I just picked up UE4 wanted to start to learn its C++ api. It seems that most of the tuts are videos. So I am looking for either a good series of tuts in textual format, or even better eBooks.
I have found a few books on UDK (which I’m assuming) is based on UE3. Is that an ok starting point? I know it is dated and many changes since, but is there plenty of overlap?
So far as I know, there are no C++ books dedicated to UE4.
I would suggest the following:
*Get a good background in C++ programming. Books by Stephen Prata (C++ Primer) for example should be a bonus.
*If you want to get game focused C++ training, I would recommend the game programming online courses from www.gameinstitute.com. (Disclaimer! I am not associated with this institute. Just took a few courses.)
*Another great resource is the book by Mr.Mike “Game Coding Complete, 4th Ed”. I refer to this book constantly:
http://www.amazon.com/Game-Coding-Complete-Fourth-McShaffry-ebook/dp/B00B7RE4GQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1415986840&sr=8-4&keywords=game+engine+architecture
*Before jumping head first into the UE4 rendering code, if you want a gentle intro to rendering, try Luna’s book “Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 11”
Luna has a website for the code examples. Be sure to compile, run and dissect the code. Needs a Visual Studio 2010 environment though.
*UE4 code uses a lot of patterns. Singletons, component patterns etc. The following is great resource:
http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/contents.html
You need to be really comfortable with C++ before you jump into UE4 code. Without offence, do you have any previous programming experience in C++?
Once you are at a comfortable level with C++ , you can take the C++ coding tutorial officially released by UE4. Go through the code and dissect it. There are other people on YouTube too, who have posted their UE4 C++ tuts.
Good luck.
If you missed this thread, here’s a great list of resources: Getting Started: C++ Gameplay Programming References