Pro Unreal Engine Game Coding

The black book on how to survive on the battlefield of real-world C++ game programming

4.53 (697 reviews)
Udemy
platform
English
language
Game Development
category
instructor
7,771
students
27.5 hours
content
Sep 2023
last update
$99.99
regular price

What you will learn

Game programming wisdom from an industry veteran still working at the forefront

A series of very deep dives into the code behind the game GRIP: Combat Racing

How to go from having a game idea with zero code, all the way up to final implementation

How to setup Unreal Engine both from stock build and from source code

Using Perforce version control and how to work effectively within a team

How to use the Unreal Engine Editor

Coding standards and best practices

Common programming problems and their common solutions

Writing readable, maintainable, yet fast and efficient code

Advanced C++ to buff those coding chops

Mathematical magic for solving many common coding problems

Complex vector mathematics for working effectively in a 3D game world

Understanding the Unreal Engine object framework for creating professional games

Graphics programming to create and use materials, particle systems and procedural geometry

Audio programming to create and use sound cues, classes and mixers

Understanding vehicle dynamics and building a physics model from the ground up

Understanding artificial intelligence and building an autonomous vehicle bot

Understanding cameras and how to make your game shine

How to create a pickup system featuring weapons and other power-ups

How to implement those weapons and power-ups, from a simple turbo to a homing missile

How to modify the Unreal Engine source code itself, and perform upgrades to the engine

Description

Hey there, and welcome to the course, Pro, Unreal Engine, Game Coding. aka, the Black Book, but why the Black Book? Well, just watch the short preview video if you want the full experience. But if you like reading, then around 25 years ago, when I was just entering the games industry, there emerged just such a black book. A book of graphics programming, full of coding voodoo written by the programming powerhouse that is Michael Abrash. And this black book, took many coders like myself, from being merely competent, to being able to produce something akin to magic on the screen. It was legendary.

Naturally, a lot has changed since then, and in this course we've crafted a new black book for a new generation, a series of masterclasses in Unreal Engine game coding for the 2020s. I want to give you guys, what it was, that Michael Abrash gave my generation. I'm going to take you from being an Unreal Engine virgin, to being a real pro, and a prized asset to any employer.

My last game, GRIP: Combat Racing, will be the focus for the latter half of this course, and we'll get to see an awful lot of what's going on under the hood there. We're going to expose all of its secrets. This journey will take you from being a C++ novice, all the way up to writing the most challenging racing game I've ever been involved with, and I've written a few. But if that sounds terrifying, don't worry, we've got this. We can do this, together.

I'll be presenting in a no-nonsense style, side-stepping a lot of the hokum you don't need to know, focusing intently on the stuff you really do, and providing rock-solid examples of how to apply what you'll be taught here. This is not academia, this is real-world getting it done, and getting it done well kind of coding. This is stuff taken straight from the battlefield of game development. After firmly establishing all of the fundamentals, I'll be imbuing you with tricks and techniques, algorithms and insights, gathered from decades of coding experience that you can apply across many game genres. We're going to turn you, into an Unreal Engine Ninja.

So get ready coder one, because we've got work to do.

Content

Getting Started

Getting started
The Black Book
What is Unreal Engine?
The Epic Games Launcher
Stock or customized engine?
Downloading the stock engine
Downloading from source code
Downloading Visual Studio
Preparing Visual Studio
Compiling from source code
Version control
Preparing for version control
Adding your custom engine to version control
Basic terminology
Exploring the editor
C++
Blueprints
C++ or blueprints
Coding standard

Metal in motion, part I

Starting your first project
Creating your first project
Core class hierarchy
Creating a new class
Properties
Mobilizing our ball bearing
Editor naming conventions
Adding a debugging HUD
Arrays, an introduction
The actor life-cycle
The goal of the game
Constructing a level
The C++ / blueprint divide
Wrapping up

