Before we create a level, it is good to have an idea of what levels look like in Unreal Engine 4. Unreal Engine 4 offers the possibility to load up various types of game levels with a default playable level that's straight from the Project Browser menu option (this pops up immediately after launching the Unreal Editor). Personally, I really like this particular new feature of Unreal Engine 4 as it gives me a quick feel of the types of presets that are available, and I could easily select something as a base for the game level I want to create.

We will create a new map using one of the preset project types as the base for our first level.

In this chapter, we will use the Blueprint First Person template to create our first game project.

The steps to create a new Blueprint First Person Project are as follows:

On creation of the project, the default example level for Blueprint First Person will load. The following screenshot shows how the default level looks:

Using the preset project type with the example level, the first thing you'll probably want to do is run the level and see what the default game level contains.

Using the loaded example level, you should get yourself familiarized with the mouse and keyboard controls in order to navigate in the viewport. You might consider bookmarking this section until you can navigate the viewport to zoom in/out or view any object from all angles easily.

Views

Here is some quick information on the different views in 3D modeling creation: the example map is loaded by default in the Perspective view. Other than having the map in the Perspective view, you can change what you see in the viewport in the top, side, or front views, respectively. The option to switch to any of these is in the left-hand corner of the viewport. The following screenshot shows the location of the button to press so that you can switch views:

If you wish to see more than one view concurrently, navigate to Windows | Viewports and then select any of the viewports (The default viewport uses Viewport 1.).

The selected viewport number will pop up. You can drag and dock this Viewport...

Now that you are familiar with the controls, you are ready to create a map on your own. In this chapter, we will go through how to build a basic room from scratch. To create a new map for your first person game, go to File | New Level…. The following screenshot shows you how to create a new level:

There are two options when creating a new level: Default and Empty Level. Select Empty Level to create a completely blank map. The following screenshot shows you the options that are available when creating a new level:

Do not be surprised when the viewport is void. We will add objects to the level in the next few sections. The following screenshot shows what an empty level looks like in the Perspective view:

The BSP Box brush can be used to create rectangular objects in the map. The first thing to do when creating a level is to have a ground to stand on.

Before we begin with this, make sure the viewport is in the Perspective view. We will mainly use this view for most of the level creation unless specified explicitly.

Go to the Modes window, click on BSP and then click and drag Box into the viewport. This is where you can find the Box brush:

Here, a Box brush has been successfully added to the viewport:

You have now successfully created your first object in the level. We will go on to change the size of this box to a suitable size so that it can act as the ground for the level.

Select the box that was just created, and go to Details | Brush Settings. Fill in the following values for X, Y, and Z. The following screenshot shows the values that need to be set:

When you have set the values correctly, the box should look like this:

To help us see the level better, it is time to learn how to illuminate the level. To mimic ambient light from the sun, we will use Directional Light for the level.

In the same way as adding a BSP Box brush, we will go to Modes Window | Lights | Directional Light. Click and drag Directional Light into the Viewport window. The following screenshot zooms in on the Modes window, showing that the Directional Light item can be created by dragging it into the viewport:

For now, let's place the light just slightly above the BSP Box brush as shown in the following screenshot:

After the addition of light to the level, we will proceed to add the sky to the level. Click on Modes | Visual | Atmospheric Fog. In a similar way to adding light and adding a Box BSP, click, hold, and drag this into the viewport. We are almost ready to take a first look at what we have just created. Hang in there.

For every game, you need to set where the player will spawn. Go to Modes | Basic | Player Start. Click, hold, and drag Player Start into the viewport.

This screenshot shows the Modes window with Player Start:

Place Player Start in the center of the ground or slightly above it as shown in the following screenshot:

Deselect Player Start by pressing the Esc key. The light blue arrow from Player Start indicates the direction in which the player will spawn the game starts. To adjust the direction that the player faces upon spawning, rotate Player Start until the light blue arrow points in this direction. Take a look at the following tip on how to rotate an object.

