Unreal Engine 5 for Beginners: A step-by-step guide to building your first playable third-person game (Paperback or Softback)

Learn Unreal Engine 5 through a hands-on game project, progressing step by step from editor basics and Blueprints to AI, UI, cinematics, polish, and packaging

Free with your book: DRM-free PDF version + access to Packt's next-gen Reader*

Key Features

• Build a complete third-person game through a practical, step-by-step workflow
• Develop gameplay systems using Blueprints without writing code
• Create levels, a player character, enemy AI, UI, gameplay, and an opening cutscene in one project
• Solve common problems encountered during game development
• *Email sign-up and proof of purchase required

Book Description

Learning Unreal Engine 5 can feel overwhelming when you’re faced with a professional game engine, multiple editors, and interconnected systems. Instead of overwhelming technical jargon, this book takes a clear, step-by-step approach that shows you how the essential tools fit together as you create a playable game.

You’ll begin by installing Unreal Engine, setting up your first project, and exploring the editor to build and light levels. As you progress, you’ll create gameplay with Blueprints, import and animate a player character, and configure controls with Enhanced Input. You’ll then develop AI enemies and implement gameplay rules, mission objectives, and win-and-lose conditions.

The book also guides you through creating a main menu and heads-up display (HUD) with Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG), producing an introductory cut-scene with Sequencer, and polishing your game with environment assets, audio, and Niagara effects. Finally, you’ll package the project as a standalone Windows game.

By the end, you’ll have built a playable third-person game and gained a foundation in Unreal Engine 5. You’ll understand how its core tools and systems work together in a game development workflow, giving you the practical skills and confidence to create your own projects and take your first steps toward more advanced game development.

What you will learn

• Build and prototype 3D game levels using Unreal's Level Editor
• Create gameplay logic visually with Blueprints (no coding required)
• Import, animate, and set up a playable character
• Configure player controls using Unreal's Enhanced Input system
• Build enemy AI that can sense and chase the player using Behavior Trees
• Design menus and HUDs with Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG)
• Produce an introductory cut-scene using the Sequencer
• Polish your game and package it into a standalone playable file

Who this book is for

This book is for aspiring game developers, students, and hobbyists who want to learn Unreal Engine 5 through hands-on game development. Whether transitioning from another engine or starting fresh, readers will find step-by-step guidance accessible. No prior Unreal Engine or programming experience is required. You should have basic computer skills and be familiar with common video game controls, mechanics, and objectives. It also suits artists, designers, and programmers who want to learn Unreal Engine 5 through practical, hands-on game development and prototyping.

Table of Contents

1. Installing Unreal Engine and Creating Your First Game Project
2. Building Your First Game World in the Level Editor
3. Learning the Basics of Blueprints
4. Creating a Player Character
5. Handling Player Input
6. Creating an AI Character
7. Game UI with Unreal Motion Graphics
8. Designing and Implementing Gameplay Mechanics
9. Creating Cinematics and Cut-Scenes
10. Polishing and Packaging Your Game

Zhenyu George Li is a passionate video game developer with over 20 years of experience in the field. As a seasoned software engineer, George has contributed significantly to the development of numerous games throughout his career. He currently serves as a senior development consultant at Unity. George's fascination with video games sparked during his college studies, igniting a passion that would shape his professional journey. During the early stages of his game development endeavors, George immersed himself in technologies such as Visual Basic, C/C++, DirectX, OpenGL, and Windows GUI. These foundational experiences laid the groundwork for his subsequent success in the industry. Throughout his career, George has made substantial contributions to various commercial games. Notable titles in his portfolio include Halo Infinity, Magic Arena, Stela, Dead Rising 2, and The Bigs 2. His involvement in these projects has allowed him to gain extensive knowledge and practical experience in a wide range of domains, including programming, game engines, gameplay and AI, graphics, animation, multiplayer, game physics, frontend, and multiplatform. In practical application, George used both the Unreal and Unity engines in the development of real game projects. In addition to his achievements as a game developer, George has also honed his teaching abilities during his eight years of college-level instruction. He has shared his knowledge and expertise with aspiring developers, serving as a lecturer at the Vancouver Film School, College of Interactive Arts, and Hefei Union University. During his teaching at VFS, George instructed students in the intricacies of Unreal Engine.

Charles Shih-I Yeh studied computer science at the University of Southern California and began his career in games in the early 2000s. He has built proprietary engines, developed DCC tools to optimize pipelines, and designed gameplay mechanics, multiplayer systems, and tournament services for MMORPGs. Dedicated to education, Charles has lectured on game programming at several universities. He is the author of two game design books and the official Mandarin translator of several well-known programming titles, including Game Programming Gems IV.

Michael Oakes (BSc, PGDip, MSc) is an XR Specialist with Volvo in Gothenburg, Sweden who previously worked in Games Development at Unity for 6 years. He has over a decade in games and 30 years in IT, and holds a Master's degree in Computer Science with Games and Graphics Development from the University of Hull. Michael's expertise includes XR/VR/AR Design and Development, Shader Programming, AI, Software Engineering & Management, and Multiplayer Systems. Michael has also contributed as a technical consultant to books such as Unity Learn ML-Agents, Practical AI on the Google Cloud Platform, Unreal Engine 5 Game Development with C++ Scripting, and Data Structures and Algorithms for Game Programming in C++.