Unreal Engine 5 Game Development with C++ Scripting

Cover....1

Title Page....2

Copyright and Credits....3

Foreword....4

Contributors....5

Table of Contents....8

Preface....14

Part 1 – Getting Started with Unreal C++ Scripting....22

Chapter 1: Creating Your First Unreal C++ Game....24

Technical requirements....24

Understanding C++ scripting in Unreal....25

What is the difference between C++ and Blueprint?....25

When do you use C++?....26

What is the difference between C++ programming and C++ scripting?....26

Creating your C++ Shooter project from a template....27

Installing Visual Studio 2022....27

Ensuring your UE has the source code installed....30

Launching the UE5 editor through the Epic Games Launcher....31

Creating the MyShooter C++ project....31

Associating VS with UE5 as the default source code editor....33

Opening the C++ source code in VS (optional)....34

Converting an existing Blueprint project to a C++ project....36

Summary....41

Chapter 2: Editing C++ Code in Visual Studio....42

Technical requirements....42

Launching VS....43

Walking through the VS IDE’s UI....45

Code editor....46

Menus....47

Search box....47

Toolbar....47

Solution Explorer....47

Output window....48

Error List window....49

Editing code in VS....50

Controlling the caret (input cursor)....51

The text editing keys....51

Code selection....51

IntelliSense....52

Useful editing hotkeys....52

Practicing C++ coding....53

Creating a new C++ solution in VS....54

Creating the main.cpp file....56

Changing the editor theme....58

Writing the initial code for main.cpp....59

Adding the Calculator class....61

Summary....63

Chapter 3: Learning C++ and Object-Oriented Programming....64

Technical requirements....65

What is C++?....65

Exploring the C++ program structure....66

Defining C++ functions....67

Defining functions with or without parameters....68

Calling functions....68

Writing the main() function....68

Working with a basic calculator program....69

Learning the C++ syntax....70

Using the C++ data types....71

Defining variables....72

Using C++ arrays....73

Using C++ operators....74

Accepting user input....78

Adding C++ comments....78

Controlling the C++ flow....79

Working on the improved calculator program....87

Creating references and pointers....93

References....94

Pointers....95

Understanding OOP....95

What is OOP?....96

What are classes and objects?....96

Creating classes in C++....97

Creating objects in C++....98

Working on an OOP calculator program....99

Adding constructor and getter functions for the calculator class....104

Creating the CalculatorEx class, which inherits from the Calculator class....105

Summary....109

Chapter 4: Investigating the Shooter Game’s Generated Project and C++ Code....110

Technical requirements....110

Understanding the MyShooter C++ project structure....111

Understanding the game program structure....113

Getting familiar with the source code....116

MyShooterCharacter.h....116

MyShooterCharacter.cpp....121

MyShooterProjectile.h and MyShooterProjectile.cpp....124

TP_PickUpComponent.h and TP_PickUpComponent.cpp....127

TP_WeaponComponent.h and TP_WeaponComponent.cpp....129

MyShooter.h and MyShooter.cpp....131

MyShooterGameMode.h and MyShooterGameMode.cpp....131

MyShooter.Build.cs, MyShooter.Target.cs, and MyShooterEditor.target.cs....132

Launching Unreal Editor and opening the game project in Visual Studio....133

Summary....135

Part 2 – C++ Scripting for Unreal Engine....136

Chapter 5: Learning How to Use UE Gameplay Framework Base Classes....138

Technical requirements....139

Creating a Pangaea top-down game project....139

Understanding the gameplay framework base classes....140

Creating game actor classes....141

Creating the ADefenseTower class....141

Creating the AProjectile class....146

Creating the APlayerAvatar class....146

Recompiling C++ projects....148

Using the UPROPERTY macro....149

The UPROPERTY syntax....150

The UPROPERTY specifiers and metadata keys....151

Marking the ADefenseTower, AProjectile, and APlayerAvatar attributes as UE properties....151

Using the UFUNCTION macro....153

The UFUNCTION syntax....153

UFUNCTION specifiers and metadata keys....153

Tagging ADefenseTower and APlayerAvatar member functions as UFUNCTION macros....154

