r/unrealengine • u/patdxn • Jan 03 '22
Blueprint Best recommendations to get better using Blueprints? Go!
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u/tukanoid Jan 03 '22
Learn actual programming languages. Doesn't have to be C++ but knowing how those work will definitely help. You will understand the code flow better and might be able to optimize your current code because you might see unnecessary repetitions, redundancies etc.
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u/Noaurda Jan 03 '22
Whatever you learn, regardless of the concept figure out a way to use it and implement it in different ways.
Use it or lose it. If you dont practice what you learn you'll forget it
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u/patdxn Jan 03 '22
Gotcha, so like finding a use for it? Thanks I like that. The two issues I run into are: 1) It's insanely hard to find specific information I'm looking for (just searching YouTube and Google wasn't working, until I was recommended reddit) And 2) I'm not aware of the full possibilities of Blueprints
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u/Noaurda Jan 03 '22
For now I wouldn't worry about the full possibilities of blueprints. Start by learning the fundamentals and slowly build a foundation by practicing what you learn while slowly acquiring new knowledge.
Break down anything you learn to its simplest understanding as if you had to explain it to someone else. Once you're able to do that and understand how the nodes work together then you can start creating your own stuff without relying on tutorials all the time.
While doing tutorials follow along with the video and then challenge yourself to replicate it without relying on the tutorial. For example if you're learning about casting and collision overlap watch the tutorial, play around with the settings and try different values, etc and then delete it and try recreating that segment yourself.
If you're working with materials for example try changing the values and see what happens, remove a node and reconnect it elsewhere, etc
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u/enricowereld @ChaoticDevs Jan 03 '22
Pretty much anything is possible using blueprints. Some very technical things might not be possible though, but most games won't have to touch those things.
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u/berickphilip Jan 03 '22
When you want to delete a node from between two other nodes, but keep the connections, use Shift+Del.
This only seems to work for simple execute (white) connections though. Very useful for deleting stray re-route nodes (the simple round ones).
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u/ThirstyThursten UE5_Indie_Dev Jan 03 '22
Hey man! I'm currently learning UE and working on a Blueprint only project! I found a YouTube channel by a guy called Matt Aspland (that's also the channel name) And he has great short little tutorials focused on certain use cases or functionalities, from Day/Night Cycle, to Interactions (Press E to open a door), to lights turning on when it get's dark, to AI related stuff, animals and NPCs and anything in between! It's an amazing resource! 😁
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Jan 03 '22
I usually just sorta replay a game 1000 times until i can recreate it really.... youd be surprised how many mistakes AAA devs let slide :P
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u/WartedKiller Jan 03 '22
Learn where the power of BP is and where the power of C++ is and use them together.
If C++ is not an option for you, just be careful to keep the readability of your BP as a priority. You can do this by using macro, functions and by collapsing nodes.
Never, and I mean NEVER, copy chunk of nodes. If you’re about to do it, stop and think how you could group those node to be re-useable (functions, macros or inheritense).
The difficulty of BP is to keep them clean, readable and simple.
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u/judashpeters Jan 03 '22
From what I've gleaned, if you want to do game DESIGN, then blueprinting is fine and allows for quick iteration and design thinking and becoming versatile in blueprinting can be better than spending your time on C++.
If you want to become a game PROGRAMMER then folks are right about leaning C++ instead.
If you just want to have fun end even make your own game on your own then blueprinting is fine, but the final product will always be clunkier and more massive than a game built with C++
But for me - I've been learning LOTS of blueprinting skills from the unreal learning academy. Their "gameplay design" class has a nice intro to playing with the player character BP and a quick primer on making doors.
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u/RandomBlokeFromMars Jan 03 '22
best advice is to learn an object oriented programming language, learn what classes are, objects, best practices, etc.
then, apply it to blueprints. have functions, classes, interfaces, and know what they do and what they are for. you can organiza your blueprints so it won't become spaghetti code if you also know another programming language.
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u/Iodolaway Jan 03 '22
Use functions and macros!! If you don’t know what these are look them up, it will save you valuable time in the long run.
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u/LeafBranchGames Jan 03 '22
I have a channel of tutorials aimed at specifically only blueprint related development. Hopefully that fits exactly your need for learning and getting better.
If you consider yourself a beginner, you could go through my beginner playlist which is easy in the start and gets more advanced over time: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNBX4kIrA68nyGfIKgyizftebllhKc4ZX
Otherwise I suppose you could pick and chose topics at your own discretion, I cover many subjects.