In Unity, purchasing prebuilt controllers from the Asset Store is generally seen as counter productive for long term when developing games… Using pre built code tends to just slow things down in the long run. Is this the same for prebuilt Blueprints controllers? For example some of the game templates on the Unreal Store look promising, but I am curious if it will cause problems down the line when I try to implement my own game logic.
Would it be silly NOT to use some prebuilt Blueprints for things like FPS controllers, or is it still considered best to just do things from scratch?
Realistically, there’s no harm in using Blueprints over C++ – granted, you have waaaaaaaaaaay more control with C++ and like BrUno said, you’ll learn more by getting your hands dirty. Personally, I find Blueprint coding confusing because my brain thinks in code, not bubbles of pre-handled modules but everyone is different.
Now when it comes to performance, yes Blueprints are a bit slower but it’s not something you’ll likely notice especially if it’s a small game. And there is a way to cleanup/convert Blueprints before baking the final game package to improve performance.I just don’t remember it off the top of my head.
It depends on the person honestly. Some blueprint assets may cover simple functions that can be easily integrated into projects, others might be more comprehensive - and while not impossible to tweak to your advantage, may require a bit of experience in blueprints and a thorough overview of the BPs to fully grasp what’s going on before adding your own content. You may want to dive into blueprint tutorials for a bit before purchasing anything off the marketplace. That way when inspecting an asset you’ll be able to come to the determination of whether you can integrate it into your project seamlessly or not.
As SeldinG mentioned, IIRC Epic developed portions of Paragon with blueprints and then baked them to C++ on game packaging. It may be covered in the documentation.
No don’t buy anything, making a character controller in unreal is super easy, try the third person template.
Some tips : If you wan’t your pawn to rotate with camera, open your character blueprint, and check : Use controller rotation yaw
Also in the character movement component you have alot of usefull variables like walk speed, jump velocity, air control, etc
Its super easy to attach a weapon or mesh to your character, just create a socket in your skeletal mesh, and then in your character bp, you add a component, and in detail panel - socket, select the socket you just created and it will attach the weapon or mesh to your character.
Tips, in skeletal mesh view, you can add a preview mesh ( like a weapon ), but also select a preview animation ( like aiming ), you just rotate and move your socket to adjust your mesh.
Animation is super-easy to do, and you have IK integrated !
So in ue you don’t have to buy anything, its not like the empty shell of unity, you have a ton of tools to create a character and animate it, just find the good tuts