Blueprints Visual Scripting for Unreal Engine 5: Unleash the true power of Blueprints to create impressive games and applications in UE5, 3rd Edition

by Marcos Romero, Brenden Sewell

Unreal Engine's Blueprint visual scripting system enables designers to script their games and programmers to create base elements that can be extended by designers. With this book, you'll explore all the features of the Blueprint Editor, along with expert tips, shortcuts, and best practices.

The book guides you through using variables, macros, and functions, and helps you learn about object-oriented programming (OOP). You'll discover the Gameplay Framework and advance to learning how Blueprint Communication allows one Blueprint to access information from another Blueprint. Later chapters focus on building a fully functional game step by step. You'll start with a basic first-person shooter (FPS) template, and each chapter will build on the prototype to create an increasingly complex and robust game experience. You'll then progress from creating basic shooting mechanics to more complex systems such as user interface elements and intelligent enemy behavior. The book demonstrates how to use arrays, maps, enums, and vector operations and introduces the elements needed for VR game development. In the final chapters, you'll learn how to implement procedural generation and create a product configurator.

By the end of this book, you'll have learned how to build a fully functional game and have the skills required to develop an entertaining experience for your audience.

What you will learn
Understand programming concepts in Blueprints
Create prototypes and iterate new game mechanics rapidly
Build user interface elements and interactive menus
Use advanced Blueprint nodes to manage the complexity of a game
Explore all the features of the Blueprint editor, such as the Components tab, Viewport, and Event Graph
Get to grips with OOP concepts and explore the Gameplay Framework
Work with virtual reality development in UE Blueprint
Implement procedural generation and create a product configurator
Who this book is for
This book is for anyone interested in developing games or applications with UE5. Although basic knowledge of Windows OS is required, experience in programming or UE5 is not necessary.

568 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2022

Reviews

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good

A good book I learnt quite a bit from. Lots of detailed examples and a basic shooter game to implement. It’s a cook book so lots of very detailed recipes. But it’s comprehensive enough and easy to read. Easily the best of the four I’ve read so far.
My only disappointment ( hence the 4 rating) was that although the authors clearly know their stuff the book never rises above the level of a cook book. Scattered well working examples but no thorough and complete explication of concepts. The final section on Advanced Blueprints sounded promising but it turned out to be rushed and skimpy. So I know a lot more but I’m still looking for real understanding in many aspects.

[Avid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reasonable introduction to Blueprint scripting but could be improved. Most of what they explain can indeed be found in the Unreal Engine documentation and tutorials but it is not well organised and so not easy to find until you know what to look for. The book provides a nice compilation of key concepts, however the book is heavily padded with explanations of how to create every blueprint graph. I think it would have been more beneficial to just provide finished graphs with explanations of key points rather than explaining how to create every node in every graph, which after a couple of chapters the reader knows how to do without instruction.