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3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender
3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender: Combine the powerful UE4 with Blender to create visually appealing and comprehensive game environments

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3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender

Chapter 2. Starting Our First Project

Now it's time for the exciting stuff! As we move forward with building our first project, we are going to use the design process we talked about in the last chapter and start with a level sketch. You might be tempted to just open up Unreal and jump right in, right? Why spend time drawing when I could be building that sweet level I've always wanted? Well, here's why. The best way to avoid multiple revisions and costly time spent redoing sections of your level is to plan in advance. Figure out the setting, architecture, background, and story of your level. Put some thought into where you will place story cues and power ups. Run your ideas by friends, players, and team members. Incorporate the feedback you receive and then build your level. It's the level designer's equivalent of "measure twice, cut once".

Let's take a look at our level sketch:

Starting Our First Project

Our first level map!

So here is our first level. The level itself...

Using the Content Browser to start building the level

Go ahead and open Epic Games Launcher, and pull up the project we started at the end of the last chapter. Unreal Engine 4 was a huge upgrade over the last version of the engine, as it gave users a simple drag-and-drop interface. This was accomplished using two important panes in the interface: the Modes pane and the Content Browser. These portions of the interface allow level designers to drag elements into the level and place them where they need to go. Of these two, we will use the Content Browser the most:

Using the Content Browser to start building the level

The Content Browser contains all of the game assets we will use

The Content Browser holds all of the objects, sounds, materials, and particles that can be used in your creation. These are sorted into folders that mirror the file structure where your project is stored. Unreal does this to make it easy to move project files around, should the need arise. Navigating the browser is easy. Double-clicking a folder opens that folder, while...

Using different types of light

Throughout the level, we have been using basic lights just to give our work in progress some illumination. In this section, we are going to transform our lighting into something that seems more realistic for our theme and communicates it to the player. Proper lighting is something that is important to make a scene or environment seem believable. It can make an audience feel anxious or scared, and create a sense of tension. It can communicate danger or safety. In games, it can even be a game mechanic. In our scene, we are going to use lighting to communicate a sense of mystery and a tension that something just might be going on beyond the player's ability to see.

To create this feel, let's think about what we might need. Plunging our corners into shadow and limiting the player's line of sight can go a long way to making them think that something might be stalking them, just out of sight. Using different colored lights to denote danger and safety...

Adding interactive elements using Triggers and Blueprints

Right now, our game level is looking pretty good. We have given it some props that make the player feel they are wandering around the insides of a small cargo ship. Using lights, we have communicated to the player a sense of danger and mystery. The final step in finishing this level will be to add some basic interactive elements. For that we are going to need a Blueprint.

A Blueprint is a visual scripting engine built into the Unreal game engine that allows artists and other non-programmers to program game mechanics and level events without ever looking at a line of code. I have also found during my years of teaching that it is a great way to introduce yourself to programming techniques, as a Blueprint uses many of the same terms. For our purposes, we will use Blueprints to animate our two doors and our elevator so that our player has some interactive elements to play with:

Adding interactive elements using Triggers and Blueprints

All Blueprints have an Event to kick them off, followed by...

Playtesting our level

The next step in our design process is to playtest our prototype level with friends, family, and, most importantly, the people who will be playing our game. Playtesting is one of the most important and overlooked steps of the design process. Many game and level designers want to rush and press on toward a final design and, by doing so, miss out on the valuable feedback that other people who are not involved with the design and construction of your game can offer. It is important to remember that although the level may be fun for you to play, others may find it confusing or missing critical features. Getting feedback from players by allowing them to try the prototype can help us see the things that we take for granted because we are the designers.

If this level were for a commercial game, we would spend some time testing with friends and co-workers, incorporating feedback as we go. The lighting might be too dark or the buttons too difficult to find. We might add more...

