Improving the first-user-experience of the editor to attract new developers

[Wertandrew]

Bit sad that Epic Games is losing so many developers to Godot because their first user experience is the way it is:
-One of the most crucial windows (content browser) is hidden from view the first time you access UE and UEFN, and any click hides it away. I cannot think of one reason this workflow is useful, yet its the default
-There is a lot of unnecessary clutter in the outliner when you start a new project, which most users will never use, especially when they start their new project (like datalayer actor, or HLOD folder for Unreal Engine). Why throw those features to a new user before they ask for it? Keep it simple, even a blank project looks complicated atm.
-Basic actions that the user want to do in UE (and UEFN) is to click something and delete it, to start new. Some actors in a new scene cannot be deleted directly (like landscape) and cause issues when multiselecting other actors (landscape gets selected no matter where you draw a selection rectangle, super annoying)
-Terminology doesn’t match the standards of the game industry. Everyone calls content either “props” or “objects” but only Unreal uses the term “actor” and from a logical point you can not guess what it means, I initially thought actors were characters cause of stage actors, but actor can be anything.
-UE/UEFN both needs a UI overhaul, really, really bad. It will take work, its the hard thing to do, things will break, but it will be totally worth it. Just look at blender and FL studio, both took the step and now their software is more user friendly
-UE/UEFN throws technical quirks at you due to its infrastructure all the time, it makes its problems be yours, and a tool should solve problems, not create new. Infrastructure calls for underscores? You have to abide. Only on content browser though, outliner is good.
You want to use a number as the beginning of a name? Cant do. Accidentally named something like with DOuble caps? Cant rename it now, because it counts as the same file. Want to delete something with your mouse? You have to right click, then find edit, then find delete (only software that keeps such an important setting in a sub-menu).

Please address the first user experience to ease the curve of learning for new developers. Its just sad to see so many developers instead of switching to the powerhouse that is unreal to go to Godot instead (don’t mind, just a missed opportunity is all) even though this engine is extremely powerful.

Here is an experienced Unity developer trying UE5 after 10 years and stumbling into most of what I stumbled/mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUkM0KwCXjA

[GraemeBB]

oh man… I really agree with this. The last point hit hardest for me to sum it up. If you want to DELETE something, you have to go into EDIT… That threw me sideways for at least a week and still catches me up here and there. I’m brand new to UE and UEFN and I just couldn’t understand this UX but have found acceptance.

Agreed on the clutter. I pin my content browser so I haven’t thought about since doing that as it never goes away for me now. Good point!

Actor is still weird to me…

Good post, I wonder if anybody at Epic will listen? agree maybe?

[Astrotronic]

Hi Wertandrew and Graeme,

Thanks for being so vocal, I’ve been using UE for about a decade so I can ‘weigh in’ on some of these bullet points, if only to offer a different perspective.

-Content browser is hidden from view the first time

This is new as of UE5. I’m not a fan either, I just dock it. - I remember there being some sort of popup or notification telling new users about it.

-There is a lot of unnecessary clutter in the outliner when you start a new project

This is fallout from the “Fortnite way of things” I only count 4 (Island Settings, DaySequence(which can be turned off in World settings) WorldDataLayers, WorldPartitionMiniMap). There are no variables to tweak on the last 2, so I do agree that they seem unnecessary to list.

-Landscape gets selected no matter where you draw a selection rectangle

Agree, best thing to do for now is hide the landscape before drawing a selection rectangle. (Although mostly I just find myself using the ‘Only Selected’ filter in the Outliner and Ctrl+clicking on the extra/unwanted items)

-Only Unreal uses the term “actor” and from a logical point you can not guess what it means.

I like this point of feedback (because it is something I have never questioned), and I have a hypothesis. In olden times the world was made up of CSG which was all static/unmoving. Then the next thing created was the Player and Enemies. (Which now were given the ability to have a dynamic position and move around, like actors on a stage) And then the actor system was extended for use as “something with a location in the world”

-UE/UEFN both needs a UI overhaul

I find the UI to be incredibly modular and flexible, Compare UE4 to UE5 and you’ll see that it recently had somewhat of an overhaul. This probably deserves it’s own post with your listing of UI pain points.

-Infrastructure calls for underscores? no numbers as the beginning of a name? renaming DOuble caps?

‘Whitespace’ in C++ is a nebulous concept. If you have a path/files with spaces in the name the compiler might get confused as to "what’s what’. The double caps and number at start of name are interesting. I’d be curious as to the specifics of why those edge cases exist. (as it gets to the core of how things are parsed)

As for ‘Delete’ being hid under the “Edit” section. It’s a fair point, but I prefer a less cluttered right-click menu, since I do all of those ‘Edit’ actions (copy paste rename) with the windows keyboard shortcuts.

[Wertandrew]

Great points, thanks for the extra info. But again referring to Epic and what the issues with UX are, Its always the little things, and they tend to pile up for a beginner or a user from another engine, or generally a user that uses agile workflows. I am sure there are reasons and benefits to the quirks of the engine, but maybe since the tech and hardware have evolved to the point where the standard is a very powerful machine in comparison to when the concepts of the infrastructure were made, maybe is time to put aside the quirks and add systems to help develop a faster and more efficient interface.

Smart design. Place 100 developers and watch them build/develop in the engine, and watch how/when they struggle, take notes and find solutions to help them understand or facilitate their work.

If many developers don’t use HLODs, then don’t place them in the outliner on start. If developers don’t care about the lost performance when using spaces instead of underscores (cause of a conversion), then let them use whatever they want.

Even from UE4-UE5 UI overhaul, it still feels the UI needs work. I mostly use UEFN and I have around 5 issues only with the windows detaching that you mentioned (and some are bugs, not just UX, but pretty low in priority).