C++ Unreal Engine + AI Tools: Idea to Steam Release Game Dev

Explore using Unreal Engine 5, C++, or blueprints, and free tools like JetBrains Writer, GitHub, ChatGPT, Gemini, Telegram GPT, Canva, and fab to plan, design, and publish a Steam-ready game.

Define a third-person zombie survival game set in the Old West, with day and night modes and three zombie types, plus a step-by-step road map to Steam release.

Create a game design document and process diagram for an Unreal Engine project, mapping class hierarchy—from base character to AI and combat system—and planning assets, components, and a GitHub repository.

Set up a custom character by overriding the game mode or using possess, replace the default pawn, and configure the input component for movement and third-person camera control.

Bind enhanced input in the player character for movement and aiming, set up input mapping contexts in BeginPlay, and implement move and look actions with the player controller relationship.

Set up an input mapping context with actions for movement and look using w a s d, using vector 2d values and negate to map forward, backward, left, and right.

Learn to implement a stamina system in Unreal Engine with C++, choosing between a component or the player character class, and manage max stamina, current stamina, drain, and recovery.

Add trees to the zombie world by using rural Australia assets in Unreal Engine, migrate assets, enable nanite, and place foliage to enhance night-time visuals.

Learn to create cinematic street lighting for night mode in Unreal Engine by building a reusable blue-tinted light blueprint, configuring a spotlight with intensity, angle, and attenuation for zombie environments.

Build a state machine driven jumping system in Unreal Engine, using start jump, jump loop, and is falling logic, with separate state machines per weapon to ensure correct jump animations.

Learn to create an interactable interface and a pickup actor in Unreal Engine, wiring blueprint native events, components, and can interact logic to support player interactions.

Enable the stencil pass and use a post-process highlight asset in blueprints to highlight interactable weapons via custom depth and AI interactable interface, with color options.

Connect the player controller and character to interact with weapon pickups, then equip and attach weapons to the player via the weapon base and ai interactable interface.

Explore implementing a current weapon pointer in the player character and a blueprint-friendly weapon type enum, enabling equip logic in C++ and blueprint for modular weapon handling.

Derive a shotgun from the hitscan weapon and implement plate spread, damage per plate, muzzle flash, impact effects, plus blueprint and C++ integration for ammo, reload, and animations.

Build a base crosshair system in Unreal Engine by promoting shared brush variables, wiring images, and using widget blueprints to customize rifle and pistol crosshairs while keeping center consistent.

Fixes target misalignment by tracing from the camera for hitscan and projectile weapons, using the player controller for reliable muzzle to crosshair hit accuracy.

Design stamina visuals by customizing stamina and health bars with red and purple glow, using dynamic materials, brushes, and a set fill color event.

Learn to design and implement a weapon slots UI in Unreal Engine using a widget blueprint, dynamic materials, and visibility rules to support active, empty, and ammo states.

Learn to build an inventory component in Unreal Engine that stores two weapons and ammo, handles pickup, equip, swap, and visibility, and exposes core functions to blueprints.

Implement a three-slot weapon HUD in Unreal Engine by storing weapon data (ammo and icons) in a player stats widget and updating the weapon bar slots with blueprint implementable events.

demonstrates implementing a weapon swap system with three weapon slots, updates to the current weapon, and key-based input mappings, while highlighting best practices for organizing a large Unreal Engine project.

Organize Unreal Engine C++ projects by extracting repetitive code into private helper functions, modularizing begin play and tick logic, and separating concerns across weapon, camera, and input sections.

Implement a shared damage system in the base character class, including max and current health, take damage, and death handling for player and zombies.

Learn to create screamer zombies in Unreal Engine using blueprints and behavior trees, enabling screech on player detection and stink damage within a radius that attracts other zombies.

Implement reaper zombies with advanced behavior using a base zombie class and a behavior tree AI. Enable melee range checks, attack and dodge montages, and immunity to small arms fire.

Create an animation blueprint for the reaper zombie in Unreal Engine, importing dodge animations from Mixamo and zombie pack, with a blend space and montages for dodge, attack, and death.

Learn to implement zombie AI in Unreal Engine by using a behavior tree and animation montage that triggers a bite montage when a zombie enters a sphere around an actor.

Learn to implement a zombie spawner in Unreal Engine by validating spawned actors, enabling zombie AI and physics, waking rigid bodies, and controlling night-only spawns with zombie types and weapons.