A step-by-step guide that paves the way for developing fantastic games with Unreal Engine 4
Key Features
- Learn about game development and the building blocks that go into creating a game
- A simple tutorial for beginners to get acquainted with the Unreal Engine architecture
- Learn about the features and functionalities of Unreal Engine 4 and how to use them to create your own games
Book Description
Unreal Engine 4 is a powerful game development engine that provides rich functionalities to create 2D and 3D games across multiple platforms. Many people know what a game is and they play games every day, but how many of them know how to create a game? Unreal Engine technology powers hundreds of games, and thousands of individuals have built careers and companies around skills developed using this engine.
Learning Unreal Engine 4 Game Development starts with small, simple game ideas and playable projects that you can actually finish. The book first teaches you the basics of using Unreal Engine to create a simple game level. Then, you'll learn how to add details such as actors, animation, effects, and so on to the game. The complexity will increase over the chapters and the examples chosen will help you learn a wide variety of game development techniques. This book aims to equip you with the confidence and skills to design and build your own games using Unreal Engine 4. By the end of this book, you'll have learnt about the entire Unreal suite and know how to successfully create fun, simple games.
What you will learn
- Learn what a game engine is, the history of Unreal Engine, and how game studios create games
- Explore the Unreal Engine 4 editor controls and learn how to use the editor to create a room in a game level
- Understand the basic structures of objects in a game, such as the differences between BSP and static meshes
- Make objects interactive using level blueprints
- Learn more about computer graphics rendering; how materials and light are rendered in your game
- Get acquainted with the Material Editor to create materials and use different types of lights in the game levels
- Utilize the various editors, tools, and features such as UI, the particle system, audio, terrain manipulation, and cinematics in Unreal Engine 4 to create game levels
Joanna has more than 8 years of experience in game development. She has produced, designed and programmed games. She first started working with Unreal's game engine in 2005 and is very excited to be able to author a book about the newest Unreal Engine 4. She has also worked with many other engines and also reviewed books and videos on Cry Engine 4. I would like to thank my parents and sister for their constant support in my game development journey and my brother, Jerome, who first drew me into the world of gaming. I also want to thank all my ex-colleagues and managers for their patience in teaching me about developing games and making each work day a pleasure. I would like to thank my family, especially Miya, Katsumoto and Daniel, for allowing me to take time away from them to write this book. Also, not forgetting the amazing team at Packt Publishing, especially Subho and Arwa, who have made this book possible and guiding me through the publishing process.
