‘Professional Game Development in C++ and Unreal Engine 5’ Completely Rebuilt
Five years after the original C++ course launched, I have rebuilt it from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5.6, supporting newer versions including 5.8, a refined curriculum, and more than 30 hours of re-recorded lessons.
In September 2021, I launched ‘Professional Game Development in C++ and Unreal Engine’, a course built around everything I had learned from years of developing games and teaching Unreal Engine and was originally taught at Stanford University. Exactly five years later, I have rebuilt the entire course for the latest versions of Unreal Engine 5. Every lesson has been re-recorded, the game project and code have been improved, and the curriculum has been expanded and reorganized from what I have learned in the past five years. It reflects current workflows, coding standards, and the latest practices I use in my own development work.
Best of all, the complete rebuild available at no additional cost for existing C++ students! If you already own the original C++ Course, you can jump straight into the new curriculum
Five Year Anniversary
What began as a straightforward Unreal Engine 5 update gradually turned into something much larger. Over the past year, I have rebuilt the course project, redesigned its gameplay systems, expanded and reorganized the curriculum, and re-recorded every lesson.
Five years of additional game development experience and student feedback helped me refine this new course curriculum to be even better than the original. The result is a densely packed 30-hour learning path built around modern Unreal Engine 5 development, with updated systems, clearer explanations, and more advanced programming concepts than the original course.
It launches publicly on September 21, exactly five years after the original.
Explore the Rebuilt C++ Course
More Than an Engine Upgrade
The rebuilt course is a densely packed 30-hour learning path created for modern Unreal Engine 5 C++ development. The new curriculum is roughly 6 hours longer, while more compactly edited, adding even more time to demonstrate and C++ programming concepts and letting me go into more depth with each topic.
It progresses from the essential Unreal C++ foundations into increasingly advanced gameplay systems. Along the way, I explain not only how each system works, but why it is designed that way, which alternatives exist, and how to diagnose problems when things do not work as expected. New lessons also introduce more advanced subjects such as data-oriented design to give you a different perspective of the usual Object Oriented Programming (OOP) which Unreal heavily relies on but is not always suitable for performance focused gameplay code.
The goal has always been not simply to finish the course project, but to understand Unreal Engine well enough to make proper engineering decisions and confidently build your next project independently. That goal has been reinforced in the re-recording as a fundamental goal and student feedback has been incredibly positive (existing C++ students have had access for some time as the re-recording was being worked on).
The production quality has also been upgraded, with higher-quality video and audio, clearer presentation, and editing to maintain a consistent pace throughout the course.
Built for the future
Rather than continuing to patch the original UE4 course with compatibility notes and isolated update videos, I wanted to recreate one fresh learning experience from beginning to end.
This gave me the opportunity to replace outdated workflows, improve the progression of the curriculum, and introduce programming concepts that I believe are increasingly important in modern game development.
Unreal Engine will continue to evolve, but rebuilding the course around current engine versions and lasting programming principles gives it a much stronger foundation for the years ahead. The original course remained relevant for many years (and arguably is still highly relevant today, albeit having room to improve) and I believe the same will happen for the new course.
Existing students are welcome to follow the new course again. Even if you completed the original version, you will find redesigned systems, improved workflows, and entirely new lessons throughout the rebuilt curriculum.
Included for Every C++ Student
The complete rebuild is automatically available to every current C++ Course student at no additional cost.
Providing this upgrade at no additional cost is an important part of my commitment to lifetime access and something I promised students years ago when UE5 first released. The students who supported the original course should continue to benefit as Unreal Engine changes and the curriculum improves. The rebuilt took a long time to kick off, since the original remained quite relevant even with it being recorded in a much older Unreal Engine version, after a lot of research, redesigning and improving my owns skills, I finally felt it was time to completely remake the course and have it be an upgrade across the board.
I made that promise years ago, and this rebuild delivers on it.
If you have found my original course valuable, I would really appreciate you sharing this announcement with a friend or colleague who may benefit from the rebuilt curriculum.
Refined for Studio C++ Training
When I released the original course, I did not anticipate it to become a widely adopted training resource for so many professional teams. The redesigned curriculum focuses even more on shared practices, workflows and concepts needed to effectively work with Unreal Engine C++ across teams.
Thousands of developers from more than 50 game studios have now enrolled in my courses, using them for Unreal Engine onboarding, professional development, and strengthening their understanding of C++ and gameplay systems. That support has made it possible to continue expanding and supporting the course for five years. The complete rebuild represents the next stage of that long-term commitment.
Studios interested in the new C++ course can find the available evaluation, pilot, and team enrollment options on the Studio Access page or reach out directly info@tomlooman.com.
What’s Next?
With the rebuilt core course complete, my next focus is a dedicated Multiplayer Programming Module covering Unreal Engine replication, Iris, multiplayer gameplay architecture, testing, and debugging.
Multiplayer was included in the original course, therefore current C++ students will receive the module at no additional cost.
For the rebuilt edition, I separated multiplayer into its own advanced module. This creates a more focused core curriculum for developers who do not need multiplayer programming, while giving me room to explore modern Unreal Engine multiplayer development in greater depth. Even without multiplayer, the new 30-hour core curriculum is larger than the complete original course (at roughly 25 hours).
The module is planned for release later this year (Q4 2026). During the fifth-anniversary launch (lasting till September 30th), new students will also receive it at no additional cost and gain access automatically when it is released. After this sale ends, the module will be a separate add-on purchase.
Launching Today
The rebuilt edition of ‘Professional Game Development in C++ and Unreal Engine 5’ launches publicly on September 21, exactly five years after the original course.
Whether you have been waiting for the Unreal Engine 5 rebuild, already own the original course, or are discovering it for the first time, this is the best version of the course I have created. I am very proud of the result and excited to finally share it.
