Blueprint Vs Actual Code

SuperSparkplug · Dec 2014

Hi there,

I'm a student working on an academic game project. I have experience with and can read code, but it is not my strong suit, but I am mainly an artist and designer so I need some programmers. While I have done this kind of development before, I was helped by friends who graciously donated their time for a relatively low fee. Now that they're busy, I'm going to need to hire a programmer at some point that I may not be able to afford at the moment so I've been looking into alternatives or ways to cut my costs.

I have experience and know how to use Unity and have been for several years, however I recently gained access to a educational 1 year license for Unreal Engine 4. I would like to use it since I have it, however apparently it runs on C++, a language I've never used.

I did, however, hear about the Blueprint system in UE4 and from what little I've seen of it so far, it seems to be like a more visual way to code, in the vein of programs like Pure Data, MaxMSP, and animation blend trees. I haven't had the chance to really look into Blueprint lately, so I would to ask those with more experience: How much does Blueprint function in relation to actual code and how much can it compensate?

I am willing to learn a bit of C++ to do this if necessary, but again, it's not my strength and while I have several months to work on this, it will severely hamper me to learn an entire language I doubt I will fully understand. I really don't have time for that considering I'm doing the rest of the development process myself. I would prefer it if somehow the Blueprint function would compensate for my lack of coding abilities but I don't know if it does.

Please let me know how Blueprint and actual programming relate.

paco · Dec 2014

It depends on what you want to do. If you're just creating some simple game elements and actions then Blueprint is perfect for that. As a programmer, I found there were a lot of examples for ways to do things in BP that I found hard to find code examples for. I'd say you could get a long way with just BP.

C++ can be tricky and there are a lot of subtle gotchas that pop up, especially when dealing with the macros that UE4 uses.

Personally I'd say go for BP and then when you get stuck, consider C++. You can easily use both together so it's not like you'd have to start from scratch, just code the specific bits you can't get working in BP.

SuperSparkplug · Dec 2014

paco wrote: »

It depends on what you want to do. If you're just creating some simple game elements and actions then Blueprint is perfect for that. As a programmer, I found there were a lot of examples for ways to do things in BP that I found hard to find code examples for. I'd say you could get a long way with just BP.

C++ can be tricky and there are a lot of subtle gotchas that pop up, especially when dealing with the macros that UE4 uses.

Personally I'd say go for BP and then when you get stuck, consider C++. You can easily use both together so it's not like you'd have to start from scratch, just code the specific bits you can't get working in BP.

Cool. Good to know it can take me places if I learn it.

My game is mostly a narrative piece in a first person perspective. Think akin to the game Dear Esther; It doesn't have a robust set of mechanics and is mostly about interactions with the world through actions and character acting/animation.

How far would you say is the general extent of Blueprint? What are things that you'd say it struggles in or has problems with? Also, how difficult would you say it is to learn?

ZacD · Dec 2014

BluePrints would be perfect for a narrative exploration game, from what I've heard, you could easily make an entire game in BluePrints (like your idea), and just move parts of BluePrints that have a big performance impact to C++ if you need to.

Blueprint Vs Actual Code

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