Summary

In this chapter, we went through the process of building a level using Unreal Engine 4, based on a design we sketched out on paper. The level itself was simple: two rooms connected by a hallway with doors, stairs, and an elevator. We used a selection of shapes and props that were available in the Starter Content folder to decorate our space to fit our science fiction horror theme. We also looked at how to use lights in the level to create tension and convey mood. Through Blueprints, we were able to explore level programming by animating our doors and elevator. Finally, we talked about the importance of playtesting and how constructive criticism from our players can only make our levels and games better. In the next chapter, we are going to move into using Blender and create a prop for our level, based on some of the basic shapes we used to decorate the ship during the whiteboxing process.

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Key benefits

  • The only resource that shows how you can incorporate Blender into your Unreal Engine 4 Game environment
  • Create amazing 3D game environments by leveraging the power of Blender and Unreal Engine 4
  • Practical step-by-step approach with plenty of illustrative examples to get you started immediately

Description

Unreal Engine 4 now has support for Blender, which was not available in earlier versions. This has opened up new possibilities and that is where this book comes in. This is the first book in the market combining these two powerful game and graphic engines. Readers will build an amazing high-level game environment with UE4 and will show them how to use the power of Blender 3D to create stunning animations and 3D effects for their game. This book will start with creating levels, 3D assets for the game, game progression, light and environment control, animation, and so on. Then it will teach readers to add amazing visual effects to their game by applying rendering, lighting, rigging, and compositing techniques in Blender. Finally, readers will learn how to smoothly transfer blender files to UE4 and animate the game assets. Each chapter will add complexities to the game environment.

Who is this book for?

This book would be ideal for 3D artists and game designers who want to create amazing 3D game environments and leverage the power of Blender with Unreal Engine 4. 3D design basics would be necessary to get the most out of this book. Some previous experience with Blender would be helpful but not essential.

What you will learn

  • Create a fully functioning game level of your own design using Blender and Unreal Engine 4
  • Customize your level with detailed 3D assets created with Blender
  • Import assets into Unreal Engine 4 to create an amazing finished product
  • Build a detailed dynamic environment with goals and an ending
  • Explore Blender's incredible animation tools to animate elements of your game
  • Create great environments using sound effects, particle effects, and class blueprints
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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jun 29, 2016
Length: 252 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785881466
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Length: 252 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785881466
Vendor :
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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
1. Unreal, My Friend, I'd Like You to Meet Blender Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Starting Our First Project Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. It's Time to Customize! Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Getting the Assets to the Level Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Taking This Level Up a Notch Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Monster Assets – The Level Totally Needs One of These Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Let's Dress to Impress! Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Lights, Camera, Animation! Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Bang Bang – Let's Make It Explode Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.3
(8 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 37.5%
3 star 0%
2 star 12.5%
1 star 0%
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Aadi Sharma Apr 07, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
You don't to see loads and loads of YouTube videos.Once you have this book.Very well scripted and good paper quality.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Zain Jul 02, 2022
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Really good for readers who are looking to learn the fundamentals of both Bender and UE4. The book takes you through level development in UE4, then walks you through artifact design, texturing, and animation in Blender, then you bring the Blender models into UE4 and incorporate the animations into the game.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Scott Hafner Jul 20, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Hi everyone, I recently had the pleasure of working as a technical reviewer on this book, 3D Game Design with Unreal Engine 4 and Blender. If you've been looking to learn the tricks of bridging the gap between your Unreal work and your Blender work, this is an essential title for your work space. Lessons and skills are presented in an easy to understand manner with a huge range of topics covering everything from creating a game level in Unreal 4, importing 3D assets from Blender into your level and even adding some animation work to bring your creations to life.I'm very pleased with how this book came out, and I feel it will really help take your game design work to the next level!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Marcos Pérez Jul 19, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I liked all the books that have been published UE4. I would like to see soon some focused on UMG interfaces.His books have been of great help in my learning process Unreal Engine 4.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
digi-mech Apr 18, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
another great book, well worth the effort, a lot of useful information in here..
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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