I need to make a game in a month and would prefer to do it in Unreal. Where do I begin?

[anonymous_user_06690482]

Greetings! Name’s and I’m trying to get admitted to a uni in the Netherlands. Problem is; the assignment to get in is, to make a small game - i’ve attached a screen of the requirements. I’d like to do it in Unreal, because it seems to be used on the school a lot.

Now - I have no experience in making games themselves, but i’ve modded my Fallout: New Vegas, when I was 14, which was 10 years ago, which included modifying textures and attaching them in NifSkope and working with the Creation Kit, so i’m no stranger to what a mesh is and know some of the background in making the game. I’ve also done a lot of map-making in different games, mainly RTSs, like Company of Heroes, which I have played over the years and I don’t think the level-design in those games is simple. I also helped in Battlefield Play for Free’s beta-testing while active in bug reports and such on forums, same with World of Tanks and alpha-tested Survarium.

But I’ve never tried coding and I don’t know where to start - I have little time. I do have an idea, however. I’ll put it in italic, if you want to have a look - if not, skip it. I tried to make it as simple as possible to have any chance of making it in-time. I have only opened Unreal and had a quick look on some tutorials on how to make a top-down 2D game. I also work physically-demanding shifts in a car factory 5 days of the week, so I have at most 4 hours to work on the game per day, except for weekends. I need to turn in the assignment before 15th of May and it needs to be played by 5 people and has to have some reflection written for it.

The game would be 2D and top-down. It’d need a timer in the top-right, text-bubbles and a 2D animated sprite, able to walk across a small map. It also need a simple inventory, or a check-out list of ingredients to open and close.
You control a babushka, who has to gather a certain set of ingredients, before the time runs out on a cluttered map and bring them to a crock-pot. I have a friend, who’d probably be able to make and animate the top-down 2D model of the babushka - it’s supposed to be simple, so a few frames would be enough, probably, but I don’t know what format the sprite is supposed to be and have no idea how to make it work in the game. It should be possible to gather the wrong ingredient and, if it’s found in the inventory after returning to the crock-pot, they would make you lose. These would look visually similar to the items you seek, or have similar names. The only sounds I need in this version, is some simple one to know you’ve picked up an item.
I would like to have two “maps”, no bigger than ones found in RPG-maker, one being the house, where the babushka lives and where the crockpot and some ingredients would be found. The other being her foresty backyard, with a lot of clutter. Every time you’d fail, you start over and appear in the house.
I can see the need for 2D models of trees, mushrooms, plants, a wooden house, and a lot of clutter. I think I’d be able to make those in a month, but I’m unsure what to make the meshes in. All of them would be static, except for the crock-pot and the babushka. The artstyle I would like to be similar to that of Enter the Gungeon. Simple, with even less animations and no effects.

If I have enough time I want to;
- add music. I can play the guitar, so it would not be a problem to record something light as a background music.
- add walking sound-effects and ambient bird and wind sounds outside.
- add variations in how items spawn, depending on what the granny needs to gather.
- add three different recipes as “levels”, where items switch places and you need to gather different ones this time.

So where do I begin? Please help - I did not expect to have so little time to make a small game. Most people about to enroll in the university don’t work in a factory to be able to afford the tuition costs and I would hate to have to wait another year. I have checked some tutorials, but they are too long to comb-through and the ones focusing on newbies are too slow and explain everything too deeply i.e. “Move the cursor to the right side of the screen and click the red X to close this window.”

I seek quick tutorials, video guides, advice on what to start-with, advice on what formats to make the models in, how many frames, what am I going to need to code the game and how should I make the meshes. If anyone was willing to spend their free time, I’d love to be able to ask in e-mails about any problems I might face during the making of the game.

I will also seek advice on /r gamedev and have made a Reddit account just to seek help there as well, if I don’t find it here. Sorry if it’s the wrong section, or if the writing is chaotic, but I’m heading to work in 18 minutes.

Thanks in advance!
Here’s what I have to make:

Do you think I can make it?

