I am busy learning UE4. I have never used Unreal engine.
I want to know what you think is the best order or sequence to learn making games.
Currently my sequence is to study
UI
Create custom meshes (LOD’s,Collisions,Textures)
Creating levels ( working with burshes)
Materials
Blueprinting
Custom character creation
Publishing the game
Your input would be much appreciated.
I tried using the youtube channel but its all very disorganized. I found the intro to UI but after that everything is just scrambled and really hard to make out different subjects.
I would say stuff like UI and Materials are lower priority. Learn level design and BSP, then you can start playing around with filling it with PCs and NPCs and all that comes with it in Blueprint or C++. UI, especially, would be a low priority. (But every game is different).
At the end of the day, though, it is really all about what you want out of your time with UE4. If you have a certain game in mind, try to break it down and see what you need to learn to make it a reality. For example, in a space combat game, you won’t necessarily need to build a classic ground-with-skybox level. In an FPS, it would be one of the first things you need to do. Do you want to make a 2D sprite game? You don’t need to learn how to work in 3D.
In short, work out what you need to learn, then learn it. Sorry, I can’t be more exact than that!
Thank you.
Yes i have decided to take that approach. Learn what i need as i do have a game i made that i want to port to UE4. I guess my biggest priority is learning blueprints so i can make the game mechanics.
Things i did learn today. How to navigate in the editor. Create simple Textures with Alpha channels. Importing a custom mesh. Creating a simple custom material.
Created a simple level that matches my games feel after importing the custom assets.
Another thing I would suggest is prototyping. Build a simplified version of your game, and then iterate over and over again, making it slightly more complex each time.
Honestly, UI is one of the last things to worry about in a game. I’d say to start with Blueprints and animations/skeletal mesh workflow; Those are two of the most powerful and extensive parts of UE4. Without knowing how to use Blueprints (or C++), your understanding of anything else will not get you too far, as you will not be able to do anything with it. Animations have many different parts (Blends, States, Montages, Sequences, etc) that can be a bit overwhelming, but they can be used to bring everything to life.
I agree that there is not an easy way to navigate the youtube tutorials, so I had my team put them all together here: https://wiki.unrealengine/Category:Epic_Video_Playlists Hopefully will be easier to look up tutorials with. You can also check out all of the great tutorials that other users have provided on the wiki.
Study as in reading the docs and manuals that is as good a list as any.
As personal advice the better option, as to adding to the list, is to learn how to learn. Believe it or not it is a thing and that’s easy enough to Google.
Also
As a personal preference I get a lot more out of a total overview of the design intent than the nuts and bolts of how a thing is used so lets say for example Blueprints knowing why it was invented, what it replaces, and how it fits in the the big picture is a lot more valuable than how to push buttons to make something work. It’s that teach someone to fish thing.
Opinion again anyone introducing something new to the mix should introduce the feature addition as if they are trying to sell someone a used car and the buyer is responsible for finding their own reasons as to why they should buy (into) it.
Anyone have their personal workflow as example? I would love to see one (just a basic overall is enough). I’m now in the process of building a Gantt chart and interaction Chart - documentation purposes, for my project and I wanted to know how workflow affect the time spend on a project in overall. I have experience with Unity (indie) before but have no workflow whatsoever, dealing a serious blow to my own time management and ended up failing the entire process.
Well as luck would have it, or shameless self promotion, I’ve started a new YouTube series called “Working with Power Tools” to fill need.
More or less just me, with a microphone and screen recorder, going over some of the tools we use and as to the reasons as to development choices we make.
Episode 1
v=jvIzf3KTih8
There are a few more in the mix, sorry you might have to search for them until we get things set up, but don’t expect anything in the way of production value and will focus more on why “I” like such and such rather then why you should use it.
Looking through others workflow will give an idea of what works and what not, so it’s nice to watch over what others are doing~
It’s inspiration! Thanks !
(its either the videos or hovering over a senior hidden behind several post-it boards, as I got bad habit of staring at others while they’re working… )