Unreal Engine 4 Game Types

Produce a Specification for the Agreed Project

Now that I’ve had a mess around with the software I am going to launch Unreal Engine 4 and take a look at some of the different templates in UE4 and how they work with various game types.  The game types available in Unreal Engine 4 are:

-          -Blank

-          -First Person

-          -Flying

-          -Puzzle

-          -Rolling

-          -Side Scrolling

-          -2D Side Scrolling

-          -Third Person

-          -Top Down

-          -Twin Stick Shooter

-          -Vehicle

-          -Vehicle Advanced

The blank template is almost like UDK in that you simple have a blank canvas to work on, nothing is set up for you, you basically creating a project from scratch, there are no cameras set up for you, there are no player starts set up for you and there is no geometry set up for you… really your imagination is your only limit.

The first person template allows the play to see the video game from the games characters perspective.  This is a very commonly used camera type in video games, particularly used it shooter games, an example of with is the extremely popular Far Cry series where every single game in this series has used a first person perspective.  However it’s not just shooter games that use a first person perspective, the recent survival horror game Outlast used a first person perspective where you could simply run or pick up items.

The flying template allows players to control a plane which flies around the map.  I don’t really see this used in video games very often however an example of a game which would use this mechanic that is sticking out to be would be Nintendo’s Star Fox series, also the planes/helicopters in the Grand Theft Auto series may use a similar mechanic to this one.

The puzzle temple is quite self-explanatory, it allows unreal engine users to create puzzle games, puzzle games are quite popular across Android and IOS platforms, a great example of which is the extremely popular Candy Crush game which has been downloaded by millions.  However it’s not just Android and IOS devices that are a popular platform for puzzle games, handheld and home consoles have also had some extremely and commercially successful puzzle games, a great example is Tetris which was released in 1984 but is still going strong today.

The rolling template allows the player to control a balls movement throughout the environment, I honest can’t think of any games that would use this mechanic of the top of my head however it could make for a great mini game.

The side scrolling template is quite similar to a simple 2D side scroller however the camera is positioned in a way that makes it look like the player is in a 3D environment even though they can only move forward, backward, up and down.  Rayman Legends would be one example of a game that would have used this mechanic.

The 2D side scrolling template is where the camera is facing the stage straight on and make it look like the player is in a 2D environment.  Several games on classic consoles have used this including Kid Icarus, Metroid and the Super Mario Bros. series which still often creates 2D side scrolling Mario games.

A third person camera is whenever the games camera is positioned just behind the games main character, I am actually very familiar with it as I have used it before in one of my previous units when I was developing a level in UDK.  Examples of games that use a third person camera would be the Resident Evil series, Tomb Raider and The Legend of Zelda series.

The top down perspective is whenever is placed directly over the character giving the player an overhead view of the map, popular games that have used this perspective include the original Grand Theft Auto games, the Pokémon series and the Legend of Zelda series.

The vehicle template allowed me to, as the name suggests, control and drive a vehicle around the map, it was very basic though and nothing to flashy, the vehicles in open world games like Grand Theft Auto use a similar mechanic for their vehicles.

And finally, the advanced vehicle allows the players to drive around the map as well however this time it had more features and felt more like a racing game.  I was allowed to increase my speed, drive on a racing track and drive around loops and over ramps.