Best Unreal Engine Books For Aspiring Game Developers

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There are two incredibly popular modern game engines: unreal and unity. In a recent post we covered the best unity books and in this post I want to focus solely on the unreal game engine.

I have reviewed a handful of books selecting a wide variety of content and difficulty levels. In this post you will find the best unreal engine books to help you master the art of game development.

You are reading: Best unreal engine 4 books

Absolute beginners can pick up a few of these books and get started, though you’ll likely get further if you already have some programming experience (preferably c or c++). but read this gallery carefully and see if any title catches your eye.

learn game development with unreal engine

Here’s one of the newest Unreal engine books targeted at game developers who want a deep dive into the program. Learning Unreal Engine Game Development covers 2D and 3D game development with the latest Unreal v4.

This book starts from the beginning with a history of the unreal and how it is currently used in professional game studios. you will learn about the basic interface controls and how to use them along with the workflow of a real game.

I don’t think this book would work very well for absolute beginners, although with a little dedication you could work your way through the material. but this is more geared towards people who already know a bit about c++ or game design principles and want to apply those ideas to the unreal.

will cover a variety of topics such as level design, 3d terrain, game animations, and interactive object creation, all in a span of 274 pages. great introductory guide to the unreal program itself, but this won’t get you to the full proficiency.

unreal engine essentials

This is another new Unreal book and this one focuses more on mobile game development for Android and iOS.

unreal engine essentials talks about static and dynamic lighting, unreal 4 blueprints, material editor and other similar features. The first few chapters teach you the basics in a step-by-step approach, and in later chapters you’ll learn how to create custom projects with UI controls and an on-screen health bar.

This book covers many of the same topics as the previous book “Unreal Engine Learning”. however, I think unreal engine essentials would be a bit easier as an introduction to the software. doesn’t cover as much ground, but focuses on unreal 4, which is the latest release.

In addition, this book also covers the basics of c++ for the unreal engine, so it can be a great option if you need a software programming guide.

unreal engine 4 game development in 24 hours

The best thing about Sams Teach Yourself is that anybody can pick up this book and get started. This is true for almost all of their books, and it’s the main reason I recommend this content to a majority of people.

Unreal Engine 4 Game Development in 24 Hours totals nearly 500 pages, making it a great book. you will learn the absolute basics and work your way through exercises presented in a tutorial approach. You will learn about the unreal 4 interface along with the best tools and common workflows adopted by professional game developers.

The static mesh editor, the people editor, and even the sound library are covered in this book. You’ll create real games that handle player input with realistic physics engines and on-screen interfaces.

In addition, the book adapts to all forms of play, from consoles to mobile devices. This means you’ll learn how to program control-based inputs and touch inputs, all from the same unreal interface. anyone just starting out with unreal should definitely consider this book their first resource.

unreal engine 4.x for example

Most programmers learn by actually doing and messing up along the way. Failure is the best teacher and the best way to fail is to attempt real project work.

unreal engine 4.x by example is the best book you can get for real unreal game development with sample projects. This book has a total of 506 pages and teaches you how to create 4 unique games from scratch, each based on a different skill set.

You should know a bit about programming before reading this book. It covers many C++ techniques, but it is not intended to be the perfect introduction to C++ programming. you dive into the nitty-gritty details of creating a first-person shooter game and even networking techniques for multiplayer games.

These exercises will take you to a high level of competition with an unreal game development. Before you pick up this book, you should already be familiar with the engine, but you can work your way up if you’re tenacious.

development and simulation of games with unreal technology

Alireza Tavakkoli is the author of this book and holds a PhD in computer science. Alireza has years of experience teaching programming for games and simulations.

This is why Game Development and Simulation with Unreal Technology is such a powerful book because it covers such a wide range of topics. You’ll learn the unreal engine, but you’ll also learn about the underlying technology for building levels, multiplayer features, textures, and even basic AI for enemies.

This book is huge. it has a total of 740 pages and the material covers everything from beginners to advanced topics. you could pick up this book with little or no previous experience, and in the end, you could feel very comfortable working with unreal.

You will work your way through three sections of the book. first it’s an introduction to unreal 4, then you get into detailed rendering like textures and shading. then finally the last section teaches advanced game development with real examples.

It’s an expensive option, but I think this book is worth it. great book to master unreal 4 and learn from a master who is worthy to write this book.

visual script projects for unreal engine

The Unreal Editor comes with a powerful blueprints feature for visual scripting. It’s very complicated and there’s nothing else quite like it in other engines.

Many of the beginner books on this list hit the ground running, but none really go deep. however, the blueprints visual scripts for unreal engine are the perfect guide to learning and mastering the blueprints feature.

This book teaches you how to interact with the plane interface and how to use it for complex game functions. this includes player controls, on-screen user interface, artificial intelligence, and story mapping for cutscenes.

In the end you will have created a custom first person shooter using the blueprint feature throughout. This book is perfect for anyone comfortable with unreal 4 who wants to delve much deeper into blueprint scripting.

learning c++ creating games with ue4

Many beginner books start with Unreal and expect you to pick up C++ as you go. However Learning C++ by Creating Games with UE4 flips this idea on its head.

You can start this book with zero knowledge of Unreal or C++ and end up feeling comfortable with both. I would recommend this more to programmers who want to get into programming but aren’t 100% convinced of the unreal.

yes, you will learn about the interface of unreal 4. but you will also learn how to code c++ and how this affects your game development workflow.

The author teaches you the basics of C++ and how it applies to game development. this includes reusable dry code, memory management, and working with more complex game libraries. you don’t need any prior development knowledge or even an ide. this book helps get you started on the right path and shares everything you need to know.

unreal engine lighting and rendering essentials

The intricacies of rendering light and shadow can seem endless. Artists study this topic for years and game developers need to understand many of the same concepts.

Fortunately, computers make it easy to render shadows, but it’s still important to understand how to do it. unreal engine lighting and rendering essentials teaches you how to work with unreal’s built-in library for shading and lighting.

When you consider lighting, you should also consider the materials on the game map. metal, wood and flooring reflect light differently. the same goes for the way shadows fall on the ground or fall on objects.

This book teaches the basics of lighting in Unreal 4 along with related libraries such as the Cascading Particle Editor. you will learn about light and shadow on different devices and how to handle images for smaller 3d games.

To be honest, this is not an easy book. you should already have some experience working with unreal before delving into lighting/shading engines. but if you’re ready for this topic, I can’t imagine a better reference guide.

unreal engine 4 ai programming basics

From in-game enemies to NPCs there’s a real need for AI development. This has been around since the early days of NES/SNES but has advanced tremendously in recent years.

With Unreal Engine 4 AI Programming Basics, you will learn the absolute basics of artificial intelligence as it relates to game design. You don’t need any prior knowledge of artificial intelligence or machine learning to pick up this book. however, you must have previous experience creating a couple of games in unreal.

There is no introduction for newbies, so you’ll already need unreal 4 experience and some c++ experience. but the examples in this book are fantastic and cover probability and debugging with AI behavior.

You will leave with a very advanced understanding of AI development and this is without a doubt one of the best AI books on the market. however, the concepts don’t translate well to unity, so this book is best left for unreal 4 users.

master unreal engine 4.x

Here’s another newer Unreal book that I think fits the title perfectly. Mastering Unreal Engine 4.X teaches developers with some experience how to take Unreal to the next level.

The goal is to teach developers how AAA game studios use unreal by following a step-by-step workflow. You should now be able to create a custom game with unreal and should be very comfortable writing c++ code.

3d game design with unreal engine 4 and blender

I’m tossing this book into the mix for anyone with a side interest in 3D visual art. Rendering with Blender is very complicated and while it is easier than Maya, it’s still a powerful tool used by professionals in AAA studios.

3d game design with unreal engine 4 and blender teaches you how to incorporate 3d modeling with blender into your unreal engine game development workflow. this is primarily intended for indie developers who tend to go the jacks-of-all-trades route.

but professional game designers can also hone their skills with unreal or blender (or both, depending on experience).

If you’re already comfortable with the unreal, then this book is perfect for you.

will teach you how to incorporate blender for game animations, 3d renderings and how to improve lighting/shading for 3d environments. You will also learn how to exchange files between both programs, which is a must in the world of professional game development.

unreal engine 4 scripts with c++ cookbook

Lastly we come to the most detailed intermediate-to-advanced book in this whole post. I’m a huge fan of cookbooks because the code snippets solve real world problems that you can apply to most projects.

unreal engine 4 scripting with c++ cookbook offers 431 pages full of 80+ different recipes for developing unreal games. Please note that this is not an unreal cookbook, but a C++ cookbook. it is primarily intended for programmers working with the unreal engine.

The initial chapters can seem quite basic and cover UI controls and game mechanics. later chapters are devoted to debugging, improving performance, and adding third-party libraries to enhance images and content. animations.

if you don’t want c++ recipes you can always refer to the slightly older unreal engine cookbook, but I personally think the c++ cookbook is much better when it comes to advanced unreal game development techniques engine aaa.

I know this post is long and filled with many books to choose from. I’ve tried to order the books from the easiest to the most advanced titles, but you can always mix them up according to your comfort level.

Absolute beginners who need a very easy guide should check out unreal engine 4 game development in 24 hours. the writing style is simple and very easy to read, making it the perfect starting point for any aspiring game developer.

but if you’re willing to dig deeper, I highly recommend developing and simulating 700 page games with unreal technology. it will be hard to get through without experience, but it will also take you from being a complete novice to a pretty advanced unreal engine developer.

And for advanced users I would naturally recommend the unreal4/c++ scripting cookbook. the recipes are amazing and it’s easily one of the best cookbooks I’ve seen in the game development realm.

but no matter where you are, there is sure to be something in this post that will help you take your unreal motor skills to the next level.

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