Unreal Engine 4: Top-Down Shooter Using C++ & Blueprint

Install Visual Studio Community 2017 and enable the game development with C++ workload to set up your Unreal Engine 4 top-down shooter project.

Create a new Unreal Engine project with a C++ based setup, select maximum quality, no starter content, choose directory and name, then generate code and launch the editor.

Create and save a default level in maps named level zero, add a post-processing volume, adjust brightness, enable no pre computed lighting, and set movable direction light and skylight.

Create and organize Unreal Engine 4 C++ classes for a top-down shooter, including player, enemy, pickup, projectile, and UI widgets for game start and game over.

Organize the Unreal project by creating blueprint classes based on the C++ classes, then wire a covid-19 shooter game mode BP and start and over UI widgets to drive gameplay.

Unreal Engine 4 top-down shooter’s game start UI by creating a C++ blueprint-exposed event to instantiate the start menu widget and add it to the viewport.

Create a spacebar game-start input, bind it to a clear start menu function, and remove the start UI widget when pressed, demonstrating C++ and blueprint integration in a top-down shooter.

Set up the shooter player header by adding and exposing display mesh, static mesh, spring arm, camera, collision, and arrow components, with includes and editor exposure in Unreal Engine 4.

Set up the Unreal Engine 4 player class source file by creating default subobjects for display mesh, spring arm, camera, helper, and collision sphere and attaching them to the root.

Set up the player blueprint by linking the C++ class to the plugin content and applying the correct material instance to the static mesh, then test in play mode.

Set up player movement for a top down shooter in unreal engine 4 by configuring input mappings for move forward and move right, binding w a s d keys.

Set up top-down player movement in Unreal Engine 4 by applying a velocity-based world offset, easing speed toward a max, and handling input for left, right, up, and down.

Set up shooter projectile class with a collision component and static mesh, applying color parameter. Initialize size and speed from the shooter and destroy after five seconds via a timer.

Resolve intellisense errors, regenerate Visual Studio project files, rebuild Unreal project, and set up the projectile constructor to attach the mesh, configure collision and visibility, and move via local offset.

This lecture shows binding fire input actions and handling pressed and released events, then tracing the mouse cursor into the world to set the aim and spawn projectiles.

Spawn a projectile in Unreal Engine 4 top-down shooter by setting spawn location and rotation, configuring speed and size, and using a timer to manage firing.

Link actor scale and colour to shooting events by interpolating scale toward a size with delta time. Update a material parameter to drive color with alpha, tested in play mode.

Set up the enemy class components in Unreal Engine 4 using C++ and blueprint, adding a mesh and a sphere component, then compile and verify in the blueprint.

Set up enemy roaming in Unreal Engine 4 by generating random target points, implementing move to point logic, and detecting point reach for a top-down shooter.

Move enemies towards a target point by interpolating current location with delta time and speed, rotate the enemy mesh, and prepare a player reference for triggering movement.

Define a target enemy size and a function to set it, interpolate the uniform scale toward target with delta time, and test by setting target to one at 0.08 speed.

Unreal Engine 4 overlap events shrink the player on enemy contact, using C++ and blueprint to cast the other actor and trigger a size reduction.

Implement the enemy overlap workflow, adjust the world variable, and clamp target size to a small positive value to prevent zero and camera freeze, using Visual Studio and Unreal.

Implement overlap-based damage where the player projectile damages enemies, reduces their size, destroys them at a threshold, and spawns more enemies when fully grown.

Learn to prevent enemy death by shrinking mechanics: implement a regenerate enemy function, track initial and target sizes, and update overlap logic to restore size using delta time.

Implement a full size variable to control enemy spawns, add a creation complete flag and projectile hit check to prevent multiple triggers, offset spawn positions, and debug in Visual Studio.

Tune the shooter enemy blueprint by setting a random size and adjustable regeneration rate, exposed to the editor. Implement near enemy overlap checks to prevent firing when close.

Duplicate the enemy pickup logic to form the shooter player pickup in Unreal Engine 4, renaming references and wiring constructor, begin play, and tick to restore player size on overlap.

Learn to troubleshoot and configure the pickup blueprint class by regenerating the project, inspecting the component list, and assigning the correct mesh and material to the pickup.

Spawn pickups around the player using a timer handle and a pickup time expiry callback. Randomize X and Y spawn positions and apply the player's rotation to the new pickup.

Define a restore size function that resets the player to the initial default cell size (maximum) opposite of reduce size, initialized at begin play and activated via pickups.