I want to learn UE4 to build a Survival game >>kind of<< like Minecraft.

[Filthy_Fantasist]

I have no Experience with Unreal Engine 4, but I learn things quick. Especially by reverse engineering things. I picked up Blender quicker than my friend could teach it. I have a lot of experience with modeling in Blender, but not a lot in animating or texturing. Everybody has to start somewhere of course.

I have no money and I cannot afford paid lessons or such. Plus the internet is a beautiful place full of very generous people when it comes to knowledge.
What YouTube Channels or other streaming services offer instruction videos that will help me learn the basics, and eventually help me start building a survival game with some of the things I know I want players to be able to do. I’m fairly sure I could find what guides and information I need but I don’t claim to be an expert. I know I will certainly miss things so I figure, what better way to find knowledge on Unreal Engine other than the source and asking the community that uses it?

Are there any good Project Demos that I can play with to reverse engineer and understand their workings? I am phenomenal with understanding how things work just by taking them apart. I have taken no classes in Mechanics, but watching and helping my Dad I probably know more than a lot of First or possibly even Second year Automotive Graduates. The same applies for a host of other things, such as Blender which I mentioned before, Electronics, and even Construction.
I know I have a mind for this, and I need to start applying it especially since the Gaming market is taking over the Entertainment Industry.

Some of the things I know I want the game to have.
First on the list would be Construction of small huts to full on Homes or bunkers, and a Digging Mechanic which will include tools.

Next to do would be Hunger, Health, Armor, and a few other life Mechanics.

Then finally some Vehicle Mechanics, then Weapon Mechanics, Axes, Spears, Swords, Knives, Bows, and even Guns.

My first and foremost worry is digging in dirt and creating ores. Basic ones of course. The way I see it is I need to work from the ground up, literally.
Obviously Unreal Engine isn’t going to be able to randomly generate a world like Java can with Minecraft. So I have to make the entire world myself and I would assume I have to go in and add Materials used for crafting, such as Iron, Copper, Clay, and any other material I’ll be putting into the game.

I thank you all in advance for taking your time to supply me with material to learn Unreal Engine.

[masterneme]

The official Unreal Youtube channel has a lot of videos. I would start there.

[mid_gen]

@Techkalakosis;584949

My first and foremost worry is digging in dirt and creating ores. Basic ones of course. The way I see it is I need to work from the ground up, literally.
Obviously Unreal Engine isn’t going to be able to randomly generate a world like Java can with Minecraft. So I have to make the entire world myself and I would assume I have to go in and add Materials used for crafting, such as Iron, Copper, Clay, and any other material I’ll be putting into the game. [/SIZE]

Randomly generating a world isn’t a huge challenge. Simple noise generator (try FastNoise (GitHub - Auburn/FastNoiseLite: Fast Portable Noise Library - C# C++ C Java HLSL GLSL JavaScript Rust Go) ), and your own voxel implementation (marching cubes, try (Polygonising a scalar field (Marching Cubes))). Making it runtime deformable is a bit more tricky but is ultimately an optimisation exercise.

[jCoder]

Minecraft is built using voxels. UE4 doesn’t have voxel support built in, but a lot of people have worked on it and you can find resources to read about it. This search should get you started

[Filthy_Fantasist]

@masterneme;584966

The official Unreal Youtube channel has a lot of videos. I would start there.

^^ Thank you!

@mid_gen;584978

Randomly generating a world isn’t a huge challenge. Simple noise generator (try FastNoise (GitHub - Auburn/FastNoiseLite: Fast Portable Noise Library - C# C++ C Java HLSL GLSL JavaScript Rust Go) ), and your own voxel implementation (marching cubes, try (Polygonising a scalar field (Marching Cubes))). Making it runtime deformable is a bit more tricky but is ultimately an optimisation exercise.

That’s what I’m worried about mostly, the optimization. I’ve seen too many games with the idea of digging I want, but uses far too much power due to poor Optimization. Thanks though, I was thinking it was going to be more difficult to create my world and possibly have to rethink my Resource Gathering.

[Filthy_Fantasist]

@jCoder;584983

Minecraft is built using voxels. UE4 doesn’t have voxel support built in, but a lot of people have worked on it and you can find resources to read about it. This search should get you started

Thanks a bunch!

[mid_gen]

@Techkalakosis;584985

^^ Thank you!

That’s what I’m worried about mostly, the optimization. I’ve seen too many games with the idea of digging I want, but uses far too much power due to poor Optimization. Thanks though, I was thinking it was going to be more difficult to create my world and possibly have to rethink my Resource Gathering.

The good news for you is that procedural generation of deformable terrain is more or less a solved problem, there are lots of resources out there explaining the techniques you can use.

The bad news, getting it working is a non-trivial coding exercise. Getting it working with acceptable performance and meeting your design requirements is tough.

[anonymous_user_b29a55d3]

It will be added soon/this year voxel support UE4 or new version of UE?