In this comprehensive course, Thiago Carneiro leads you through every step needed to build a 2.5D game in Unreal Engine 5.5.3. The course guides you through setting up a new project from scratch, teaching you how to organize your work effectively with proper naming conventions. You’ll learn to use the PaperZD workflow to create dynamic sprite animations and flipbooks for your characters, and then move on to constructing game logic with blueprint visual scripting. Key gameplay systems such as character setup, enemy behavior, combat mechanics, and health management are integrated through hands-on exercises. Finally, you’ll explore the use of cinematic level sequences and Niagara particle effects to add movement, atmosphere, and polish to your game. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your skills, this course offers a thorough roadmap from the basics of Unreal Engine to the nuances of 2.5D game development.
https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/courses/VGp/unreal-engine-unreal-essentials-a-roadmap-to-2-5d-indie-games
The link to the project files seems to be wrong, instead if downloads a subset of the videos used in the course.
yh bro same
Thank you for flagging this with us. The link has been updated with the correct file!
Thank you for sharing this course!
I’m currently evaluating it as a potential integrated learning resource for my college students, and I ran into a couple of early roadblocks that might affect accessibility for newer developers:
1. Missing Starter Content
The only downloadable content currently linked is the completed Game25D project. If students start with this, they’ll be bypassing much of the hands-on learning, as the project is already finished.
Around the 4-minute mark of the Project Setup: Character Setup video, there’s a noticeable disconnect between the tutorial and what’s included. The tutorial seems to assume we’re building things from scratch, but the provided project already has everything set up.
Recommendation:
Instead of (or in addition to) the completed project, it would be helpful to provide a starter content pack – just the source assets ready for import into a fresh Unreal project – so students can build along with the tutorial as intended.
2. Plugin Error on Launch
I wasn’t able to open the provided .uproject file as-is. On launch, I received a “plugin must be rebuilt” error for PaperZD, even though I had installed PaperZD into the Engine folder via Fab and the Epic Launcher, as shown in the tutorial.
Temporary Fix:
I resolved it by deleting the plugin folder inside the project directory, which forced Unreal to use the engine-wide version instead.
This is where I had to pause for now, but I’ll check back soon in case these issues get addressed. Thanks again for putting this together. It’s a great idea and one I’d like to share with my students, and I’m looking forward to seeing it evolve into an even more student-friendly resource!
This is great but I am not able to see the video!
Edit: After few minutes later realizing and coming back to this post…
Click tab selection in the left lol
I’ve been looking at this post almost every day, and I cannot wait to do this. I am currently finishing my final course and project in Coursera and haven’t had a chance to start this project yet. I will immediately start doing this after my current course is done.
I just wanted to thank Unreal Engine and the team involved in making this course. I cannot wait to start this and share my progress.
We need more of these kinds of courses please, in 3D games. (My selfish wish to Epic Games - RPGs, Puzzle, Stealth, Crafting/Survival)
I would pay money to learn if Epic Games were offering a serious step-by-step course on how to make games like the Zelda series, Tenchu from PS1, the Dark Souls series, Tomb Raider, Gothic, Elden Ring, Ghost of Tsushima… Hopefully someday!
Hey this looks like such a solid course—thanks for sharing! The part that jumps out to me is how they emphasize naming conventions early on. That’s one of those things that seems small but pays off big once your project scales. I’ve seen teams get tripped up by ambiguous asset names or folders getting out of hand.
How do you usually approach folder structuring and naming in your 2.5D setups? Curious if you follow something like the Epic folder template or do your own twist.
Yeah, that’s a key takeaway. We started standardizing naming using CHAR_ , ENV_ , and UI_ prefixes for everything, plus version tags like _v01 , _final , etc. But the real win came from embedding meta-tags right into asset descriptions—stuff like animation state notes or collision flags.
Problem is, most of that gets lost in the shuffle unless you’ve got a checklist baked into the pipeline. We tried spreadsheets but they age badly. Wondering if plugins can surface that kind of info inside the engine? Would be huge for avoiding logic drift over time.
When naming and structure aren’t nailed down early, every handoff becomes a potential failure point—especially with sprite-based setups where flipbooks and blueprints intersect constantly. Misnamed assets slow down integration, confuse teammates, and balloon your bug count.
And the longer your project goes, the harder it is to go back and fix—classic pipeline debt.
That’s exactly why Asset Optics Asset Optics – Next-Gen Asset Management | Fab supports embedded checklist validation and naming pattern enforcement. It was built during a 2.5D title that ran into those exact pain points.
If it sounds useful, here’s where to dive in: Getting Started Guide | Fab Listing. Keep your project sharp from day one.
Has anyone finished this course yet? I would love to see what you have made. I cannot wait to start this project but I have to finish my final course in Coursera by Epic Games first. I might need 1 more week to finish it, taking longer than I expected.
