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Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook
Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook

Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook: Over 100 recipes to accelerate the process of learning game design with UDK book and ebook.

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Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook

Chapter 1. Heads Up—UDK Interface Essentials

This chapter is for people who are starting out with the Unreal Development Kit (UDK). It walks you through some very easy procedures such as obtaining and installing UDK, glancing over the interface, UI conventions, level building, and even sending the level off to iOS emulation to play.

In this chapter, we'll cover the following topics:

  • Installing UDK and folder structure

  • What content comes with UDK

  • Beginning, building, and testing a new level

  • Deciding on your preferences

  • UI survival steps

  • Navigating the Content Browser

  • Accessing assets in the Content Browser

  • Creating and managing packages

  • Importing your own content

  • Cooking a map with Unreal Frontend

  • Mobile device emulation

  • Kismet debugging

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Key benefits

  • An intermediate, fast-paced UDK guide for game artists
  • The quickest way to face the challenges of game design with UDK
  • All the necessary steps to get your artwork up and running in game
  • Part of Packt's Cookbook series: Each recipe is a carefully organized sequence of instructions to complete the task as efficiently as possible

Description

UDK is a free, world class game editing tool and being so powerful it can be daunting to learn. This guide offers an excellent set of targeted recipes to help game artists get up to speed with game designing in UDK.Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook contains everything you need to jumpstart your game design efforts. The lessons are aimed squarely at the artist's field of production, with recipes on asset handling, creating content within the editor, animation and visual scripting to get the content working in gameplay.Unreal Game Development Kit Game Design Cookbook exposes how real-time environments are built using UDK tools. Key features are examined ñ assets, animation, light, materials, game controls, user interface, special effects, and game interactivity - with the view of making UDK technically accessible so users can transcend technique and focus on their creative design process. The book has well prepared recipes for level designers and artists of all levels. It covers core design tools and processes in the editor, particularly setting up characters, UI approaches, configuration and scripting gameplay. It is a technical guide that allows game artists to go beyond just creating assets, and it includes creative, extensive demonstrations that extend on mere functionality.

Who is this book for?

This book is meant for game artists who are getting used to UDK but may feel the need for guidance on matters of implementation. It also targets brave beginners who are struggling to find an all in one package for getting started with UDK, and want a ready to hand reference. Level designers can use this book to gauge their understanding of the editor, check for specific problems, and discover gems they may not have come across before.

What you will learn

  • Insights on essential editor functionality
  • Handling of custom assets
  • Assigning properties to level content
  • Determining the best approach to lighting
  • Setting up custom character assets
  • Implementing classes that handle your character s behavior
  • Required steps to configure UDK to work well for your game
  • The functionality of Kismet to drive events and actions
  • Ways to use Cascade to create impressive visual effects
  • The essentials of UI design with Scaleform and Flash
  • Handling of material editor networks
  • Ways to introduce animation into your level design

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Feb 22, 2012
Length: 544 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849691802
Vendor :
Epic Games
Concepts :
Tools :

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Product Details

Publication date : Feb 22, 2012
Length: 544 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849691802
Vendor :
Epic Games
Concepts :
Tools :

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Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook
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Unreal Development Kit Game Programming with UnrealScript: Beginner's Guide
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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Heads Up—UDK Interface Essentials Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Notes From an Unreal World—Constructing Game World Elements Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
It Lives!—Character Setup and Animation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Got Your Wires Crossed?—Visual Scripting of Gameplay in Kismet Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
It Is Your Destiny!—Scripting Complex Gameplay Flow in Kismet Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Under The Hood—Configuration and Handy Tweaks for UDK Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Hi, I'm Eye Candy!—Ways to Create and Use Particle Effects Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Then There Was Light!—Manipulating Level Light and Shadows Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
The Devil Is In The Details!—Making the Most of Materials Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
The Way Of The Flash UI—Scaleform, CLIK, and Flash Interfaces Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.1
(7 Ratings)
5 star 57.1%
4 star 28.6%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 14.3%
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Michael Apr 09, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Was mir an der "Cookbook" Reihe von Packt Publishing besonders gefällt, sind die wirklich für die Arbeit relevanten kleinen Tips und Tricks. Man spürt die Erfahrung der Autoren durchaus an. Die beinhalteten "Rezepte" decken sehr viele Aspekte der Spieleentwicklung mit UDK ab und sind auch ausführlich genug beschrieben und können einfach nachvollzogen werden.Der Druck ist ist in Schwarzweiss, qualitativ zwar okay aber nicht top. Die Bindung ist auch okay, das Buch hält trotz intensiver Nutzung noch gut zusammen.Notabene: Vor Kurzem ist die Unreal Engine 4 erschienen. Die Änderungen von UE3 auf UE4 sind sehr substantiell, daher würde ich allen welche mit UE4 liebäugeln anraten ein Udpate des Buches auf UE4 abzuwarten.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
C. Moeller May 29, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book contains many recipes for actions you will want to do, while working with the UDK. The books encompasses recipes on everything from installing the UDK, working with BSP's, importing and using your 3d models and animations into the UDK, and using Kismet for visual scripting, as well as much more.I would recommend this book for someone who has experience using the UDK, but would recommend looking through the table of contents to see everything the book covers, for recipes they would be interested in. There is a lot of good information, which can help bring extra details and polish to your UDK projects.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
B-Train Jun 02, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
There are are hundreds if not thousands of tutorials, forums, and other materials already online about getting started with map and level design in UDK. So, while Thomas Mooney's Unreal Development Kit Game Design Cookbook (Packt Publ. 2012) does cover the fundamentals very well, I believe it is best used by developers who are already comfortable with the basics, and are looking to make rapid progress in their abilities, or someone who has a specific requirement for a complex effect or feature. The solutions provided in the book give a great deal of summary information though, and create many opportunities to improve and increase developers' UDK skills through further exploration or experimentation with the advanced concepts presented.There are excellent step by step instructions for not only the fundamentals, but also sections on multiple complex effects and outcomes for lighting, materials, particles in Cascade, and visual scripting with Kismet, plus a badly needed comprehensive section on character setup and animation. (Alone, the translucent and transparent materials effects presented should serve to bring up the visual quality of UDK maps quite dramatically for an entire generation of young devs.) The use of third party software in conjunction with UDK provides many more capabilities, and Mooney does a great job with in-depth coverage of the process of working with Flash and Scaleform for UI.Beyond that, the book further expands the flexibility of execution of these techniques by referencing other tutorials and resources from developers besides the author. Also at the end of the text are URLs for more than half a dozen additional downloadable recipes online. There is also a comprehensive index in the back that allows the reader to quickly and easily find or return to the sections they need.I didn't finish every recipe in the book yet, and I came to this book with a few years experience in Unreal, but the updates and changes over the years make it difficult for the casual developer, or someone who's been away from it for awhile, to keep in step with all the versions and revisions. So I've been waiting for a book like this, as a source I can turn to for clear-cut descriptions and processes of the newer UDK development tools and techniques.The cover price for the eBook version is very reasonable and the February 2012 release date means the content is still fresh and timely. All in all, this is an excellent value for developers that are frustrated with hunting through forums and blogs, and need to take their skills to the next level.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
davidlom May 30, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
i'm fully satisfied with this purchase.nice and clear examples.good for beginners to intermediates.highly recommending for everyone who's interested in UDK GameDev.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Heleen Durston Jul 13, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
I am a big fan of the UDK engine and while this book is not for complete beginners, it definitely helps to gel what I have learned in tutorials. The book provides pertinent information on the SDK and helps you to understand not only laying out a level; but how to use Kismet to make things work.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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