You've finally downloaded Unreal Engine. You open it up, excited to create the next big RPG or shooter, and… wow. That's a lot of buttons. 😅
It honestly looks a bit like the cockpit of a spaceship, doesn't it?
First off, take a deep breath. Every single game developer you look up to, whether they're working on Fortnite or an indie darling, started exactly where you are right now. Staring at that grey screen, wondering what a "Content Browser" is.
At GameReady, we see this every day. We know that the hardest part isn't the coding or the art; it's just getting over that initial hump of intimidation. The truth is, building a simple 3D game isn't black magic. It's just a series of small, logical steps.
Let's break down how to get started with Unreal Engine without the headache. We're going to build a super simple 3D prototype together.
Here is the biggest secret to game dev: You don't have to start from scratch.
When you launch Unreal Engine via the Epic Games Launcher, you'll see an option for "Games." Under that, you'll find templates like "First Person," "Top Down," and "Third Person."
For your first project, pick the Third Person template.
Why? Because it already comes with a character that moves, jumps, and has a camera attached. If you tried to build that movement logic from zero on your first day, you'd probably quit before lunch. 🎮
Check "Starter Content" when you create the project. This gives you a bunch of free textures, shapes, and sounds to play with so you aren't staring at a blank void.
Once the editor opens, it's easy to get overwhelmed. But you only need to care about four main areas right now:
Try this: Drag a "Cube" from the "Place Actors" menu into your Viewport. Use the "Details" panel to change its scale to (X: 5.0, Y: 5.0, Z: 0.1). Congratulations, you just built a platform!
Before you worry about making things look pretty, you need to make them fun. In the industry, we call this "Greyboxing" or "Blockout."
Don't spend hours looking for a realistic tree model. Just use simple cubes and cylinders to build an obstacle course.
This is the purest form of design. If moving your character through these grey blocks is fun, the game will be fun when it looks fancy. If it's boring now, high-quality graphics won't save it.
It's tempting to skip this, but if you want to properly learn Unreal Engine, you have to fall in love with the blockout phase. It's where the actual game design happens.
"But I don't know how to code C++!"
Good news: You don't need to. Unreal Engine uses something called Blueprints, and it is an absolute game-changer for beginners.
Blueprints are "Visual Scripting." Instead of writing lines of code, you connect boxes with wires. It's like drawing a flowchart. If you want a door to open when the player touches it, you literally connect a "On Overlap" box to an "Open Door" box.
Let's make a simple "Kill Z" volume (a floor that resets the game if you fall off):
Drag this Blueprint into your level under your platforms. Now, if you fall off, the level restarts. You just "coded" a game mechanic! 😊
A game needs a goal, right? Let's make a simple shiny object to collect.
Duplicate your "KillFloor" blueprint and rename it "BP_Coin." Instead of a box collision, add a shiny sphere or a cone.
In the Event Graph, instead of Open Level, use Destroy Actor.
Now, when your character touches the coin, the coin disappears. To make it satisfying, you could add a Play Sound 2D node right before the destroy node and pick a chime sound from the Starter Content.
Place five of these coins around your obstacle course. Now you have a loop: Jump the platforms, avoid falling (or you reset), and collect the coins.
Many beginners try to build an open-world survival game as their first project. That's like trying to build a skyscraper before you've built a doghouse.
At GameReady, we always tell our students: Finish small games.
A finished "Coin Collector" prototype is infinitely more impressive than a massive "Dream RPG" that never made it past the concept phase. When you finish something, you get a rush of dopamine and confidence. That's the fuel you need to keep going.
When people ask us how to learn UE effectively, we tell them to focus on these small victories.
Here is your checklist for this weekend:
We hope this removed some of the mystery around game dev. It's challenging, sure, but it's also incredibly rewarding. You have the tools right now to build worlds—you just need the practice.
If you've followed this guide and got the bug (the good kind, not the software kind 🐛), you might be looking for a bit more structure.
At GameReady, as an Epic Games Gold Tier training center, we specialize in taking you from "placing cubes" to "building worlds." We strip away the confusion and focus on practical, job-ready skills.
Want to see how we teach? We offer a Free Trial Lesson where you can jump into a live environment with an instructor and ask all those burning questions.
Don't let the interface scare you. You got this. Now go move some cubes! 🎮
