Unreal Engine Game Development Blueprints

Key Features

• 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

Book Description

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.

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

About the Author

Nicola Valcasara is a freelance game developer and cofounder of Deuxality Games Ltd. He is an expert programmer, specializing in mobile development, with a strong passion for games and technology. He started to work in the game industry in 2012, after winning the first prize at the Microsoft Rapid2D competition for young developers.

He has also been a reviewer of Unreal Engine Android Game Development, Packt Publishing.

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started with Unreal Blueprints
2. Tic-Tac-Toe
3. C++ Code – PAC-MAN
4. UFO Run - Play with the Environment Effects
5. Top-Down Shooter
6. A Platform Maze
7. An Open World Survival Game