApplying the update method for prototyping gameplayWorking with behavior treesCreating the AI controllerCreating the Blackboard assetBuilding the behavior treeSummary
Technical requirementsBefore we beginA world that ticksA clock that stopsEvent driven systemsSummary
Technical requirementsInterfacing communication across classes in UE5Blueprint interfacesInterface events versus functionsInterfaces in C++Building an example interface communicationImplementing event delegate communication across UE5Event delegates in BlueprintEvent delegates in C++Building a useful delegate toolSummary

Technical requirementsUsing UML to plan a sample hierarchyWhat are the types of class relations?What is a sequence diagram?Decoupling the reference trainModularity and decouplingEstablishing infrastructureImplementing decoupled design in an exampleBenefits of decouplingSummary
Technical requirementsImplementing a Singleton pattern – understanding why it’s a Pandora’s boxImplementing the Command pattern for different use casesCommand pattern for undo functionality in Blueprint UtilitiesCommand pattern for gameplay in C++Creating the many levels of a state machineExploring animation state machinesEnum/switch implementationStatic versus instanced statesConcurrent state machinesHierarchical state machinesPushdown automataSummary
Technical requirementsExploring the template patternBuilding the template (parent class)Creating child classesTemplate pistolTemplate shotgunUnderstanding subclass sandboxBuilding the sandbox (parent class)Creating child classesSandbox pistolSandbox shotgunType object patternVariantsData TablesData AssetsSummary
Technical requirementsUsing dirty flags to reduce unnecessary processingApplication of dirty flagsHow data locality affects code efficiencyHot/cold splittingContiguous arraysObject pooling our resources to save time laterImplementing object poolingMaking an object poolSummary
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Content preview from Game Development Patterns with Unreal Engine 5

10 Optimization through Patterns

In this last chapter, we are going to discuss the last thing we should think about before releasing our games: optimization. Optimization patterns are designed to leave our code functioning as it was before but in a faster, more elegant way that impacts our hardware less. This chapter is quite wordy, but the underlying principles that guide these patterns require a certain understanding of how the hardware resources at our disposal work. By the end, we will have covered everything from how to help the CPU do its job better to making a system you can plug into any game to make it potentially faster at runtime.

The patterns making this possible are the following: