Thread Closed. Well. Would be if I could.
Here’s the basic idea:
I’m somewhat new to C++ but have been using it for 6 months now so I’m familiar with it. I haven’t used Win32 or Direct2D and my attempts at learning them didn’t go too well and, realistically, what I’m doing isn’t “the next big thing” or even likely to be super useful for a ton of people. What I’m looking to make is just a standard “Chung Diagram” but geared toward games in a way that the ones (including “Mind Mapping” software) I’ve burned through simply aren’t. This is mainly a personal project to help me understand my designs and I’m looking to create it in 24 hours. Gamemaker has been going decently but, again, it’s a slow development and I prefer UE4’s workflow and C++. The concern is whether my application will make my computer effectively run a 3D scene in the background.
To sum it up it’s basically the Unreal Engine Blueprint System except instead of Comment Boxes you have a spoiler system whereby you click the box and it expands to reveal text (by default only the title is shown similar to how variable names are shown in the Set Variable blueprint nodes). Truthfully I’m considering not even making the application and just making a throwaway project and use comment boxes + BP system for what I’m doing.
Which brings me to my final question: Would making this application using the Unreal Engine be a **** idea? I’ve tried to realize it using the Game Maker engine, an engine that I’m familiar with, but holy **** is debugging a lesson in frustration. The debug tools just aren’t on the same level for me compared to the UE4 visual debugger.
I’m planning on using the Slate tools, possibly even just using Widgets. This really doesn’t sound like it would be the worst idea in the world but would it be made extremely bloated by the engine? Like would there be any way for me to make this perform well enough to have sitting in the background or? I mean, gut feeling says “The Unreal Engine is for making 3D Games!” but you can use it to make menus and, I assume, front-facing clients.