Game mathematics fundamentals

Math primer
Evaluation order
Degrees and radians
Ratios
Trigonometry
Abs and Sign
Pow
Interpolation
Easing in and out
Time-based smoothing
Random number generation
Vectors
Dot products
Cross products
Quaternions
Rotators
Transforms
Coordinate spaces
Matrices
Wrapping up

Metal in motion, part II

Upping our game
Functions
Magnetism
The console
Finishing up
Where now?
Build configurations
Version control check-in process
Visual Studio version control integration

Vehicle dynamics, part I

The road ahead
Physics primer
Creating your second project
Unreal Engine modifications
Downloading the GRIP goods
Skeletal meshes and physics assets
Exploration of the GRIP code
I am vehicle
Diagnostic checks
Raising the vehicle
Output logging
Fundamental physics forces and control
Class specifiers
Adding grip to GRIP, and vehicle animation
Improving the physics body setup
Vehicle drifting
Physics materials and surface types

Time and timing

Engine timing
Physics timing
Time dilation
Timers and time sharing
Floating point precision

Graphics

Textures, materials, particle systems and data assets
Driving surfaces and wheel effects
Vehicle impact effects

Vehicle dynamics, part II

Automatic bidirectional traction control
Vehicle dynamics amelioration
CCD

Audio

Sound waves, cues, classes and attenuation
Audio components and vehicle audio

Artificial intelligence

Spline dependency
Nearest spline position determination
Where to go
Exercising control
More than just foot to the floor
The nature of attraction
Collision avoidance

Vehicle dynamics, part III

Race position determination
Vehicle teleportation
Low speed hackery
Airblades

Pickups

Pickups
The turbo
The gun
The missile
More missile

Bringing it all together

Your world, in your hands

Screenshots

Pro Unreal Engine Game Coding - Screenshot_01Pro Unreal Engine Game Coding - Screenshot_02Pro Unreal Engine Game Coding - Screenshot_03Pro Unreal Engine Game Coding - Screenshot_04