We are now ready to view the simple level that we have just created.

Before viewing the level, click on the Build button, as shown in the following screenshot, to build the light, materials, and so on, needed for this level. This step ensures that light is properly rendered in the level.

After building the level, click on the Play button, as shown in this screenshot, to view the level:

The following screenshot shows how the level looks. Move the mouse up, down, left, and right to see the level. Use W, A, S, and D to move the character around the level. To return to the editor, press ESC.

Navigate to File | Save As… and give the map you have just created a name. In our example here, I have saved it as Chapter2Level in the …/UnrealProjects/MyProject/Content/Maps path, where MyProject is the name of the project.

After saving your new map, you may want to also set this project to load this map as the default map. You can have several maps linked to this project and load them at specific points in the game. For now, we want to replace the current Example_Map with the newly created map that we have. To do so, go to Edit | Project Settings. This opens up a page with configurable values for the project. Go to Game | Maps & Modes. Refer to the following screenshot to take a look at how Maps & Modes is selected.

Look under Default Maps and change both Game Default Map and Editor Default Map in the map that you have just saved. In my case, it will be Chapter2Level. Then, close the project settings. When you start the editor and run the game the next time, your new map will be loaded by default.

Now that we have created the ground, let us make the ground look more realistic by applying a material to it.

Go to Content Browser | Content | StarterContent | Materials. Type wood into the Filters box. The following screenshot shows the walnut polished material that we want to use for the ground's material:

Click, hold, and drag M_Wood_Floor_Walnut_Polished into the viewport area and drop it on the top surface of the ground. The resulting effect should look like this:

Now we are ready to add walls to prevent the player from falling off the map. To create walls, we will use the same BSP Box brush to create a wall. As we have just added a material in the previous step, you will need to clear this material selection by clicking on anything in Content Browser. This will prevent new geometries from being created using the same material.

Similar to creating the ground, go to Modes | BSP | Box. Click, hold, and drag into the viewport. Set the dimensions of the BSP box as X = 30, Y = 620, and Z = 280. To help us view and position the wall, use the controls to rotate the viewport. You can also use the different views to help position the wall onto the ground. Here, you can see how the wall should be positioned (note that I have panned the camera to view the level from a different angle):

Now duplicate the wall by first selecting the wall created in the earlier step. Make sure the Transform tool is displayed (if not, press W once when object is selected).

Click and hold one of the axes (the x axis, in the preceding example case) while holding down Alt + Shift as you drag the current wall in the x direction. You would notice that there is another copy of the wall moving in this direction. Release the keys when the wall is in the right position. Use normal translation controls to position the wall as shown here:

The room is now almost complete. We will learn how to carve into a BSP Box brush to create an opening for a door.

Drag a new BSP Box brush into the map: X = 370, Y = 30, and Z = 280. Position this wall to seal one side of the room as shown in the following screenshot:

Till now, we have been using the Additive mode (add the radio button that is selected) to create a BSP Box brush. To create an opening in the wall, we will create another BSP Box brush using the Subtractive mode. Ensure that you have selected it as shown in the following screenshot. Drag and drop the BSP Box brush in the same manner as before into the viewport. As for the dimensions of this brush, we will approximate it to the size of the door, where X = 115, Y = 30, and Z = 212.

When the Subtractive BSP Box brush is positioned correctly, it will look something like this:

To help you position the Subtractive BSP Box brush, you can switch to the Front view to place the door more or less in the center...

To make the ground look more realistic, we will apply a material to it. Go to Content Browser | Content | StarterContent | Materials. Type Wall into the Filters box. Select M_Basic_Wall and drag it onto the surface of the wall with the door. Then, we will use a different material. Type Brick into the Filters box. Select M_Brick_Clay_New to apply to the inner surface of the two other walls.

Here, you can take a look at how the level looks in the Unlit mode after applying the materials mentioned previously:

Build the light before running the level again to see how the level looks now.