Is unreal right for me?

Development Character & Animation
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1

I am a beginner into the whole arena of game programming/editing. I am actually only looking into it because the idea I have for my Master’s thesis would be greatly enhanced by developing a game. I am not a game designer or even computer programmer, I am majoring in architecture and my thesis is highly theoretical. What I want to develop is a game that is deployed solely on mobile format (perhaps on consoles or pc later but that doesn’t make much sense at the moment) I want something that is a combination between a map crawler and a 2D fighter. Some experiences I’ve had on the mobile platform that I am liking for this project are Wild Blood, and Injustice (unreal) and Archangel (unity). (might just go the Wild Blood route for story telling purposes) I don’t want to get into something that I’m not going to able to accomplish or will spend more time being frustrated at the development process than I will actually develop the game. I have some experience modelling in 3DS and Maya but I don’t know what I would need to use with unreal (or if it has it’s own modeler) and have recently gotten my feet wet with C++ (but not much) The game I envision is going to have quite a bit of depth to it with details about specific buildings being important, and recognizing those buildings while exploring the world, rather than necessarily being forced to encounter it.

So here’s the breakdown of my question.
What is used for model building in Unreal?
Is Unreal difficult to learn and deploy? If so would you recommend using something with a shallower learning curve (i.e. unity)
Is putting it on mobile format only realistic?
Is this something that I should even take on, or will it be too complex for a beginner?

2

You cant model in UE4 you need external software which can export to FBX, but you can do simple archtectual stuff with BSP building which you can do in UE4. If you had touch with C++ i assume you have some deggre of logical thing so you should be ok with blueprints… or even C++ if you played with it already. Making fighting game is not that simple since default template and core code is more usefull with walking, so you would need to make basic fighting game mechanics.

3

I say jump right into Unreal. I wouldn’t mess with the other engines. Coming from the Source engine, this c++ is easy as pie and there is a huge community to help.

I use Maya & Max for models, but anything with FBX export would be fine. The code is very easy to pickup and the visual scripting is amazing. Also, if you are looking for help for projects there are people here that might join you.

Hope to see you on the boards :slight_smile: Jump in, the water is warm!

4

But is it an unrealistic proposition for the mobile platform?

5

No, they have huge support for it on all mobile platforms. I’m personally not doing mobile dev with it for my project, but the info they have seems very good and exciting.

6

Hi Shafree,

Sorry for the wall of text that is about to follow but I wanted to offer a more detailed response. :slight_smile:

You’ve asked a very subjective question here that has some definitive answers and others that do not have such specific answers unfortunately.

I’ll do my best to answer your questions and give you some insight that you may not have been aware of that may help with your decision.

I don’t want to get into something
that I’m not going to able to
accomplish or will spend more time
being frustrated at the development
process than I will actually develop
the game.

The truth of the matter here is that game development is hard. It’s a very time consuming process and takes a long time to feel really comfortable doing. I still get frustrated with certain things when I’m learning something new. Often times it’s just a simple check box or a step in the documentation/tutorial that is looked as simple or trivial and come to find out that that one thing you spent hours looking for the answer to was a simple thing to those familiar with it.

This will ultimately depend on your scale/scope of your game and what needs to be done. If you’re working alone this can be a daunting process if you’ve got a complex idea. Luckily though for you and other new users there is a fantastic community here that is backed by Epic’s staff and helpful users that want to give back! :slight_smile:

Between the AnswerHub and the Forums there are plenty of people helping others who are running into stumbling blocks with learning the engine and developing their ideas into awesome games!

What is used for model building in
Unreal?

These would typically be handled in a 3d modeling software like Max, Maya, or Blender. You would need to create the UVs for the texture and one for the lightmaps before exporting the mesh as an FBX. (future reference note here: UE4 uses centimeters for its scale. Make sure you are building to this scale in Max or Maya and when exporting to FBX that this scale is set otherwise this will be a whole other host of issues you’ll come across.)

Is Unreal
difficult to learn and deploy? If so
would you recommend using something
with a shallower learning curve (i.e.
unity)

I don’t want to tell anyone what software engine they should use as it’s ultimately you’re money and your choice but you’ll be hard-pressed to get the customer service support that Epic provides with Unity or CryEngine. Users have said a number of times that Epic is doing it right! I, as an employee and a user, would agree with that 100%. I know I may be a little biased, but this has been said a number of times by Unity and CryEngine converts! :slight_smile:

As for the learning curve, I believe that no matter what engine you choose to use there will a learning curve. Unity, while it has the reputation of being easy was a nightmare for me to try and use. It’s probably because I started with UDK and learned there. I’ve always found the Unreal Engine to have a friendlier user interface. It has been the same when I’ve tried to use Blender when I started with 3Ds Max.

Again, there may be a learning curve but with UE4 there is much less of one. Our goal is to make the engine as friendly as possible to get your developing your games and ready for play! With Blueprints, our form of visual scripting, you’ll find you won’t need to touch C++ programming for most if not all of what you want to achieve! We also provide a number of starter templates and content from our Marketplace that is free for you to use in your games. These are also great examples to learn from and see how we did it!

Is putting it on mobile format
only realistic?

We have recently added our compatibility list for Android as well. Take a look for our tested devices!

Right now, Mobile is still coming along. You can do a lot, but there are areas we are improving all the time with this as well!

Here is the Mobile Performance Guidelines and what is capable at the moment and what the limitations are.

I would believe that mobile is realistic so long as you understand that a mobile phone is not a desktop PC. While there is effort to make mobile functionality closer.

This is taken from the signup screen:

The current release is aimed at early
adopters, and it has some rough areas:

The UE4 Editor requires a desktop PC
or Mac with a fast NVIDIA or AMD GPU
Android hardware compatibility is
limited iOS deployment currently
requires a Mac If you’re a pioneer and
want to get started immediately, sign
up now!

With our latest release of 4.3 we’ve increased our support for mobile platforms! You can look through the release notes for 4.3 here to see what is new and how much was added in a single update!

Is this something that
I should even take on, or will it be
too complex for a beginner?

Again, this is your decision but do know that if you decide to take the plunge there is a great community and staff here to support your development. You can’t beat our AnswerHub and Forums! :slight_smile:

If you have any questions always feel free to ask!

Tim