This page goes through how to create the 3D Game using the Unreal Engine
The advantage of using this engine is that it lets you make the game for any system. I will install it using Windows but you can also run it on your Mac if you wish to. It has templates to get you started.
You then run the Epic Games Launcher and need to create an account.
The Unreal Engine can be programmed for your game using either Blueprints or C++. Blueprints are a type of “visual coding” – you drag and drop elements and connect elements with each other. Luckily there are a lot of video tutorials online on how to do a specific thing in either C++ or Blueprints as well as how to use Unreal.
Some documentation on Unreal is below:
- The Unreal Engine documentation
- Setting up Visual Studio for Unreal
- Understanding the Basics of Unreal
Setting Up
The initial setup requires a bit of effort.
I first installed Microsoft Visual Studio Community
I then installed the Unreal Engine using these steps. I installed the lastest Unreal Engine version 5.3
Once Unreal was installed, I created a new project using the First Person template:
I decided to do it as a C++ project, but you still use blueprints as well. You have to setup Visual Studio for Unreal as well.
Once the project is created, then you will see the following screens below.
This screen shows you the initial startup. If you click on Content Browser on the bottom left hand corner, you will see folders and options to import assets.
Because I chose a C++ project, Unreal it brings up the Visual Studio screen. You can also do this in Unreal on the menu by clicking on Tools -> Open Visual Studio
If you get an error about the Visual Studio Integration Tool plugin that needs to be installed, then follow Setting up Visual Studio for Unreal and also Integration Tool setup and also Quickstart Visual Studio Tools
I ensured that the Visual Studio Integration Tool was installed to the engine:
Also in the Unreal Editor, on the menu, if you go to Edit -> Plugins, then in the following screen, click on Programming on the left tab, then tick Visual Studio Integration Tools and restart Unreal, it should be activated.
Hopefully you will get the Unreal Engine Integration Configuration mostly OK as below:
Folder Structure
In the Content Drawer, I created a folder called Blindfate and then created all the folders for the levels underneath as follows:
The Assets folder will contain all the assets required for the level and the Levels folder contains the level or map.
Underneath the Blindfate folder, I created an Assets folder to put in assets that are the same for the whole game – for example, the characters.