Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints

Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints

by Nicola Valcasara
Released December 2015
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781784397777

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Book description

Discover all the secrets of Unreal Engine and create seven fully functional games with the help of step-by-step instructions

About This Book

  • Understand what a Blueprint is and how to create a complex visual scripting code
  • Discover the infinite possibilities that Unreal Engine offers, and understand which tool to use, where and when
  • Learn to think like a real game developer in order to create enjoyable and bug-free games using this comprehensive and practical handbook

Who This Book Is For

This book is ideal for intermediate level developers who know how to use Unreal Engine and want to go through a series of projects that will further their expertise. Working knowledge of C++ is a must.

What You Will Learn

  • Write clean and reusable Blueprint scripts
  • Develop any kind of game you have in mind, following the rules used by experts
  • Move through Unreal Engine 4, always knowing what you are doing and where to find the right tool for your needs
  • Integrate C++ code into your projects using Visual Studio and the tools that Unreal provides
  • Extricate between classes, nodes, interfaces, macros, and functions
  • Work with different types of assets, from 3D objects to audio sources, from UI buttons to animations
  • Explore all the aspects of the game logic - collisions, navigation meshes, matinees, volumes, events, and states

In Detail

With the arrival of Unreal Engine 4, a new wonderful tool was born: Blueprint. This visual scripting tool allows even non-programmers to develop the logic for their games, allowing almost anyone to create entire games without the need to write a single line of code. The range of features you can access with Blueprint script is pretty extensive, making it one of the foremost choices for many game developers.

Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints helps you unleash the real power of Unreal by helping you to create engaging and spectacular games. It will explain all the aspects of developing a game, focusing on visual scripting, and giving you all the information you need to create your own games.

We start with an introductory chapter to help you move fluidly inside the Blueprint user interface, recognize its different components, and understand any already written Blueprint script. Following this, you will learn how to modify generated Blueprint classes to produce a single player tic-tac-toe game and personalize it.

Next, you will learn how to create simple user interfaces, and how to extend Blueprints through code. This will help you make an informed decision between choosing Blueprint or code. You will then see the real power of Unreal unleashed as you create a beautiful scene with moving, AI controlled objects, particles, and lights.

Then, you will learn how to create AI using a behavior tree and a global level Blueprint, how to modify the camera, and how to shoot custom bullets. Finally, you will create a complex game using Blueprintable components complete with a menu, power-up, dangerous objects, and different weapons.

Style and approach

This is an easy-to-follow guide full of practical game examples. Each chapter contains step-by-step instructions to build a complete game and each game uses a different tool in order to cover all the topics in a detailed and progressive manner.

