Blueprints Visual Scripting for Unreal Engine

Cover
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
About Packt
Contributors
Table of Contents
Preface
Section 1: Blueprint Fundamentals
Chapter 1: Exploring the Blueprint Editor
	Installing Unreal Engine 
	Creating new projects and using templates
	Blueprints Visual Scripting
		Opening the Level Blueprint Editor
		Creating a Blueprint class
	The Blueprint Editor interface
		The Toolbar panel
		The Components panel
		The My Blueprint panel
		The Details panel
		The Viewport panel
		The Event Graph panel
	Adding Components to a Blueprint
	Summary
Chapter 2: Programming with Blueprints
	Storing values in variables
	Defining the behavior of a Blueprint with Events and Actions
		Events
		Actions
		Execution path
	Creating expressions with operators
		Arithmetic operators
		Relational operators
		Logical operators
	Organizing the script with Macros and Functions
		Creating Macros
		Creating Functions
		Macros versus Functions versus Events
	Summary
Chapter 3: Actors and the Gameplay Framework
	OOP concepts
		Classes
		Instances
		Inheritance
	Managing Actors
		Referencing Actors
		Spawning and destroying Actors
		Construction Script
	Exploring the Gameplay Framework classes
		Pawn
		Character
		PlayerController
		Game Mode Base
		Game Instance
	Summary
Chapter 4: Understanding Blueprint Communication
	Direct Blueprint Communication
	Casting in Blueprints
	Level Blueprint Communication
	Event Dispatchers
	Binding Events
	Summary
Section 2: Developing a Game
Chapter 5: Object Interaction with Blueprints
	Creating a project and the first Level
		Setting a template for a new project
		Making sense of the project settings
		Creating the project
	Adding objects to our Level
	Exploring Materials
		Creating Materials
		Material properties and Blueprint nodes
		Adding substance to our Material
	Creating the target Blueprint
		Exploring the Event Graph panel
		Detecting a hit
		Swapping a Material
		Improving the Blueprint
	Adding movement
		Changing the Actor's Mobility and Collision settings
		Breaking down our goal
		Storing data with variables
		Readying direction for calculations
		Getting relative speed using delta time
		Translating the existing location
		Updating location
	Changing direction
		Testing moving targets
	Summary
Chapter 6: Enhancing Player Abilities
	Adding the running functionality by extending a Blueprint
		Breaking down the Character Movement
		Customizing control inputs
		Adding a Sprint ability
	Animating a zoomed view
		Using a timeline to smooth transitions
		Increasing the projectile's speed
	Adding sound and particle effects
		Changing target states with branches
		Triggering sound effects, explosions, and destruction
	Summary
Chapter 7: Creating Screen UI Elements
	Creating simple UI meters with UMG
		Drawing shapes with Widget Blueprints
		Customizing the meter's appearance
		Creating ammo and enemy counters
		Displaying the HUD
	Connecting UI values to player variables
		Creating bindings for health and stamina
		Making text bindings for the ammo and goal counters
	Tracking the ammo and eliminated targets
		Reducing the ammo counter
		Increasing the targets eliminated counter
	Summary
Chapter 8: Creating Constraints and Gameplay Objectives
	Constraining player Actions
		Draining stamina while sprinting
		Using looping timers to repeat Actions
		Blocking Actions with branches
		Regenerating stamina
		Preventing firing Actions when out of ammo
	Creating collectible objects
		Setting up collection logic
	Setting a gameplay win condition
		Displaying a target goal in the HUD
		Creating a WinMenu screen
		Displaying the menu
		Triggering a win
	Summary
Section 3: Enhancing the Game
Chapter 9: Building Smart Enemies with Artificial Intelligence
	Setting up the enemy Actor to navigate
		Importing from the Marketplace
		Expanding the play area
		Making the Level traversable with a NavMesh
		Setting the stage for intelligence with AI assets
	Creating navigation behavior
		Setting up patrol points
		Enabling communication between assets
		Teaching our AI to walk with the Behavior Tree
	Making the AI chase the player
		Giving the enemy sight with Pawn Sensing
		Adding conditions to the Behavior Tree
		Creating a chasing behavior
	Summary
Chapter 10: Upgrading the AI Enemies
	Creating an enemy attack
		Making an attack task
		Updating the health meter
	Making enemies hear and investigate sounds
		Adding hearing to the Behavior Tree
		Setting up the investigating tasks
		Interpreting and storing the noise Event data
		Adding noise to the player's Actions
	Making the enemies destructible
		Saving time by reusing existing Blueprint content
	Spawning more enemies during gameplay
		Choosing a spawn point where enemies will appear
		Managing spawn rates and limits with variables
		Spawning new enemies in the Level Blueprint
	Creating enemy wandering behavior
		Identifying a wander point with a custom task
		Adding wandering to the Behavior Tree
	Summary
Chapter 11: Game States and Applying the Finishing Touches
	Making danger real with player death
		Setting up a lose screen
	Creating round-based scaling with saved games
		Storing game information using Save Game Object
		Storing and loading the saved data when starting the game
		Increasing the enemy target goal
		Creating a transition screen to be shown between rounds
		Transitioning to a new round when the current round is won
	Pausing the game and resetting the save file
		Creating a pause menu
		Resuming and resetting the save file
		Triggering the Pause menu
	Summary
Chapter 12: Building and Publishing
	Optimizing your graphics settings
	Setting up our game to be played by others
	Packaging the game into a build
		Build configurations and packaging settings
	Summary
Section 4: Advanced Blueprints
Chapter 13: Data Structures and Flow Control
	Containers
		Arrays
		Sets
		Maps
	Other data structures
		Enumerations
		Structures
		Data tables
	Flow control nodes
		Switch nodes
		FlipFlop
		Sequence
		ForEachLoop
		DoOnce
		Do N
		Gate
		MultiGate
	Summary
Math and Trace Nodes
	World and relative transforms
	Points and vectors
		Vector operations
	Traces
		Traces for objects
		Traces by channel
		Shape traces
		Debug lines
		Example of vectors and trace nodes
	Summary
Blueprints Tips
	Blueprint Editor shortcuts
	Blueprint best practices
		Blueprint responsibilities
		Managing Blueprint complexities
	Miscellaneous Blueprint nodes
		Select
		Teleport
		Format Text
		Math Expression
		Set View Target with Blend
		AttachToComponent
		Enable/Disable Input
		The Set Input Mode nodes
	Summary
Introduction to VR Development
	Exploring the VR template
	The Pawn Blueprint
	The Motion Controller Blueprint
	Object grabbing
	Teleportation
	Summary
Other Books You May Enjoy
Index