Is unreal engine something for beginners?

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Hey guys,

I would like to hear from u if u think that u can start in unreal engine? I want to learn developing games from A to Z.
I am a Web developer/Application developer so i have knoweledge of programming but not knowledge of game programming.

Woud u advice me to start with unreal engine or something more simple?

Thanks for reading/answering.

2

I personally would start with the UE4, because there is

-plenty of documentation and video tutorials
-a friendly community
-blueprints -> to create a game you dont necessarily need to know how to program c++
-marketplace with tons of free stuff
-… :slight_smile:

More information:
https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?7448-Unreal-Engine-good-for-a-beginner
https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?288-UE4-is-ideal-for-beginners

3

I good idea but if they haven’t used any UE before would UE4 be a good starting point?.

Personally I would advise to start from nearer the beginning… maybe “Unreal Tournament 2004” to get some experience of BSP/Texturing the BSP and StaticMeshes.

When I first used ummm forgot it’s prefix :slight_smile: Unreal Tournament III’s editor it was so different from UT2004’s and UE4 is different yes I know from UT2004 but the BSP principles and such were okay for both.

My thought Sean is to go buy Unreal Tournament 2004 and get some experience of BSP/Texturing the BSP and StaticMeshes before jumping into UE4 (UE4 = Unreal Editor 4.0)

4

In my opinion the UE4 is really easy to use even when you dont have any experience with the UE -> 2 years ago, when I started game development, I tried out several engines (cryengine, unity, udk) and UDK was far the most user friendly engine. That was UDK, now with the UE4 it’s a lot more easier! :smiley:

But that’s just my opinion :wink:

5

I dont think its an good idea to start with earlier tech.

UE4 might look like an intimidating, warm damping lo… erm, just intimidating at first look :slight_smile: but those years of development did lead to something great. And the UE4 Editor is reallly good. I dont think its “easier” to start with the older stuff, instead it might even confuse and lern one the wrong things.

6

Fair enough .

I do agree UDK took me well away from Qradient (Soldier of Fortune) and the Half-Life engine(s)… (spent most of my life on Source SDK).

The person who won the “Make Something Unreal Contest” a fair few years ago um “Red Orchestra” I read his interview in Gamer magazine and he knew his partner had left him when the food had stopped coming! …I had to laugh :slight_smile:

7

Thanks for all the answers :slight_smile: Great community behind unrealengine.

I think im going to give it a try :smiley: it has always been my dream to become a game developer.
:smiley:

8

Good decision!

Just remember that even as an experienced programmer, it will take a lot of time to learn even the basics of game development. You shouldn’t have any problem understanding it, but there are a lot of stuff going on.

9

Will do my best :smiley: and i know i can always ask things on forums :smiley: and youtube and google are patient also :smiley:

10

When you have any problems, just search here: https://docs.unrealengine/latest/INT/ (best site when you search for something related to the UE4) or ask in the forum :slight_smile:

11

Yes

Reason

It’s only hard until it becomes easy. :wink:

12

Indeed like 3 weekends of cursing and screams, after that blueprints are easy.

13

3 weeks, you must be gifted then.

I am still screaming about Blueprint, just less often.

14

Looking forward to it :smiley: i just bought the first month now I am trying lots of things i have eye’s to short XD to many things in to little time xD i think im going to follow a tutorial =p Cause this program is wicked XD

15

Start with the official tutorials. They are pretty good for the beginning: :// :wink:

16

Cheers :smiley: imma do that. And mean while i am going to think over what kind of small game i want :smiley: Or room i want :smiley:

17

Not liking blueprints so far, programming with what feels like a glorified material editor is messy and no much fun. Next step up is C++, wish it had a decent scripting language.

18

Yup Blueprints are best for tiny tasks that you need to play around. But they are also great help when you need figure out how to make some task.
For eg. I had that problem of physics objects that need to move around planet. How to make that fun (not simulation) is not easy answer,
coding it in C++ and compiling each time i tried new crazy idea would take weeks, while in BP i could prototype it in 1 day.
Now i have working solution, and all variable values like mass, acceleration inertia, all tuned for what i think is best. Tuning that all in C++
and recompiling each time would be tedious.

19

You have it’s called C++ Unreal Mod (;

As for blueprints, you will get over it. Eventually.

20

Thinking of it more, your question is wrong one.
Instead you should ask:

“Is there anything better for beginners than UE4?”

And i think there is nothing better.
First you can get it very cheap and have all source code, same access to documentation/support as those AAA companies. All for hobbyst prices, so what you get to what you pay for ratio is kind of neverending christmass.
Then you have solid community, well other engines ans have them.
Unreal uses lots of 3rd party plugins, and you can play with some of them for free (or included in that monthly fee). But point is that you can learn speedtree, alleghoritmic etc.
If you are serious about getting artist/developer job in future, then ue4 is one of top engines.

Anything more simple would be waste of time for anybody but hobbysts. Thing is that to get good and stable job in game industry you need to be really good. And you will never be great if you pick easiest tasks. Think what would be better on your CV: “I made ugly game with ogre”, or “I made that great machinima in UE4”.