Table of contents

  1. Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints
    1. Table of Contents
    2. Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints
    3. Credits
    4. About the Author
    5. About the Reviewer
    6. www.PacktPub.com
      1. Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more
        1. Why subscribe?
        2. Free access for Packt account holders
    7. Preface
      1. What this book covers
      2. What you need for this book
      3. Who this book is for
      4. Conventions
      5. Reader feedback
      6. Customer support
        1. Downloading the example code
        2. Downloading the color images of this book
        3. Errata
        4. Piracy
        5. Questions
    8. 1. Getting Started with Unreal Blueprints
      1. What is Blueprint?
      2. Types of Blueprints
        1. Level Blueprints
        2. Blueprint class
        3. Data-Only Blueprint
        4. Blueprint Interface
        5. Blueprint Macro Library
      3. Knowing the environment
        1. Creating a project
        2. Creating your first Blueprint class
          1. Menu bar
          2. Toolbar
          3. Viewport
          4. Component panel
          5. Detail panel
          6. My Blueprint panel
          7. Graph editor
        3. Types of variables and data
        4. Nodes
        5. Pins
        6. Blueprint debugging
          1. Blueprint debugger tab
          2. Compiler result
      4. Visual Studio
        1. Creating the project solution
        2. Add a new class from the editor
      5. Summary
    9. 2. Tic-Tac-Toe
      1. What do we need?
      2. Preparing the game
        1. Clean the unnecessary items and scripts
        2. The symbols – create the O and the X
        3. Creating a new material for the symbols
      3. Writing our Blueprints
        1. Turn-based mechanics
        2. Set Static Mesh via Blueprint
        3. Working with arrays
        4. Creating a macro
        5. UI using text render
        6. Custom events
        7. Format text
        8. Score
        9. Game flow
      4. Summary
    10. 3. C++ Code – PAC-MAN
      1. Preparing the game
        1. Creating the project
        2. Transparent materials
        3. The maze
          1. Designing the maze
          2. Applying a material to multiple surfaces
      2. The code
        1. Class Wizard
        2. Collectable
        3. Player character
          1. Movements
          2. Collisions
          3. Winning or losing the game
          4. Dead
          5. C++ class to Blueprint class
        4. Enemies
          1. Enemy Pawn
          2. Enemy AI
          3. Navigation mesh
        5. Game mode
        6. User Interface
        7. Collisions – custom presets and types
      3. Summary
    11. 4. UFO Run - Play with the Environment Effects
      1. Particle system
        1. Cascade
        2. Modules
        3. Emitters
        4. Level of detail
        5. The Cascade interface
      2. UMG
        1. Widget Blueprint
        2. HUD class
      3. The game
        1. Blocking volumes
        2. The menu camera
        3. Wizard Blueprint
        4. Import a custom font
        5. Buttons
        6. Click events
        7. Set the default camera
        8. HUD class
        9. Player controller class
        10. Start button
        11. In-game screen
        12. Property binding
        13. Switch user interface
      4. Collectables
        1. Materials
        2. Particle system
          1. Required
          2. Spawn
          3. LifeTime
          4. Initial size
          5. Initial velocity
          6. Color Over Life
          7. Size over life
          8. Cylinder
          9. Acceleration
        3. Blueprint script
      5. Spawn volume
        1. Components
        2. Random point function
        3. Actor reference
      6. Gameplay
        1. Prepare the needed references
        2. The player controller class
        3. StartGame
          1. The useFuel event
          2. Spawn Collectable function
          3. Update
          4. Collect Item
          5. The gameOver event
      7. Summary
    12. 5. Top-Down Shooter
      1. Animations
        1. Skeleton
        2. Persona
        3. Animation Sequence
          1. Additive animations
          2. Blending animation
        4. Animation poses
        5. Animation Blueprints
      2. The game
        1. Cleaning the unnecessary files
        2. Adjust the imported files
        3. Skeletal Mesh retarget
        4. Animations
          1. Aim Offset
          2. Blend Space
          3. Animation Blueprint – AnimGraph
          4. Animation Notifies
        5. Inputs
        6. Player movements
        7. Aim logic
          1. Rotate To Aim
          2. Set Aim angle
        8. Gate
        9. Start and stop shooting events
        10. Flip the player
        11. Weapon
          1. Socket
          2. Weapon Blueprint class
          3. Animation reloading
          4. Bullet
          5. Player character weapon slots
          6. Weapon collectables
          7. Mono-use weapon
        12. Spawner
          1. Custom component
        13. Animation Blueprint – EventGraph
        14. Enemies
          1. Pawn
          2. AI
        15. Game Mode
        16. User interface
      3. Summary
    13. 6. A Platform Maze
      1. Ragdoll physics
      2. Destructible meshes
      3. Physics constraint
      4. Matinee
        1. Curve Editor
        2. Track View
        3. Create a Matinee
      5. Fake platform corridor
      6. Blueprint Function Library
        1. Kill and respawn a player ragdoll
        2. Create and use a function library
      7. Door trigger volume
        1. Doors within Matinee
        2. Doors within Blueprint
      8. Killer objects
      9. The game
        1. Don't fall
        2. Rolling stones
        3. The falling path
        4. Wrecking balls
      10. Summary
    14. 7. An Open World Survival Game
      1. Landscapes
        1. Manage mode
        2. Sculpt mode
        3. Landscape material
        4. Paint tool
        5. Foliage
      2. Day-Night cycle
      3. Collectables and items
        1. Blueprint structures
        2. Superclasses
        3. Extending the superclass
        4. Crafting handler
        5. Implementing the Blueprint Interface
        6. Super item interaction
      4. Inventory system
        1. The inventory button
        2. The inventory craft button
        3. Main user interface
          1. Main setup and visibility
          2. Design the UI
          3. Prepare the cookbook
          4. Receipe button bindings
          5. Add objects to the inventory
          6. Remove and use items
          7. Drop item – character side
          8. Craft items logic
          9. Inventory button logic
          10. Item details and buttons
      5. Summary
    15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints
  • Author(s): Nicola Valcasara
  • Release date: December 2015
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781784397777