Introduction to C++ Programming and Unreal

Overview

Class Central Tips

This course is all about starting to learn how to develop video games using the C++ programming language and the Unreal Engine on Windows or Mac. This course assumes you have previous programming experience in some other language. Although we'll start at the very beginning for C++, hardly anybody learns (or teaches) C++ as a first language. Similarly, Unreal Engine is a commercial, industrial strength game engine. With great power comes great ... complexity, so it's important that you have the will to work hard to learn how to use C++ in Unreal Engine. Computer programming is really fun in general, and programming games is even better! Caution: Introduction (starting to learn C++ and Unreal Engine) is not the same as easy (not hard to do). Learning to program using C++ in Unreal Engine IS hard to do, especially since this course is essentially the first half of a freshman-level college course. Meeting the course challenges while you master the material will be rewarding to you, but doing that will require hard work and maybe even a few expletives along the way. Module 1: Write your first C++ console application and Unreal script Module 2: Learn how we store and use data in our programs Module 3: Learn how we use classes and objects to implement our code Module 4: Learn the basics of Unreal Engine

Syllabus

Starting to Program

In this module, you'll learn about the course and get Unreal installed and configured. You'll write your first C++ console application and your first C++ script in Unreal.

Data Types, Variables, and Constants

In this module, you'll learn how information is stored in the computer using binary and you'll learn how data types tell us how to interpret the bits and memory and what operations we can perform on those bits. You'll also learn about the most commonly-used numeric types in C++, you'll get some practice reading documentation (which programmers do all the time!), and you'll learn how to use the debugger to find and fix bugs in your code.

Classes and Objects

In this module, you'll learn the foundational concepts in the Object-Oriented (OO) paradigm. This paradigm is incredibly useful in game development, because it models our software system as a set of software objects that interact with each other. Those concepts map nicely to games, which typically include lots of game entities that interact with each other. You'll learn how to actually use classes and objects in your code as well.

Unreal Engine Basics

In this module, you'll start learning how to use Unreal Engine. We'll explore how to import models into our games, how to set up the orthographic camera and light source for a "2D" game, how to create reusable assets (blueprints) you can add to the game either in the editor or from scripts, and how to use the physics system. You'll finally do more in Unreal than just write scripts!