To use Unreal Engine, you must first install Epic Games Launcher:

1. Access the website (https://www.unrealengine.com)
2. Register and download Epic Games Launcher
3. Install and start the launcher
4. Click the Unreal Engine tab on the left-hand side
5. Click on the Library tab that appears at the top of the screen
   
6. Click the + button next to ENGINE VERSIONS to add a version of Unreal Engine to the launcher

7. Click the Install button
8. Click the Launch button to start an already installed version:

It is possible to keep multiple versions of Unreal Engine. This book uses version 4.20.3, but the examples were tested in version 4.22.0 and worked well. Blueprint is already a stable technology. The examples created in this book should work without problems in later versions.

After starting up Unreal Engine Editor, a two-tab window will appear. The Projects tab is used to open existing projects and the New Project tab is used to create a new project, as shown in the following screenshot. The New Project tab has templates that can be used for the creation of a project. There are templates made with Blueprint and templates made with the C++ programming language. In this book, we will only use Blueprint templates:

At the bottom of the preceding screenshot, there are three boxes with project configuration options. These options can be modified later in the project, and they are as follows:

• Target hardware: Desktop / Console or mobile/tablet
• Graphical level: Maximum Quality or scalable 3D/2D
• Starter content: With or without Starter Content

The starter content is a content pack with simple meshes, materials, and...

The first question you should be asking is: what is a Blueprint?

The word Blueprint has more than one meaning in Unreal Engine. First, it is the name of a visual scripting language created by Epic Games for Unreal Engine 4. Second, it can refer to a new type of game object that was created using the Blueprint language.

There are two main types of Blueprints: Level Blueprint and Blueprint Class. Each Level of the game has its own Level Blueprint and it is not possible to create a separate Level Blueprint. On the other hand, Blueprint Class is used to create interactive objects for the game and can be reused at any Level.

To open the Level Blueprint Editor, click...

The Blueprint Editor contains several panels. Each panel is used to edit one aspect of a Blueprint. The main panels of the Blueprint Editor are listed as follows:

1. Toolbar
2. Components
3. My Blueprint
4. Details
5. Viewport
6. Event Graph

These panels can all be found in the following screenshot:

The Toolbar panel is located at the top of the Blueprint Editor and contains some essential buttons for editing Blueprints:

The buttons are described as follows:

• Compile: Converts the Blueprint script into a lower-level format that can be executed. That means a Blueprint must be compiled before running the game or the changes made may not be reflected. Click this button to compile the current...

Now, let's create our first Blueprint. It will be a very simple Blueprint that will only contain Components. For now, we will not use Events and Actions:

1. On the Content Browser, click the green Add New button and select Blueprint Class.
2. On the next screen, choose Actor as the parent class.
3. Rename the Blueprint created to RotatingChair.
4. Double-click this Blueprint to open the Blueprint Editor.
5. On the Components panel, click the green Add Component button and select Static Mesh, as shown in the following screenshot. This Static Mesh will visually represent this Blueprint:

6. On the Details panel, there is a property named Static Mesh, which has a drop-down input. Click on the dropdown and select a Static Mesh named SM_Chair. This is a Static Mesh that is part of the starter content. The following screenshot shows the selected SM_Chair:

7. Let...

In this chapter, we learned how to install Unreal Engine and create new projects using the available templates. We learned that there are two main types of Blueprints: Level Blueprint and Blueprint Class.

Then, we explored the different types of panels that are part of the Blueprint Editor. The familiarization with these panels will help when developing with Blueprints.

Finally, we have also created a simple Blueprint using only Components.

In the next chapter, we will learn how to program the behavior of Blueprints using Events and Actions.