[anonymous_user_cb211179]

Wow, this is interesting. I always wanted to start this but don’t know how. Thank you for sharing this.

[anonymous_user_06690482]

Breda University of Applied Sciences, Creative Media and Technology - Game Design.

I have heard of Godot before, though they gave us links to courses, which’re supposed to help us and it was Unreal lessons on Udemy and some basic courses in Unity.

What if I try to use Unity? Would that be easier, than Unreal? I’d like to use something I can use in the future and Godot seems to be for smaller games only.

[vrHackTimerrrjk]

Install plugins more tools levels design and project samples , fast games in unreal engine 4.
I recommend using the most repetitive mechanics and kinematics systems first, to achieve a project in 1 month, you can, you can even achieve it in a couple of weeks, everything depends on you and your time, try to love what you do.
Godot is a good option, like unity, etc.
Unreal engine 4 is one of the most intuitive and realistic tools of all game engines, just try to look for plugins and fashions of the month, you will make your game in 1 month very popular, if you have 3 months time, a course of unreal engine 4 for architecture and game design would be fine, Twinmotion to unreal engine 4 is one of the best weapons in unreal engine 4, it is fascinating.

You can do it, cheer up, sorry for my English.

[llYuell]

Focus all efforts on productivity, UE4 is a powerful tool, and if you face it without the knowledge it will charge you like a bull, many editors, many things to learn.

So, it all depends on the type of game you want to make, your knowledge about programming, graphics, workflows etc.

So, the best thing is to evaluate all this, and take a tool that suits your knowledge, needs, goals, but in this case ue4 I don’t think it’s the most reasonable.

[anonymous_user_06690482]

I’ll try Unity, Godot and have a second look at Unreal tommorow - I’ll have the time. I find 2D a good option, because it’s easier to make a textured model for me, since I’ve not worked in Blender, or Rhino and so on, if I somehow had enough time to make one.

Thanks for all the support <3 Had I expected there to be an assignment this time-consuming to get admitted, I’d have focused on making a game earlier, instead of making a detailed Company of Heroes 2 map for my portfolio ^^’

I wonder how people, who send their uni application to this school in April get admitted, with a week or two to make a full game. There wasn’t any mention of a lenghty assignment in the online seminar about the school.

I have a feeling I might use Unity, because it seems more suited to 2D, unless Godot will have exactly the template i’m looking for.

[llYuell]

In that case if it is about making a game, in my case I can recommend a simple tool, based on a code editor and ready, the rest are commands to make a simple game with enough information to use and learn during the development. As far as I understand you don’t have to create a GTA V.

That tool is BlitzMax.

This type of language is focused on high-level basic programming, with a traditional programming system, or object-oriented or hybrid. Very useful for learning.

[warvstar]

You’re not going to find paid work as a Godot developer (not likely anyway), I’d stick with Unreal or Unity, Unreal is actually easier IMO (for 3d). This is all you need to get started, Unreal Online Learning - Unreal Engine

[llYuell]

If you are looking for a paid job, you have to learn c++, learn to create tools, handle directX, openGL, vulkan, shaders, etc. Otherwise, many of us here are hanging on the support they give to blueprints, and the day they don’t exist anymore, it’s time to start again the learning circle.

[anonymous_user_06690482]

I’ll eventually have to, so learning something like Godot may be nice for a passtime, but not useful in school/work. I mean I’d gain some experience, but it seems smarter to stick to Unity and Unreal.

[llYuell]

There is a question, the world of work is open to people who are excellent programmers or excel in any of the branches involved in the industry.

For example, it can happen that someone with money decides to make a game with engines like UE4, Unity, Godot, etc. However, one day he wakes up and says, I want to create my own engine for my company, so he goes against people who really know how to program. A person who knows how to program, or specializes in something in particular, will have what it takes to get into development teams of big houses. In the meantime here we are, trying to make a niche for ourselves with UE 4, because as much as I look at it, I don’t understand the internal code of the engine to cast a shadow, the engine already does it automatically.

[llYuell]