Unreal Engine Learning Resources

You’ve stumbled upon my collection of Unreal Engine resources and tutorials created by people from the Unreal Engine community. These are resources I sought out and stumbled upon while learning and creating with Unreal for the past few years.

Getting Started

• C++ Complete Guide – Tom Looman
  [Read] Comprehensive reference guide for Unreal Engine C++.
• Hands-on gameplay intro to Unreal Engine C++ – Tom Looman
  [Watch] Expects some prior programming skills in other languages or C++.
• The Unreal Masterclass – Course by Unreal Sensei
  [Course – Affiliate] Comprehensive course of 50+ hours to learn a wide variety of core Unreal skills.
• Epic’s Online Learning Platform
  [Watch] Official Unreal Engine course platform with video courses available for free!
• BeginPlay (Epic Games Series)
  [Watch] BeginPlay, a constantly evolving survey of Unreal Engine’s features.
• Getting Started Series by Tommy Tran
  [Read] Detailed getting started guide covering a variety of core topics.
• 27 Step Crash Course – World of Level Design
  [Read] Getting Started guide from the perspective of level designers.
• UE Tips & Best Practices
  [Read] Collection of Tips & Tricks from an AAA Unreal Dev.

New in Unreal Engine 5

• Unreal Engine 5 Guided Tour – Epic Games
  [Watch] Chris Murphy shows us a quick overview of some of Unreal 5.0’s new features in the editor.
• Lyra Starter Game Overview – Epic Games
  [Watch] Overview of the new Lyra game that ships with 5.0 and showcases its modular design.
• Large Numbers of Entities with Mass – Epic Games
  [Watch] Mass Frameworks uses ECS-style programming to allow massive amounts of entities to be processed efficiently.
• Unreal Engine 5 Masterclass – Course by Unreal Sensei
  [Course – Affiliate] Comprehensive course of 50+ hours to learn a wide variety of core Unreal 5 skills.
• Lumen brings real-time global illumination to Fortnite Battle Royale – Epic Games
  [Read] Insightful details on how 5.1 further improves Lumen with specific examples from Fortnite.
• Bringing Nanite to Fortnite Battle Royale – Epic Games
  [Read] More details on 5.1’s improvements in Fortnite, this time about Nanite performance.
• Virtual Shadow Maps in Fortnite Battle Royale – Epic Games
  [Read] Another insightful article about VSM improvements and optimizations available in UE 5.1.

For Unity Developers

• So You’re moving to Unreal
  [Read] Joe Wintergreen’s page dedicated to converting from Unity to Unreal.
• Unreal Engine for Unity Developers – Epic Games
  [Read] Absolutely worth a read to understand the differences and similarities before heading out on your own.
• C++ Complete Guide – Tom Looman
  [Read] Comprehensive reference guide for Unreal Engine C++. Read it, Bookmark it and use it as reference.
• Unreal Gameplay Framework Guide for C++ – Tom Looman
  [Read] Unreal has a built-in Gameplay Framework which you really should be using. It’s important to understand the core classes and their purpose.
• Things I wish I knew coming to Unreal from Unity – BenUI
  [Read] Some transition tips from BenUI.

Programming (C++)

• C++ Complete Guide
  [Read] Comprehensive reference guide for Unreal Engine C++.
• Unreal Engine C++ Pro Course
  [Course] Unreal Engine C++ Course for those looking to start or improve their C++ skills. Taught at Stanford University
• Laura’s C++ Speedrun (NEW)
  [Read] Good list of things to be aware of when starting out in Unreal’s C++ environment. Assumes C++ knowledge, just touching on the Unreal specifics.
• Why C++ In Unreal Engine Isn’t That Scary?
  [Read] “Working with C++ in Unreal Engine might be much easier than you think. It’s halfway to the simplicity of custom scripting language.”
• Epic Coding Standard
  [Read] Standards and conventions used by Epic Games in the Unreal Engine 4 codebase.
• Balancing C++ & Blueprint
  [Read] Epic’s take on combining C++ and Blueprint into your project architecture.
• Unreal Engine Build Tool Guide
  [Watch] Reuben Ward on “UBT” and how Unreal sits on top of C++. Great to get a deeper understanding of how C++ & Unreal work together.
• Async Framework
  [Read] Old forum post introducing ASync<T> and Future<T> for starting asynchronous tasks. Splash Damage’s GitHub has a Futures Extension that may be of value.
• Visual Assist (Plugin) Top 10 Hotkeys
  [Read] Great productivity utilities and hotkeys you’ll most often use for VAX.
• C++ Tutorial Collection (GitHub)
  [GitHub] Variety of open source C++ tutorials by Orfeasal
• Modules In-depth (Plugins)
  [Watch] The most in-depth video I’ve seen about Modules (also known as Plugins).
• Programming Subsystems (Live Epic Games)
  [Watch] Livestream from Epic on programming with Subsystems in C++.
• A Better UE_LOG
  [Read] A neat blog on improving the workflow for logging in C++.