Adding components to the new actors....157

Including component header files....157

Defining private properties for these two components....157

Adding public getter functions to the components....158

Creating components in the class constructor....159

Creating blueprints from the new actor classes....159

Learning about the Unreal gameplay framework classes....163

Locating and creating gameplay framework classes in Pangaea....163

Learning about the PlayerController class....164

Learning about the GameModeBase class....165

GameState....165

GameInstance....165

Retrieving class instances from your code....166

Using the Cast template function....166

Summary....168

Chapter 6: Creating Game Actors....170

Technical requirements....170

Setting up the player avatar....171

Adding SpringArmComponent and CameraComponent to PlayerAvatar....171

Initializing the player avatar....175

Setting up the character’s SkeletalMeshComponent....176

Importing the character model....176

Using the Hero skeletal mesh in BP_PlayerAvatar....181

Replacing the game’s player pawn....181

Creating the player avatar’s animation blueprint....183

Creating the PlayerAvatarAnimInstance class....184

Creating the ABP_PlayerAvatar blueprint....190

Creating the State Machine on ABP_PlayerAvatar....192

Syncing the movement speed with the animation instance....195

Summary....197

Chapter 7: Controlling Characters....200

Technical requirements....201

Controlling the player character to attack....201

Adding the Attack action to the action map....201

Binding the handler function to the Attack action....202

Implementing the OnAttackPressed() action handler function....203

Implementing the CanAttack() and Attack() functions....203

Processing non-loop animations....205

Implementing the OnStateAnimationEnds function....207

Destroying actors....208

Creating the enemy character....210

Creating the Enemy class....211

Creating the EnemyController class....216

Creating the ABP_Enemy animation blueprint....221

Creating the BP_Enemy blueprint....222

Testing the game....224

Summary....225

Chapter 8: Handling Collisions....226

Technical requirements....226

Understanding collision detection....227

Setting the collision presets....231

Using collisions for game interactions....234

Downloading and creating the weapon, defense tower, and fireball actors....235

Picking up weapons....239

Spawning a weapon for the enemy....245

Defense tower firing fireballs....246

Moving the fireball and checking whether the target is hit....251

Processing a defense tower hit....255

Summary....257

Chapter 9: Improving C++ Code Quality....260

Technical requirements....260

Refactoring code....261

Combining the PlayerAvatarAnimInstance and EnemyAnimInstance classes....261

Making PangaeaCharacter the parent class of APlayerAvatar and AEnemy....264

Refining code....276

Using caching variables....276

Creating a fireball pool....277

Outputting debug messages....284

Using the UE_LOG macro....285

Printing debug messages to the screen....286

Checking an Actor instance’s actual class type....287

Summary....290

Part 3 – Making a Complete Multiplayer Game....292

Chapter 10: Making Pangaea a Network Multiplayer Game....294

Technical requirements....294

Comparing single-player and multiplayer games....295

Launching the multiplayer Pangaea game in the editor....296

Understanding multiplayer game network modes....298

Handling network synchronizations....299

Notifying player attacks with RPCs....299

Syncing actor variables to clients with replications....303

Updating the character health bar with RepNotify....305

Processing hits on the server....311

Spawning fireballs on the server side....312

Summary....314

Chapter 11: Controlling the Game Flow....316

Technical requirements....316

Designing the Pangaea game’s flow....317

Creating the UI widgets....318

Creating BP_LobbyWidget....319

Creating BP_HUDWidget....322

Creating BP_GameOverWidget....324

Adding networking functions to PangaeaGameInstance....327

Adding UI widgets to game levels....331

Adding the game timer....333

Adding the Timer variable to the APangaeaGameState class....334

Making the Timer variable replicable....335

Defining OnTimeChangedDelegate....335

Creating and binding the custom event to OnTimeChangedDelegate....336

Counting down the timer....338

Designating APangaeaGameState as the project’s game state class....340

Destroying a base defense tower to win the game....341

Summary....347

Chapter 12: Polishing and Packaging the Game....348

Technical requirements....348

Polishing the game....349

Importing and using high-quality game assets....349

Fixing bugs....352

Profiling and optimization....352

Using Unreal Engine console commands....353

Exploring modes and console commands....353

Executing console commands in C++....357

Packaging the game....359

Configuring the project settings for packaging....359

Making the build a windowed game....361

Avoiding the hardcoded path for finding content....362

Packaging the project....365

What to do next....368

Summary....369

Index....370

Other Books You May Enjoy....381

Unreal Engine is one of the most popular and accessible game engines in the industry, creating multiple job opportunities. Owing to C++ scripting's high performance, advanced algorithms, and engineering maintenance, it has become the industry standard for developing commercial games. However, C++ scripting can be overwhelming for anyone without a programming background. Unreal Engine 5 Game Development with C++ Scripting will help you master C++ and get a head start on your game development journey.You’ll start by creating an Unreal Engine C++ project from the shooter template and then move on to building the C++ project and the C++ code inside the Visual Studio editor. You’ll be introduced to the fundamental C++ syntax and essential object-oriented programming concepts. For a holistic understanding of game development, you’ll also uncover various aspects of the game, including character creation, player input and character control, gameplay, collision detection, UI, networking, and packaging a completed multiplayer game.