Unreal Engine 4 is a cutting-edge game development engine that has revolutionized the way developers pay for engine licenses. Instead of forking out millions of dollars to access this first class engine, developers can use it completely free of charge, until they find themselves with a profitable product on their hands.
Unreal Engine 4 provides a rich AAA development toolset with cutting-edge technical features to anyone who is keen to develop great games. The engine has been developed in C++, and not only are we able to leverage the power of C++ for our projects, but we also have access to the entire engine source! This book will start you on your journey toward mastering UE4's toolset and becoming a proficient C++ UE4 developer!
Chapter 1, Introduction to Unreal Engine 4, takes you through the installation of UE4, creating new UE4 projects, and an introductory overview of the main engine editor.
Chapter 2, Blueprints and Barrels – Your First Game, introduces you to the world of Blueprint Visual Scripting. You will leverage the Blueprint system of UE4 to create your first UE4 game project, called Barrel Hopper.
Chapter 3, Advanced Blueprint, Animation, and Sound, covers some of the more advanced Blueprint concepts, and it also concludes the development of the Barrel Hopper project by showing you how to include animation and sound in your projects.
Chapter 4, Unreal Engine, C++, and You, introduces you to the concepts and syntax that will be encountered when working with C++ and Unreal Engine 4.
Chapter 5, Upgrade Activated – Making Bounty Dash with C++, will expand on your knowledge of C++ with UE4, by taking you through the development of a purely C++ implemented game project!
Chapter 6, Power Ups for Your Character, Power Ups for the User, guides you in creating a UE4 C++ plugin, and it also introduces you to some advanced UE4 C++ concepts. This chapter concludes the development of Bounty Dash!
Chapter 7, Boss Mode Activated – Unreal Robots, will introduce you to UE4's extensive AI toolset by taking you through the creation of the Boss Mode game project.
Chapter 8, Advanced AI and Unreal Rendering, covers some of the advanced concepts of UE4's AI system; it will also introduce you to UE4's material editor and rendering system!
Chapter 9, Creating a Networked Shooter, breaks down and explains all the networking systems included in UE4. This chapter will have you create your own networked First Person Shooter, which you will be able to play over LAN with your friends.
Chapter 10, Goodbyes and Thank yous, will show you how to package your project for distribution and testing, and it also covers a brief summary of what has been learned before concluding the book!
Processor: Quad-core Intel or AMD, 2.5 GHz or faster
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Video Card: DirectX 11 compatible graphics card Unreal Engine 4.10.*
Unreal Engine by Example was written for keen developers who wished to learn how to fully utilize Unreal Engine 4 to make awesome and engrossing game titles. Whether you are brand new to game development or a seasoned expert, you will be able to make use of this engine with C++. Experience in both C++ and other game engines is preferred before embarking on the Unreal by Example journey; but with a little external research into the basics of C++ programming, this book can make a complete game development novice into an Unreal Engine developer!
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