Unreal Engine 4 is a powerful game development engine that provides rich functionalities to create 2D and 3D games across multiple platforms. Many people know what a game is and they play games every day, but how many of them know how to create a game? Unreal Engine technology powers hundreds of games, and thousands of individuals have built careers and companies around skills developed using this engine.
Learning Unreal Engine 4 Game Development starts with small, simple game ideas and playable projects that you can actually finish. The book first teaches you the basics of using Unreal Engine to create a simple game level. Then, you'll learn how to add details such as actors, animation, effects, and so on to the game. The complexity will increase over the chapters and the examples chosen will help you learn a wide variety of game development techniques. This book aims to equip you with the confidence and skills to design and build your own games using Unreal Engine 4. By the end of this book, you'll have learnt about the entire Unreal suite and know how to successfully create fun, simple games.
Author(s): Joanna Lee
Edition: 1
Publisher: Packt Publishing
Year: 2016
Language: English
Commentary: True PDF
Pages: 274
City: Birmingham
Tags: Programming; Game Development; Unreal Engine; Unreal Engine 4
1: An Overview of Unreal Engine
What goes into a game?
What is a game engine?
The history of Unreal Engine
Game development
The components of Unreal Engine 4
Unreal Engine and its powerful editors
Unreal programming
A beginner's guide to the Unreal Editor
Summary
2: Creating Your First Level
Exploring preconfigured levels
Creating a new project
Navigating the viewport
Creating a level from a new blank map
Creating the ground using the BSP Box brush
Adding light to a level
Adding the sky to a level
Adding Player Start
Viewing a level that's been created
Saving a level
Configuring a map as a start level
Adding material to the ground
Adding a wall
Duplicating a wall
Creating an opening for a door
Adding materials to the walls
Sealing a room
Adding props or a static mesh to the room
Adding Lightmass Importance Volume
Applying finishing touches to a room
Summary
3: Game Objects – More and Move
BSP Brush
Static Mesh
BSP Brush versus Static Mesh
Making Static Mesh movable
Materials
Level of detail
Collisions
Static Mesh creation pipeline
Introducing volumes
Introducing Blueprint
Using the Trigger Volume to turn on/off light
Using Trigger Volume to toggle light on/off (optional)
Summary
4: Material and Light
Materials
The Material Editor
Rendering pipeline
Shaders
APIs – DirectX and OpenGL
Lights
Summary
5: Animation and AI
What is animation?
Understanding how to animate a 3D model
What Unreal Engine 4 offers for animation in games
Artificial intelligence
Summary
6: A Particle System and Sound
What is a particle system?
Exploring an existing particle system
The main components of a particle system
The design principles of a particle system
Example – creating a fireplace particle system
Sound and music
How do we produce sound and music for games?
Audio quality
How are sounds recorded?
The Unreal audio system
Getting audio into Unreal
Unreal sound formats and terminologies
The Sound Cue Editor
Exercise – importing a sound into the Unreal Editor
Exercise – adding custom sounds to a level
Configuring the Sound Cue Editor
Summary
7: Terrain and Cinematics
Introducing terrain manipulation
Introducing cinematics
Why do we need cut scenes?
Cinematic techniques
Getting familiar with the Unreal Matinee Editor
Exercise – creating a simple matinee sequence
Summary
