Software Architecture Guidelines & best practices

Development Programming & Scripting C++
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Hello all,

i am a Cloud Software Developer and are used to programming with specific software architecture patterns and frameworks. In my experience working with frameworks has the benefit of a conventions over configurations programming process. This is great for a service landscape and separating the requirements of the code and you can create great documentary and keep your code simple and well sorted and bugfree.

I am new to UE4/5 and already read some stuff and watched some videos. But i did not find any good tutorials/videos on “how” you should structure a project and its code. I did not find any “framework like” best practices and conventions.

There are some main questions i have in mind, like what type of database does UE use and what alternatives are possible, if i can or should use databases and how i could create a game with offline data but also an online mode. (i could imagine, that an offline save file could have an own db dump within while playing online will only trigger certain api calls)

I want to create a kind of management game like a sports manager game, so it will have a focus on menus. But i only find very basic tutorials for super basic menu frontends.

I was wondering, if i could or should use my knowledge of UI designing and programming i already have (html, css, javascript), or if i should prefer the UI Widget Tool. It is very difficult to find sources which are on a high level, because most stuff is way to basic for my intentions.

  1. Does anyone know a very good source for a guideline for the software architecure? I would like a video so i have a guide. But text would be okay too.

  2. Does anyone know a more deep guide for databases and savegames for ue? I cannot estimate what would be best for my game yet.

  3. Does anyone know a good tutorial on way more complex ui designs? Not the basic stuff.

It is okay if your videos are paid content from udemy, or something similiar. I just don’t know which videos i should buy, because there are so many and i was also disapointed of some i already bought, because they are way to simple and too basic. I am a Software Engineer and i realy would like to learn things more deep and not just superficial.

ps: Before you ask, why i don’t want to create a Webgame, i would like to implement a simulation and 3d menus on a later state, when i feel more comfortable with UE5. I want to keep the first prototype simple and then implement more and more 3d content step by step.

Thank you alot, i hope my wall of text does not scare you off :slight_smile:

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I will not surprise you if I say: it depends. Different types of games require different solutions.

I don’t know if I understood the question correctly, but ue4 itself doesn’t use any database.
The engine has its own database-like solution (Data Tables), but I’m not convinced of it. IMHO is better to use a proven, widely used solution (such as SQL).

When it comes to UI, you will find several tutorials for UMG. If you want to use Slate it gets worse (but Slate gives you more possibilities), all you have to do is study the source code (especially the editor code).

Perhaps look for information on the ‘game design document’. This will help you create a description of the game, what functionalities you want, what to focus on, etc. Then review the engine architecture and try to adapt it.

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Do you have good examples for good UMD Tutorials. I did only find tutorials which are way to basic. I realy want to make the menus scaling well with different resolutions and screen ratios.
I would like to use more svg vector graphics but i am also wondering, if i can create usefull effects. Like the effects layers of photoshop or illustrator, or like css styling.
I found so little about it. Sure i could just do rasterized renderings for the ui, but then i have to render the ui for different resolutions, if i don’t want it to look pixelized or blurred. I don’t like to use Png’s for the UI. Doesn’t feel right to me.