Game Development Patterns with Unreal Engine 5: Build maintainable and scalable systems with C++ and Blueprint
Author: Stuart Butler (Author), Tom Oliver (Author), Christopher J. Headleand (Foreword)
Publisher finelybook 出版社: Packt Publishing
Publication Date 出版日期: 2024-01-05
Language 语言: English
Print Length 页数: 254 pages
ISBN-10: 1803243252
ISBN-13: 9781803243252
Book Description
Improve your game’s code to make it more readable, reusable, modular, and optimized, guided by design patterns to enhance your overall use of C++ with Unreal Engine
Key Features
- Explore the fascinating world of design patterns and their applications in Unreal Engine 5 game development
- Learn how to translate code from Blueprint to C++ to implement performant solutions in game development
- Discover best practices for writing clean code and applying it to Unreal Engine 5 and C++
- Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook
Book Description
Design patterns serve as a toolkit of techniques and practices that enable you to write code that’s not only faster, but also more manageable. With this book, you’ll explore a range of design patterns and learn how to apply them to projects developed in Unreal Engine 5.
You’ll begin by delving into the foundational principles of coding and develop a solid understanding of the concepts, challenges, and benefits of using patterns in your code. As you progress, you’ll identify patterns that are woven into the core of Unreal Engine 5 such as Double Buffer, Flyweight, and Spatial Partitioning, followed by some of the existing tool sets that embody patterns in their design and usage including Component, Behavior Tree, and Update.
In the next section of the book, you’ll start developing a series of gameplay use cases in C++ to implement a variety of design patterns such as Interface and Event-based Observers to build a decoupled communications hierarchy. You’ll also work with Singleton, Command, and State, along with Behavioral Patterns, Template, Subclass Sandbox, and Type Object. The final section focuses on using design patterns for optimization, covering Dirty Flag, Data Locality, and Object Pooling.
By the end of this book, you’ll be proficient in designing systems with the perfect C++/Blueprint blend for maintainable and scalable systems.
What you will learn
- Grasp the essence of design patterns and their inherent utility
- Understand the layers within UE 5 and how they work together
- Identify the relationship between C++ code and Blueprint in Unreal Engine 5
- Recognize the design patterns found within existing Unreal Engine 5 functions
- Explore design patterns to understand their purpose and application within Unreal Engine 5
- Creatively apply design patterns to existing code to overcome common challenges
Who this book is for
If you are a beginner or intermediate game developer working with Unreal Engine and looking to improve your C++ coding practices, this book is tailor-made to help you produce clean, reusable code through the application of design patterns.
While this book will cover introductory tasks to show the fundamentals of Unreal Engine 5, its primary purpose is not to teach Unreal Engine from scratch. Prior experience with Unreal Engine will be beneficial, but don’t fret if your knowledge isn’t in-depth; the book will introduce tools and features as needed.
Table of Contents
- Understanding Unreal Engine 5 and it’s layers
- “Hello Patterns”
- UE5 patterns in action: Double Buffer, Flyweight and Spatial Partitioning
- Premade Patterns in UE5: Component, Behaviour Tree and Update Method
- Forgetting Tick
- Clean communication: Interface and Event Observer patterns
- A perfectly decoupled system
- Building Design Patterns: Singleton, Command and State
- Structuring Code with Behavioural Patterns: Template, Subclass Sandbox and Type Object
- Optimisation Through Patterns
Review
“Design patterns are one of the most valuable assets in the game developer’s arsenal. They keep your workflow manageable and efficient, and common patterns make collaboration easier. In the fast-paced, multi-disciplinary world of game development, design patterns are an essential ally.
Through this book, you will learn the essential principles of programming and build a strong understanding of the value and application of design patterns. You will benefit from an appreciation of how these approaches work in practice through working with one of the most powerful tools in game development, the Unreal Engine 5 games engine. You will learn the essential grounding to allow you to seamlessly blend between the Unreal Blueprint visual scripting system and C++, allowing you to develop complex and scalable video game projects.
Butler and Oliver are exceptional developers, designers, and world-leading experts in the Unreal Engine. The knowledge they share through this book will be invaluable to anyone working with this tool. Their step-by-step approach and the strong focus on practical examples and learning through doing will help you get the most out of your game’s development projects.
Unlock the full potential of the Unreal Engine with Games Development Patterns.”
—
Prof. Christopher J. Headleand
National Teaching Fellow, Head of Games Development,
Staffordshire University
About the Author
Tom Oliver is a game programmer with over 10 years of experience in working with game engines both commercially and in an educational capacity. He has used Unreal Engine for contract work both in and out of the games industry, creating systems for games to mixed reality training simulations. Tom is the Course Leader for the BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design and Programming program at Staffordshire University, responsible for maintaining the award winning structure and teaching of the course in the UK’s largest Games Education Department. Tom holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Games Design and Programming and a PGc in Higher and Professional Education. Tom specialises in researching gameplay systems driven through mathematical phenomena.
