Hi, first of all I wan’t to say that I apologise for doing something I always try to avoid; posting in a forum at the start of a project asking for help, however the project I am looking to do is not a “I wan’t to make a game and make lots of money” type thing, but rather a personal learning experience wherein I hope to learn skills that I can use in the future. So I apologise for the setup but I hope it isn’t too sickening to read
I am new to game development… well I haven’t ever gotten past making a very simple room to walk around with the default mannequin yet, however I want to make sure I head in the right direction for what I want to achieve. Basically I am looking for some ideas of where to start with it all. I have a list of end goals and I would prefer to end up with a private ‘paradise’ where I have the results of all my goals for me to reflect on.
My goals are:
Make a planet (now by this I don’t mean to do it without “tricks” rather I want to have zones with some form of in game (non loading screen) loading and eventually coming round to the start and preferably being able to head to space and in space be able to see the planet (although no detail so that it can be a bit of an illusion))
Integrate some form of VR support
Have bone limits - meaning limbs only bend certain directions etc
Be upgradable to support some form of oculus touch type device support
Be able to damage things by contact (i.e. rather than click to sledgehammer a wall, click and swing mouse and when it hits wall the animation is played and results shown)
Have a in game UI for inventory, rather than a menu overlay (think maybe fake holographic visual held in a hand)
Character customisation
Animal AI
Some building system
‘Realistic’ destruction physics
Eventual feedback (vibration or something) based on touching something in game
‘True’ first person
Now I understand that this is a large list but these are end goals, that I expect to take years upon years to even get close to. I have very little game design skills, but I do have some programming knowledge I can bring to the table, not much but a start. I am hoping to be able to learn this and eventually build this ‘personal world’ where I can test out things and go to to look back at my progress…
So yeah that’s all, if anyone can point me in some starting directions or give feedback on any of the ideas. I want to be a part of what I see as the future of gaming, which to me is the host of new technologies coming into the mix, so the learning is most important.
Make sure to start with the basics of the engine -> take a look at the starter tutorials that you can find on the official youtube channel. After that directly start creating your things -> when you have questions, just post them here into the forum - we are always here to help
Thanks! I am currently following through with the tutorials which are thus far inspiring me to do more and more! Is there any limit on what UE4 can do at the moment? Like anywhere it lacks?
There is no limit that I am aware of that would stop you from doing anything with UE4, though I myself am constantly finding features that I’d like them to have. Just know that while nearly anything is possible, you may need some C++ to expose a few more things that aren’t possible in blueprints.
Glad to hear it, C++ is on my list of languages to expand into anyway so it’s good to know it will come in good use. Does anyone recommend anywhere to start with creating models? Specifically first on my list once I have gone through all the basic tutorials, I would like to make a UI for inventory and status which is in game, meaning if I am looking at the menu for it then others could theoretically view that menu too, which I am hoping by the end of the tutorials I will have an idea how to do in engine, but I would need to use an external program to make the aesthetics for it right?
What 3d program do you want to use?
You will have to draw/create your advanced UI things in photoshop/gimp/… -> but you are abel to create basic stuff in the UE4
I Have access to Blender and 3ds 2014, any recommendation?
So would it be worth while to prototype a design in UE4’s editor and then work on the advanced model in Photoshop?
It always depends on your preferences -> I personally use blender
mesh/model -> always create it in your 3d program, because BSP brushes are just used to prototype the map
UI design -> you can start with the simple elements in UMG + afterwards add the more advanced design
I think I will give blender a try then seems to be a bit more accessible initially.
I have just watched the tutorial on how project planning works in terms of starting off with geometry shapes and then meshes/models etc, is it a simple case of replacing geometry models or would you have to start from scratch with each build?
Not meaning to double post or anything, but I was playing around in the sample content and specifically with the cloth… Has anyone tried using cloth as skin? sort of building a person in stages of bone/muscle and skin, allowing soft areas on a character to receive indentation when touched or something? Seems to me like that could be a very interesting experiment, although I don’t know if I can see it working.
