Starting Out
Additional Information
- Required Hardware and Software
- Install the Engine
- Downloading Unreal Engine Source Code
- Release Notes
Editor Basics
In Unreal Editor, the scenes in which you create your game experience are generally referred to as Levels. You can think of a level as a 3D environment into which you place a series of objects and geometry to define the world your players will experience. Any object that is placed in your world, be it a light, a mesh, or a character, is considered to be an Actor. Technically speaking, an Actor is a programming class used within the Unreal Engine to define an object that has 3D position, rotation, and scale data. Think of an Actor as any object that can be placed in your levels.
Editor Viewports
The Viewports are your window into the worlds you create in Unreal. They can be navigated just as you would in a game, or can be used in a more schematic design sense as you would for an architectural Blueprint. The Unreal Editor viewports contain a variety of tools and visualizers to help you see exactly the data you need.
Editor Modes
Actors & Geometry
Creating levels begins by placing items in a map inside Unreal Editor. These items may be world geometry, decorations in the form of Brushes, Static Meshes, lights, player starts, weapons, or vehicles. Which items are added when is usually defined by the particular workflow used by the level design team.
Content Browser
Lighting
Lighting your scenes is accomplished using Light Actors that act as light sources and contain properties to determine the characteristics of the light, such as:
- How bright the light is
- What color the light is
There are also different kinds of lights that emit light in different ways. For example, a standard light bulb emits light in all directions. In Unreal Engine, this is called a point light. In other circumstances, the light emitted is physically limited by making the back of the bulb opaque, such as with a flood light. This would be a spot light. Outdoor lighting from the sun - because it is located so far away - appears to come more from a direction instead of from a single location. To simulate this type of lighting, a directional light is available.
Materials and Shading
Blueprint Visual Scripting
The Blueprint Visual Scripting system in Unreal Engine is a complete gameplay scripting system based on the concept of using a node-based interface to create gameplay elements from within Unreal Editor. As with many common scripting languages, it is used to define object-oriented (OO) classes or objects in the engine. As you use UE4, you'll often find that objects defined using Blueprint are colloquially referred to as just "Blueprints."
This system is extremely flexible and powerful as it provides the ability for designers to use virtually the full range of concepts and tools generally only available to programmers. In addition, Blueprint-specific markup available in Unreal Engine's C++ implementation enables programmers to create baseline systems that can be extended by designers.
Programming
Implementing gameplay and modifying the engine are essential aspects of any game project. Unreal Engine gives you the ability to implement gameplay through code or visually using Blueprints or even create a plugin that modifies or extends the engine and editor to add completely custom functionality for designers or artists to use.
Playtest Your Game
Test and debug your levels and gameplay using Unreal Engine's built-in features. Get real-time feedback directly in the editor using Play In Editor mode, and even inspect and manipulate the objects in the game while it is running using Simulate In Editor mode. Make changes to gameplay code, recompile, and update the game during play using Hot Reload.
Getting Started for Custom Licensees
Whether they are in games or non-games, some users will sign up for a custom license. To learn more about a custom licensee's getting started experience, go to the following page.