Mastering Game Development with Unreal Engine 4: Build high-performance AAA games with UE 4, 2nd Edition

A comprehensive guide with coverage on AudioFX, Particle system, shaders, sequencers, and the latest features of Unreal 4.19 that will take your game development skills to the next level

Key Features

• Create a high-performance Combat game using the essential features of Unreal Engine 4.18+.
• Master the complex competitive features needed in modern games such as Volumetric Lightmaps and Precomputed Lighting on Volumetric Fog, and build an impressive UI.
• Experience not only VR support for your game but also the inbuilt support of Apple's ARKit and Google's ARCore with UE4's newly released support for these platforms.

Book Description

To make a basic combat game from scratch, you will quickly override existing UE4 classes, and add and implement simple C++ functions while running and building them. These are all discussed as a short summary for new developers and as a quick refresher for experienced developers. Next, you will build a combat player character with expanded controls, create logic for a character, swap weapons, attack and move, bridge over scene changes and transitions, retain data between scenes, and manage the scene-change process.

You will then build an intelligent enemy AI and add physics based particles for weapon impacts. You will also get acquainted with cutting-edge features such as Volumetric Lightmaps for precomputed lighting, and Atmospheric and Volumetric Fog, to build advanced visuals in our ongoing GitHub project.

Moving on, you will explore the tools required to build an in-game cut-scene for a more professional gameplay experience and story direction.

Along the way, you will implement a solid game UI, including writing a full in-game load and save system that will enable players to resume their game from any point. You will also prepare, build, and work on VR and AR taking them from editor to real-world, building two new projects one in each of these brand new areas of UE4 and integrate classes from the main project into AR!

By the end of the book, you will have mastered all major UE features and will be able to bring self-imagined games to life through Unreal Engine 4.18+.

What you will learn

• The fundamentals of a combat-based game that will let you build and work all other systems from the core gameplay: the input, inventory, A.I. enemies, U.I., and audio
• Manage performance tools and branching shaders based on platform capabilities in the Material Editor
• Explore scene or level transitions and management strategies
• Improve visuals using UE4 systems such as Volumetric Lightmaps, Precomputed Lighting, and Cutscenes
• Implement audio-to-animation timelines and trigger them from visual FX
• Integrate Augmented Reality into a game with UE4's brand new ARKit and ARCore support
• Perform almost any game logic needed via Blueprint Visual Scripting, and know when to implement it in Blueprint as opposed to C++

Who this book is for

This book is for game developers who want to build high-performance games with amazing UIs. Experience with C++ is required and some knowledge of working with Unreal Engine 4 would be an advantage.

Table of Contents

1. Making a C++ Project for a First-person Shooter
2. Inventory and Weapons for the Player
3. Blueprint Review and When to Use BP Scripting
4. U.I. Necessities, Menus, HUD, and Load/Save
5. Adding Enemies!
6. Changing Levels, Streaming, and Retaining Data
7. Getting Audio in Your Game
8. Shader Editing and Optimization Tips
9. Adding an In-Game Cutscene with Sequencer
10. Packaging the Game (PC, Mobile)
11. Volumetric Lightmaps, Fog, and Precomputing
12. In-scene Video and Visual Effects
13. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in UE4