Blueprint

• Blueprints vs. C++: How They Fit Together and Why You Should Use Both
  [Watch] Finally a good look at comparing Blueprint and C++ and how they work together.
• BlueprintUE
  [Tool] Easily post Blueprint snippets online. Pretty much Pastebin for Blueprint.

UMG & Slate

• Advanced Text Styling with Rich Text Block
  [Read] Official blog on the power of Rich Text Block.
• Connect C++ to UMG Blueprints with BindWidget
  [Read] Bindwidget is useful for C++ base widget classes to extend in UMG.
• Common UI Introduction
  [Read] “Common UI” is a new built-in framework containing common functionality for UI extending basic widgets like Buttons, Text, etc.

Performance & Profiling

• Debugging & Optimizing Memory
  [Read] Official blog post on “memreport” and reference viewer.
• Unreal Art Optimization
  [Read] Many chapters on profiling and optimizing your game.
• Aggregating Ticks to Manage Scale in Sea of Thieves
  [Watch] One of my favorites from Unreal Fest, show-casing techniques to improve CPU performance.
• Asset Reduction Tools and Optimization Tips for Load Times and GC
  [Read] Written form of the Unreal Fest 2018 presentation showing off many useful tips and tricks for optimizing your assets.
• Reducing Input lag “Low Latency Frame Syncing”
  [Read] Modifies the way thread syncing is performed to greatly reduce input latency.
• Shader Performance Measurement (why Instruction Count is unreliable)
  [Watch] Ben Cloward explains why Unreal’s Shader Instruction Count is an unreliable way to measure shader performance.
• Shadow Optimization – Proxy Shadows
  [Read] UDN Article (Licensees only) Example of creating cheap (merged) meshes to act as shadow proxies.
• Optimizing The Medieval Game Environment
  [Watch/Read] “Take a look back at Matt Oztalay’s series of talks on how he and the team at Quixel optimized the Medieval Game Environment.“
• Expert’s Guide To Unreal Engine Performance
  [Read] List style article with brief insights into different considerations to make to reach your target framerates.

Materials (Shaders)

• Shader Performance Measurement (Instruction Count)
  [Watch] Ben Cloward explains 3 reasons why instruction count is an unreliable method of judging the performance of a shader.
• Understanding Shader Permutations
  [Read] UDN Article (Licensees only) Understanding shader permutations is essential for workflow and runtime performance.
• Your Guide to Texture Compression
  [Read] It’s important to know some basics about texture compression and how it affects performance and visuals, this guide with help you with exactly that.
• Understanding BCn Texture Compression Formats
  [Read] I absolutely love this insight into BC texture formats as it helps demystify their differences.

Tech Art

• Creating the Art of ABZU
  [Watch] Insightful tech talk on underwater (rendering) tricks used for fish, kelp, level design, etc.
• Unreal’s Rendering Passes
  [Read] A deep dive into how and when a frame is rendered in Unreal’s Deferred Rendering pipeline.
• HLSL & Shader Development Guide
  [Read] Helpful tips and tricks for writing HLSL in the context of UE.
• Building Obduction: Cyan’s Custom UE4 Art Tools
  [Read] GDC Talk on some tech art tricks used to improve their internal art pipeline.
• Creating Portals in Unreal for Psychonauts 2
  [Watch] Fantastic talk about the detailed implementation and obstacles of portal rendering.
• DitherTemporalAA
  [Read] Neat little node to soften up opacity masking when combined with TemporalAA.

Gameplay Framework

• The Unreal Engine Game Framework: From int main() to BeginPlay
  [Watch] Very insightful video, will greatly improve your understanding of how and when the game framework runs.
• Unreal Gameplay Framework Guide for C++
  [Read] Primer to understanding Unreal’s gameplay classes such as Pawn, Components, GameMode, etc.
• Actor’s Lifecycle
  [Read] A look into how and when Actors get created and which functions get called to make that happen.
• C++ Save System
  [Read] Eventually you’ll need to store player progress. This tutorial will get you started writing your own powerful savegame framework.

