I want to make a game but I'm struggling.

[anonymous_user_1af22289]

Hi guys. Thanks for your insights. I was hesitant to come back because I was very scared.

@darthviper107;482943

I think it’s very doable, since UE4 comes from originally an FPS background. And as a LAN-only game the multiplayer would be much easier to set up. Though understand, that even with things like Blueprints which can help make things easier, there’s still a lot to try and learn, and if you have coding experience then they make sense as far as what they do and what they make easier vs. doing coding. But you’re still going to have to learn some of the things that you would need to know for coding.

However, I don’t know that the idea is all that compelling, for one as a LAN-only game I think many people wouldn’t be interested in playing. And as an FPS there doesn’t seem to be any features that would draw people to want to play it, like what makes it different from other FPS games?

If I can find the most updated guide on blueprints maybe I can take it from there.

The reason why I chose the game to be LAN-only is because of what actions tournament officials take when something goes wrong with online play, most notably the rule where the game just continues even if anyone crashes. This is just me, but I just can’t stand that. There are plenty of other ways one team can have an advantage, but it would take too long to explain. In addition, I have my concerns regarding cheats, but if I find a good anti-cheat service that probably won’t be much of a problem. Mostly why I chose LAN-only has to do with advantage issues.

As for what makes the game different, it would be the fact that the heroes have three classifications and not just one. For example, one hero can be a class that takes the front lines, but can also have a support role, and could have the heavy category for weight, making him a heavy support character. There would also be two different leagues, and the official tournament would be set up like MLB where there are leagues and divisions, but how each team would make it to the playoffs would be based on points, which can be won in smaller events that make up the whole tournament. These ideas are not set in stone, and I am looking for various ways to make the game different from others.

@Linz;482955

You seem to have created a catch 22 for yourself in wanting to keep up with the latest version of the engine while knowing that the tutorials lag behind, perhaps it would be better to pick an engine version that works with the tutorials that will help you learn what you need for now, then when you have expanded your skillset you can upgrade the engine version and develop your first games on that.
Remember great journeys start with a single step, set realistic goals and avoid the trap of aiming so high you end up disillusioned and give up.
Other than that I hope you can stick at it and find the same positive spirit I see in these forums.

Well, I did manage to free up some space so maybe I could risk installing another version of UE4. The problem is I need to find out what version the tutorials use.

@;482971

A couple of mistakes that rookies make when trying to learn how to use UE4:

• Trying to run before they walk. The idea is not to go in and start chipping away at some grand design, that’s the fastest way to lose motivation as the size of the task seems to grow bigger as you make progress

• Becoming dependent on tutorials and/or marketplace assets. It’s unlikely you will find a tutorial or asset for every single part of your game, and you will be frustrated and quit when you keep getting stuck every few days. It is also a bad way to learn because it encourages copy/paste mentality without properly understanding what the code is doing

• Being impatient. Often people will just try something once, then go to the forums and ask someone to write their code for them. Similar to the other point above, the person becomes increasingly frustrated

My advice is to start small and work on some little projects that you can finish in a few weeks (depending on free time of course). With each project try to learn something new, like user input, camera, AI, weapons and so on.

Use tutorials sparingly, just to understand the basics. For example, rather than looking for a tutorial to produce a complete working weapon, instead look for tutorials on how to do user input, another on how to handle animation and so on. That will then force you to use the knowledge you have gained to make the weapon, rather than copying the code out of a tutorial.

It will take you much longer, but it will pay dividends later on.

Also remember that there is a reason why so many hobbyist projects fail: it takes a long time to make a game, and it’s HARD. Be prepared for it to take years, even with a team behind you. Heck, even the old Half-Life 1 mods took years to reach their final state.

Although this is more about whether or not the goals are realistic, those are some great insights. Basically I am looking to make any game where I can implement a clan war system, so maybe I’ll try making a different kind of game instead. I do wonder what others may suggest.

@ToxinGaming;484097

If you are willing to spend $50, check out Generic Shooter on the Marketplace. Allar has put in a lot of support for his project in his thread and it is 100% blueprints.

If you don’t want to spend $50 and you want to learn straight from Epic, take a look at Shooter Game (a more difficult path for non-coders). It is a combination of Blueprints and C++, with a majority of the working code in C++. The code is very well documented. I can’t remember if Shooter Game is still in the Learn tab in the launcher, or if you will have to download it somewhere on the site. There aren’t any tutorials that I know of that goes over everything in Shooter Game so this would be difficult to learn from.

As far as tutorials go, shootertutorial.com is a good place, but it is only for single player currently.

If you want to just start from scratch, there are some YouTube channels I would recommend. MindlessPursuits, PRDV Entertainment, and UnrealTek are some that I go to as they have tutorials you could use. UnrealTek has a large playlist that is to create a Battlefield clone with multiplayer which I believe is mostly in blueprints. And while the engine version may be older in those tutorials, not much will be different.

has some very good points. Copying and pasting code from tutorials will not work out well in the future. You will need to learn what the code does so you can use it in your own implementation.

I’ve been working in UE4 for a long time now (8+ months), and I still haven’t come close to having even a bare-bones game, so take my advice with a grain of salt, lol.

I don’t plan to copy and paste. I do plan on tweaking wherever I can find a window. So I’m looking for tutorials that explain what each block does more than looking for tutorials to copy down. After all, I did learn to aim for the very basics and work my way up back in my first year in college.

Lastly, I don’t know which user said this, but one of you told me something about photorealism, but I’m not really looking to make a photorealistic game, although that would be a nice bonus.