Open World RPG tutorial

General Feedback & Requests
,
1

I have searched UE4s videos, Udemy, YouTube, etc. and its missing a good, solid, foundation “Open World RPG” tutorial.
Please allow me to give an example and explain.

1: Conan Exiles was developed with UE4 by Funcom.
They have been out a year, and keep getting request to
a: Expand the Map
b: Have mounts

Let me explain the latter first.

  • For mounts they say its impossible as they ‘fall through the map’ due to how they built it to begin with (Keep this in mind in regards to my request about a decent tutorial for UE4)
    They apparently built the grid incorrectly from the foundation, (PC worked, and it seems they assumed it would for console, but it didn’t so no one gets it now until they figure out something)

And the first… They cant expand it, as it was said UE4 is not built for open world and that the map acts weird, etc. on the edges.
a: they put all their dungeons in the blank places of the map (why could they not just put them as separate levels as a new map, is this a limitation?)
While you may say “ask Funcom” this all leads up to my humble request to Epic.

  • Also I read that there is a way around the map size limitation now in UE4, (apparently they don’t know - and this stuff is hidden) :stuck_out_tongue:

Please, Epic, review the above, realize this is an issue for SEASONED DEVELOPERS who release actual games…
*** (i.e., starting off building with the wrong perimeters, so now they cant retroactively fix it)
And therefore, realize that to a complete newbie, who wants to get into it - it feels overwhelmingly impossible (as I want to grasp the fundamentals and understand how to go about tackling making my own Skyrim, Conan, etc. for example.

I realize that everyone is pretty content, they have what they want, and make do with what they have… and say “figure it out” - above was an example of what has happened with one team of people - so as an individual I hope this helps highlight the benefit of UE4 doing such a detailed tutorial to enable the correct building of such a game.

  • oh, Epic, if you are listening, please send a dev to Oslo to help them fix this… (they have been struggling for over a year of release with the above two, and not only that - with just bugs in general - I really love the game, but anyone having watched the dev. process, while appreciating the effort they have put into it - might be scared away from ever touching UE4.

Thanks for the listen!

2

Hi Dhaylen,

Thanks,for the feedback! For simple examples, you may want to check out our Example Game Projects section of the documentation. You may also want to keep an eye on our Online Learning resources, as we’re investing a lot of effort in that area moving forward. I’m not sure where an “Open World RPG” tutorial ranks in their priority, but there’s definitely some interesting stuff going on over there. In the meantime, I will file an internal request to consider developing an Open World RPG sample.
If Funcom needs game design/development assistance, I would suggest that they simply leverage the many partner-level resources that we have available at Epic Games.

Thanks,

3

Thank you!

4

Hey Dhaylen! I know it’s been a little bit, but I wanted to followup with you on this.

First off thanks again for your suggestions. We really appreciate you reaching out to us, and we agree that an Open World RPG tutorial is a great idea. It may take a bit of time for us to draft a quality tutorial, so in the meantime I wanted to point out some resources that might help.

Although it’s a few years old at this point, the Boy and His Kite demo (Creating "A Boy and His Kite" | 02 | Live Training | Unreal Engine - YouTube) is a good resource for creating vast terrains in UE4. You can also check out our World Composition User Guide (World Composition in Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation) for help with creating larger-scale projects.

We also have a pretty great tutorial on creating Action RPGs (Sample Game Projects for Unreal Engine | Unreal Engine 5.1 Documentation) which I think can help get you started.

Lastly we have internal support and evangelist teams who are happy to help licencees with specific UE4 issues. So rest assured, if a studio reaches out to us with an issue, we are happy to help.

Thanks again,
echo_four

5

echo_four,

Sorry this is a bit late, just saw your response as I haven’t been on the forums, and I must have email notifications turned off.

I wanted to say, “Thank you”, for your response, as well as to your openness to the idea of creating a quality Open World RPG tutorial.

*** **My son and I are going to start learning UE4 together this week, so I purchased an Open World Course, on Udemy,that already left me with (unanswered) questions from the first tutorials, so I made my way back to the UE4 forums here to see if I could get some answers.

Just a note, if I may, on suggestions for the Epic Open World RPG course, that would help Beginners, like myself:

# Someone uses terrain.party to obtain a height map for UE4. It’s an area of 18sq.km.
However, when they bring it into UE4, it will be around 1sq.km. (Having measured it, in game, with Unreal Units and converting to the km equivalent.)

User Question:
(not asking for an answer here, as its not the appropriate thread) "How do I import that 18sq.km terrain.party height map into UE4 at 18sq.km?

note: A question like this may, or may not be unrealistic, due to size - yet it is a legit question that many beginners will have, and hopefully something they will be able to achieve, however the method may be, after the tutorial.

  • The above was actually a question I had asked, in Q/A’s, in the Open World Course I just started on Udemy. (Apparently it was out of ‘scope’ for the course)
    This reiterates the need of a genuine Open World RPG course for beginners - advanced.

# I imagine the course as a microcosm of something like Witcher 3, Skyrim, etc. note: It may be of interest to develop the course from the perspective of an actual work pipeline, example:
[INDENT=2]Course: Open World RPG (OW_rpg)[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]Path: OW_rpg: Landscape Creation[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]* This feels it gets the least amount of love - at least from a beginners point of view.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]i.e. Questions, that may seem “out there”, such as:[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]“Skyrim is large, could you actually make the full world of Tamriel by loading in the various regions?” etc.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]Again, the actual project will, in no way, be the size of an actual game,[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]but the student will fully understand how to scale up their project on their own.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]Path: OW_rpg: Character Animation[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]Path: OW_rpg: Lighting[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]Path: OW_rpg: Blueprints [/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]etc.;[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]
***** note: I don’t remotely know or understand the actual ‘best practice’ production pipeline for UE4 in a game for Open World,[/INDENT]
[INDENT=3]so that is up the the course creators.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]* With the above, two things can happen:[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]a: People can focus on a path which represents an actual real-world workflow,[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]in the area of the engine that they really want to master - this will be in-depth, covering everything needed.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]b: For the indie developer/modder, who dreams of creating their own pocket size version of their favorite fantasy game,[/INDENT]
[INDENT=2]they will have all they need to succeed in their project.[/INDENT]

**# **Best practices - though that really would be the staple of the course/paths above.
Perhaps using real-world examples,
(i.e. the Conan mount ‘fiasco’, though no names need be said - seeing real world issues demonstrated, and how to avoid them, will be enough)

******* When it’s all said and done: Looking forward to the Multiplayer course! :slight_smile:

In all seriousness, I am happy that the team at Epic, does take seriously the feedback and suggestions of their users.
I’m excited for the engine, and its possibilities (UE5 is really, really amazing looking - maybe make this ‘grand course’ for that?)

With the power of UE5, Nvidia GPUs, etc. - all we need is a few good/solid, courses, and the world will open up for those interested in game-development!

Thanks for the read…

6

Hi there, I know this is not the best place to type. I’m typing on a phone so, I may make mistakes and I’ve never been on the forums. I would really like to know where I can find great turorials for UE4 as a beginner. It’ll also be great if they are visual scripting ones.