Hey everyone. My name is . I’m just starting out and I just downloaded unreal engine. I’m going to be a one man team for little bit (I suck at art but willing to work on it). What other software do I need to start making games. I’m going to learn as I go just like I’m learning c++. Please and thank you
It depends on what all you’re trying to accomplish. There’s a whole lot of software out there that you can use to do different things. For myself, I like to use Blender for making 3D models, Krita for editing textures, and Audacity for simple audio editing. All of which are free by the way! There’s also a lot of paid software I’ve heard good things about like 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush for 3D stuff, Photoshop (which I personally really liked) for textures or whatever, Ableton for making music, and the list goes on.
Since you’re new (and I’m guessing to game development in general) I’d stick to the free stuff and be on the lookout for other software to help you out.
Also, something that would be very useful to know is how to use some Version Control software (the one both I and most folk I know use is Git along with the website GitHub). I usually hear version control compared to a time machine where if you don’t like your latest changes to your code you can roll things back to when they worked. It also keeps a log of what all you’ve been doing and makes things a little easier when collaborating with others. Also, game assets can take up a ton of space so be sure to look into using Git LFS (Large File System) with Unreal.
Last but not least, use the latest version of Visual Studio (not to be confused with Visual Studio Code) for writing C++ in. I forget if that gets preinstalled with Unreal when you first download it through the Epic Games Launcher but it’s a must have if not. I personally wouldn’t use any other IDE (Integrated Development Environment) or text editor.
All that said though, I recommend just getting use to Unreal and learning to program with C++ first whilst sticking to free assets from the Unreal Marketplace and the starter content. Don’t worry about any of that software I mentioned aside from Visual Studio right off the bat (albeit Git is something I’d learn asap if I were you). Take things slow and learn to program.
Also, C++ can be rather difficult especially if you’re new to programming and Unreal throws a lot of heavy concepts at you rather quickly. Personally, I found it a whole lot easier to apply my C++ skills to the engine after I learned to use the Blueprint visual scripting system. A lot of the code you’ll end up using in C++ is mirrored with Blueprints and their visual nature makes it a lot easier to understand what’s going on. Not only that, you’ll find that some things are just better done by mixing both Blueprints and C++ so the Blueprint skills you pick up will be invaluable.
I’d also recommend keeping your C++ learning a bit separate from your Unreal learning for a while (at least, if your goal is to be a programmer). Unreal does a lot of funky stuff with how it handles C++ code in that it feels very different from how I typically use C++ for other projects and in my schooling. Unreal C++ is sort of it’s own flavor of C++.
I probably wrote a whole lot more than what was needed but I hope you found this all useful ! GLHF with UE4!