Gameplay Ability System

• The Truth of The Gameplay Ability System
  [Read] A good read to demystify some of the pros and cons of GAS.
• KaosSpectrum’s Blog on GAS
  [Read] Bunch of articles related to GAS.
• Why you should be using GameplayTags
  [Read] GameplayTags are heavily used by GAS, but can be used on their own and provide a powerful tagging and context framework.
• Splash Ability System
  [GitHub] Source code & Documentation for a GAS alternative by Splash Damage they call SAS (Splash Ability System).

Multiplayer

• How to Understand Network Replication
  [Watch] Alex has some of the best videos, this one is about essential concepts for Multiplayer Programming.
• How to Connect a Multiplayer Game with Steam
  [Read] Setup tutorial for Steam online subsystem.
• Accurately syncing Unreal’s network clock
  [Read] Explains and attempts to reduce the inherit ‘desync’ of the server time clock due to latency.
• Reliable vs. Unreliable RPC performance and ordering
  [Read] Just one of those things that’s good to know about.

Steam

• Steam Rich Presence
  [Read] Adding rich presence (eg. “playing ranked TDM”) between steam friends.
• SteamBridge
  [Plugin/GitHub] “A UE4 implementation of the Steamworks API.”
• Advanced Sessions
  [Plugin/GitHub] “A Blueprint Library Plugin that exposes additional Networking/Session/OnlineSubsystem/Friends/Voice features to Blueprints that were missing.”. Available through GitHub too.

Asset Management

• Asset Manager for Data Assets & Async Loading
  [Read] Asset Manager provides additional control to loading your content on-demand.

Animation

• How To Make Custom Animations For The Unreal Mannequin
  [Watch] Using Mr. Mannequin Tools Add-on to build Animations in Blender.

AI

• Journey into Utility AI
  [Read] Blog series exploring Utility AI systems in Unreal Engine.
• Create AI with Behavior Trees
  [Watch] Tutorial on Behavior Trees in Unreal.

Editor Extensions

• GenericGraph – Data structure Plugin
  [Plugin] Extend the editor for things like quests, dialogue, and progression systems. Provides starting point to build your own.
• Adding New Asset Types
  [Read] Extend your pipeline by supporting custom asset types.
• Custom Details Panels in Unreal Engine (FPropertyEditorModule)
  [Read] Introductory tutorial on setting up a button and details panel.
• Plugin Creation Resources
  [Read] Collection of tutorials on creating plugins, modules, and slate.
• Editor Visualization Helpers
  [Read] C++ Tutorial on implementing editor-time helpers to visualize your Actors in the world.

Sample Projects

• Survival Game
  [C++] Survival Game with networking, AI, and lots of C++.
• Action Roguelike
  [C++] Created for Stanford University, a C++ game including AI, Multiplayer, SaveGames, UI, etc.
• Simple FPS Template
  [C++] Simplified FPS template based on the original. Removes some unnecessary elements like VR.
• UGC Sample Project
  [GitHub] Official Sample Project for User Generated Content.

Modding (UGC)

• Adding Mod Support with the Simple UGC Plugin
  [Watch] Introduces the Unreal UGC Sample Project.
• UGC Sample Project
  [GitHub] Official Sample Project for UGC.

Localization

• Unreal UIs and Localization – Ben UI
  [Read] Ben prepares you for localizing your game to prevent future headaches.
• Industries of Titan Localization Lessons – Ben UI
  [Read] Lessons learned from Titan of Industries localization efforts.

Misc.

• Lessons Learned from a Year of UE4 AAA Development
  [Watch] Ari Arnbjörnsson from Housemarque talks us through lessons learned.
• Classic Tools Retrospective: Tim Sweeney on the first version of the Unreal Editor
  [Read] Fun throwback to the origins of the Unreal Editor.
• Async Loading Screens and Transition Levels
  [Watch] Practical talk on asset loading and transitions (Unreal Fest 2019)
• Six ingredients for a dynamic third-person camera
  [Read] Daedalic Entertainment shows off their camera system and how it’s implemented in Unreal.
• Pause Game When Window Loses Focus
  [Read] Super easy way to pause your game when alt-tabbed.
• How to accept (Blueprint) wildcard inputs in your UFUNCTIONs
  [Read] Advanced C++ trick to allow wildcard (grey) pins in your Blueprint nodes.
• Using Dualshock4 controller (via USB, PS4 DS4 Gamepad)
  [Read] Windows Raw Input Plugin lets you configure additional input devices for your games.
• Content Browser ‘Search’ Syntax Cheat Sheet
  [Read] The Context Browser allows for complex filtering in the search box.
• Marketplace Search Tool
  [Tool] Third-party search tool to find assets on the Unreal Marketplace.

Sign Up for Unreal Engine Content

Receive the latest tutorials, tricks, hidden gems and more exclusive content!

Leave this field empty if you’re human: