Stage 2 of 8 · 8 lessons · ~2 months

Programming for games

Learn Unreal gameplay programming Blueprints first: actors and components, the gameplay framework and Blueprint communication, then C++ basics with UCLASS, UPROPERTY and UFUNCTION.

Start: Blueprints first

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Finish the first units of your engine's official beginner course.
Rebuild the player from your clone with a state machine instead of booleans.
Split one large script into at least three small components or child nodes.
Add a health component that raises an event and a UI element that listens to it.
Expose every tuning value in the editor and tune the jump or movement until it feels right.
Fix one bug using a breakpoint and one using debug drawing.
Commit after each working change.

Start with· follow one of these

CourseFree
Unreal Engine Learning (Epic Developer Community)
Epic Games
Epic's free courses: Your First Hour and Your First Game teach the editor and Blueprints
CourseFree
LearnCpp.com
LearnCpp.com · Beginner
Free, thorough modern C++, so Unreal C++ is only new macros, not a new language

Practise

Exercism
Free mentored exercises in C# and C++ to strengthen the language outside the engine

Keep handy

Unreal Engine Documentation
Blueprint and C++ reference for the current engine version

Also worth your time

Programming with C++ in Unreal Engine (opens in a new tab)Read
How Unreal C++ differs from standard C++ and how it fits with Blueprints
Game Programming PatternsGo deeper
Free book on the state, observer, component and other patterns games rely on

Before moving on: A small Unreal game built in Blueprints with one system moved to C++: a character with a state machine, an enemy, a health component that broadcasts an event dispatcher or delegate, and a UMG widget that listens to it.

Tauseef's advice

Follow the official course for your engine, but after every lesson change the project without instructions: add an enemy, a power-up, a second level. The difference between people who can make games and people who can follow tutorials is exactly that moment of building something the video did not show.