If you are a student like me and reading this, do not give up and don’t be scared to dm me or talk to me. We need to stick together and learn and show everyone in this community here that we mean business in a positive way lol, and we aren’t leaving or giving up just because the learning structure is a little bit closed off.
This video tutorial is a treasure chest for students like me. Thanks for making. We need more…
I have mixed feelings about this course.
While the project preparation part is very helpful, landscape module feel unnecessary, or at the very least introduced too early.
They are packed with tons of materials about landscaping, while we haven’t even setup the player character. Don’t get me wrong, it’s useful in itself, but I would expect this to happen later or at the end, considering how huge it is.
Another thing was the project, I was confused when Thiago started working on 2.5D project in Character Setup video. The provided project in “Before you start” is already a finished one with all things setup.
And now that I’ve decided to skip landscaping, as I’m more or less familiar with that, first thing that happens is completly new character.
I will watch the rest of videos, hopefully it gets less confusing and keeps the quality of early modules, but there’s certainly room for improvement.
@frost53 keep at it and don’t give up, I am so close to finishing my other course by Epic Games in coursera and then I will start this. May be it will be less confusing as you progress through each video like completing the quest in the game 
I cannot wait to start this project! Share some pic and videos when you can Frost, I am curious to see your world and thanks.
Day 1 (5.27.2025)- I am starting this course today. Thanks Epic Games for this course. I am already having trouble finding 5.5.3 version engine in my library which is what he is asking us to do right? Update : I decided to use 5.5.4 instead.
Day 2 (5.28.2025) - I am also so lost with folders and seeing all his folders in the video is also confusing. I dragged and dropped Asset Kit to my content manually. Am I supposed to do the same thing for Game25D file because that file seem to have everything including playable game. For newer student like myself that is confusing! If anyone is also doing this project please comment and explain me this step.
Update: I’ve decided to ignore every new file I see unless he is talking about it or doing something during each tutorial.
Day 3 (5/29/2025) - Landscape Experiment Time One of my favorite haha
Day 4 (5/30/2025) - More Landscaping Experiment learned from my previous Epic Course training.
Day 5 (6/3/2025) - I have decided to skip the World Building course for now cuz I want to experiment with my character and enemies AI. I am hoping to figure this out in 2 days and if I can’t, then I will go back to World Building…
Day 6 (6/4/2025) - I am sure I will end up making more, but this is some of the stuff I worked on today. Packed Level actors are really cool, but I made a few mistakes where I mistakenly added other assets and that was annoying (lesson learned) but I love packed level actors.
Day7 (6/5/2025) - I am almost done with Landscape and World building for the 2.5D game. Packed Level Actors are really awesome and tomorrow I will be adding sounds which are also really fun to mess around with to come up with something cool.
I noticed that tutorial PLA were overlapping with each other and the shuttering effects were really annoying, which is why I remade all the PLA just to diminish them as low as possible and also making my own PLA was a lot of fun to work around for this game. I also made the castle and that felt perfect to me. I am happy and proud of myself for finishing this today.
Videos and Screenshots below:
Day 7 (World Showcase)
Day 6 (Packed Level Actors)
Day 5 (Funny Fall Video)
Day 4 - I am still Experimenting with my Landscape cuz why not make it different than what tutorial is teaching
Day 3 - I think I am happy with this color but I might change
Day 3 - End
Day 2
Day 1
Day 8 & 9 Combined (6/7/2025)
Yaaaay, I finally finished my first 2.5D game and thank you to Epic Games Team and Thiago Carneiro (mentor) for guiding me on this project. I have learned a lot from this course and I deeply thank you for sharing this knowledge. During this course, I learned that Packed Level Actors are very crucial to managing assets and Procedural Foliage for quickly bringing natural variation to the environment and so much more. List goes on…
There is so much knowledge in this course, and thank you again for this lesson. I am looking forward to learning more and growing to achieve my goals and this course definitely taught me a lot of cool things that I will be sure to be using in my future projects.
Below are the two courses I have now fully completed. My journey and hunger to learn more continues as I get one step closer to reaching my goal of getting a full-time job as a Game Developer and eventually start making my own games and earning a living. If you are newer like me and reading this, do not give up and be persistent. You will succeed!
Have a great weekend everyone.
Background Music For The Game Was Made By: Ms. Rose
You can play my game by downloading the file in the link below. If you experience any glitches during gameplay, then simply restart the game. You will need Unreal Engine 5 to play this game. The mouse left button is used to attack and (W-A-S-D) to move your character.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12SpFuyYzJBLqyNU_uJxV6EOZArLJpn-r/view?usp=sharing (Game Download)
https://www.coursera.org/professional-certificates/epic-games-game-design-professional-certificate (Course Completed: 2025)
Unreal essentials: A roadmap to 2.5D indie games | Course (Course Completed: 2025)