Reviews

Dave
October 31, 2023
Thanks for making this! Grip is one of my favourite games, and I'm making a racing game in Unreal, so this course is perfect for me. You can see the content in the description, it's really huge. I wish there was more information about Leveldesign and Chaos physics, as those are also very important for my game (and those race tracks are really awesome), but that is simply not what he worked on for Grip. So thanks again for sharing your knowledge, I hope you make more games or courses like this in the future!
Edward
August 23, 2023
This course so underrated due to the fact, one the instructor does just hand the solution for the problem (he does eventually ;) ) this helps in making our problem solving part of the brain to actually grow, but alas some people don't like it. secondly this is a advance level of unreal course which he clearly state in the begin of the section of the course, this warning should be heard by the new comers to unreal since he is not going to hold that much of your hand in building your logic with unreal C++. and lastly physx section is something we all should be looking forward to if you are planning to purchase this course(he really does help in building the logic for the car in unreal with physx). Please this is diamond in a actually rough people don't sleep on it.
Antonio
June 18, 2023
Excellent course with rich content, easy to follow too, however, I do feel that there was a bit too much waffle for my liking, for someone such as myself, an experienced software engineer with the basic/intermediate skills of UE5 under my belt, I would have appreciated less needless chat on occasion and more direct explanations with examples. That would be my only criticism, overall very pleased with my purchase))
Ural
April 26, 2023
I understand how some people have problem writing and involving with writing code. I think the problem is not writing code yourself but these lectures itself is a bit complicated. So lets be honest here. If you didn't understand, you wouldn't understand even if Rob made you write it again yourself. For me this is a really really well done course since you don't have to even open Unreal editor. Instead of wasting your time Rob points out best practices and critical points of game development. If you want an editor course you have plenty of them in Udemy. I appriciate Rob didn't waste my time and gave lots of important information
Peerapat
April 5, 2023
to understand this course you need prior knowledge of C++ and Unreal Engine in advance, this course will greatly enhance your existing knowledge and your brain will get bigger (or just explode) cuz there are many things to digest.
Nil
April 3, 2023
I do not recommend the course or the teacher. Lazy didn't want to type the codes claiming a waste of time and uses a ctrl+c, ctrl+v method that doesn't work and bugs the whole project. Impossible to follow. He should have explained that this would be the method adopted from the first class, thus avoiding hassles. This course was a waste of time and money as I can no longer ask for a refund. If you want to learn how to code a racing game in C++ unfortunately this is not the course. EDIT AFTER INSTRUCTOR'S ANSWER: The question here, noble gentleman recognized in the market and winner in the game production sector, is not just typing the code or not, but the method you chose to develop the course, as it does not work and there is no explanation of possible bugs to solve the problem. it will say that I have to download version 4.25 from the Unreal source code just because you want it? We're currently on Unreal engine 5 if you don't already know, and any current version that uses its crtl+C crtl+V method just won't work. Lazy, does not accept criticism and has no desire to improve. I literally do not recommend you. Stephen Ulibarri, Tom Looman, Ben Tristem, Greg Wondra, James Doyle, all managed to take great courses typing codes (yes, professor, typing code is part of a student's learning process, because it is what he will do throughout his life professional when coding his own work in the industry). And I recommend them all, as the student can follow the course in virtually any current version of Unreal Engine, unfortunately your course cannot. They must be crazy to have taken a course like that, isn't it Rob Baker?
HarryLi
March 10, 2023
I really appreciate this course because Rob is not just saying 'how' to do, but also telling me 'why'. Rob will explain cons and pros with his rich experience, which helps me a lot to solve similar problems I met when I was working with my team. This course is not like others which just teach students how to develop functions without a big picture of the project, it contains many practical knowledges of development. Highly Recommmend for people who want to be professional developers. And thanks Rob for this high-quality cource!
A
February 27, 2023
This course goes from bad to worse. Not only that this guy can't type code without looking at his keyboard, but after a couple of lessons, he just gives up on trying altogether and begins copying and pasting code into each lesson - all in the name of "faster progress". Highly disappointed, I do not recommend this course!
Andre
February 25, 2023
This was awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful project with us. I cant wait to sink my teeth into the code and see what I can do with it.
Can
February 1, 2023
I get that, if Rob tried to write all the code with the students it would take too much time but... espacially beginners learn by doing and this course doesnt do that. In metal in motion(first game) i didnt copy the source code and wrote all the code and it was so worth it. I rather build a cubic game with the code that i wrote along with the teacher than build a complex game that you copy everything about it from a zip.
Thomas
January 12, 2023
Great course. I wish there was a little more on some of the subjects talked about in the course. but for what it walks you through. Totally worth it!!!
Chris
January 10, 2023
Thanks for making the course Rob. It was an interesting course where we get a lot of source code up front and the teacher explains the main parts of it. I liked your no-nonsense explanation, e.g. about the Math section, really so much better than following a math theory course. I can recommend this course, because a game industry veteran explains the Unreal game programming very well. P.S. how on earth did you get Grip to work on the Nintendo Switch :D
John
December 28, 2022
The course was excellent and the accompanying source code was well-explained and instructive. However, interactive exercises where the instructor guides students through building features in real time would have enhanced understanding of problem-solving techniques and facilitated absorption of the extensive content.
Jakob
December 4, 2022
So far, good in depth knowledge of the Engine, unlike any other course I have seen. As a professional software developer in the IT industry I can already tell, if you want to make it in the game industry and have your code quality stand out, You will do well listening to what Rob has to say. This course is Foundational.
Theo
November 21, 2022
The course really looks amazing but everything is already developed and given. For my part, despite the powershell file, nothing compiles. But that wouldn't have really changed the rating. The content of the course is certainly immense, however not developing it is like downloading an already completed project or a template on the unreal marketplace.

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3205991
udemy ID
6/5/2020
course created date
12/12/2020
course indexed date
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