The Beginning of Development

For the development of The World I have chosen to use Unreal Engine 5.3. In my journey as a game developer, I’ve spent a lot of time working with Unity and a range of simpler engines. I have not yet developed a game through Unreal Engine, so I thought this project would be a great way to get into the game tools the engine provides. In the past, I have used it extensively for other creative pursuits, such as producing 3D art and animations. This prior experience has given me a good understanding of the engine’s interface, which has made it much easier to adapt to using Unreal Engine 5.3 for the current game development project.

What sets Unreal Engine apart from other game engines I’ve used is its unique coding system, known as Blueprints. This system is based on nodes, which can be a bit intimidating when you first encounter them. However, I’ve found that online tutorials are a great resource for learning about Blueprints. They can help you understand what each node does and how they all work together. What’s really impressive about Blueprints is that it manages to be both simple and advanced at the same time. It’s simple in the sense that once you understand the basics, you can start creating right away. But it’s also advanced in that it gives you the tools and flexibility to code complex scenarios if you need to. This balance of simplicity and power is one of the reasons why I find Unreal Engine’s Blueprint system so useful in game development. This doesn't come with out its difficulties though and normal game development pain, learning this engine will be a huge task but I am excited to get into it and discover what I can do with the tools it provides.

The First Steps

To get started on this project I have created a plan which focuses on initially prototyping and refining many of the main mechanics before moving into the development of the narrative in a more linear process once the foundation is built. Below you can see the plans for each prototype and what I aim to achieve.

What's Next?

The next steps are to begin building the prototypes starting with the movement prototype. The next post will detail the prototype as well as aspects of its development.