Unreal Engine 4 Game Development Quick Start Guide

Learn how to use Unreal Engine 4 by building 3D and multiplayer games using Blueprints

Key Features

• Learn the fundamentals of Unreal Engine such as project templates, Blueprints, and C++
• Use replication to create multiplayer games
• Build dynamic game elements using Animation Blueprints and behaviour trees

Book Description

Unreal Engine is a popular game engine used by developers for building high-end 2D and 3D games. This book is a practical guide designed to help you get started with Unreal Engine 4 and confidently develop interactive games.

You’ll begin with a quick introduction to the Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) ecosystem. Next, you’ll learn how to create Blueprints and C++ code to define your game’s functionality. As you progress, you’ll cover the core systems of UE4 such as Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG), Animation Blueprints, and behaviour trees to further build on your game development knowledge. The concluding chapters will then help you learn how to use replication to create multiplayer games.

By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with UE4 and have developed the skills you need to use the framework for developing and deploying robust and intuitive games.

What you will learn

• Learn how to use project templates for your games
• Create custom Blueprints and C++ classes and extend from Epic’s base classes
• Use Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG) to create menus and Heads-up Displays (HUDs) for your game
• Develop more dynamic characters using Animation Blueprints
• Understand how to create complex AI with behavior trees
• Optimize, test, and deploy a UE4 project

Who this book is for

You will find this book useful if you already have some game development experience or are a Unity user who wants to get started with UE4. Knowledge of basic object-oriented programming topics such as variables, functions, and classes is assumed.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Unreal Engine 4
2. Programming Using Blueprints
3. Adding C++ to a Blueprint Project
4. Creating HUDs and Menus Using UMG
5. Animation Blueprints
6. AI with Behavior Tree and Blackboard
7. Multiplayer Games
8. Optimization, Testing, and Packaging