How to Make a Game in Unreal Engine 5?

What is Unreal Engine?

Unreal Engine is a popular and powerful game engine developed by epic games. It is an advanced real-time 3D creation tool that focuses to create games with realistic and immersive experiences. Unreal Engine has become a polished and renowned game engine with several upgrades in the past years to create high-caliber games. The top games such as Fortnite, Gears of War, Hellblade, Street Fighter 5, Quantum Fever, etc are developed with unreal engines. Unreal Engine embraces cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality to create visually impressive games and it is completely free thus it has become the go-to game engine to develop games. 

Why Create Games on Unreal Engine?

Developing games in Unreal Engine is a great choice as it offers a comprehensive suite of tools to create games with high-fidelity, visually stunning, high-resolution 3D visuals. Unreal engine empowers developers to create games on various environments such as PC, Play Station, Xbox, iOS, and Android. The key aspects that make Unreal Engine the best option for creating games are Advanced Graphics Capability, BluePrint Visual Scripting, Nanite Geometry technology, Sound Spatialization, etc. 

Unreal Engine provides an extensive toolset that integrates a wide range of tools for various modeling, animations, level designs, etc. The blueprint visual scripting system in the game engine helps in creating games without a single line of code. Unreal Engine has an active and large community of developers that fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, etc. It also incorporates powerful technologies to make the daunting game development process easier. Owing to these amazing features and functionalities unreal engine has risen as the most powerful gaming engine in the gaming landscape. 

How to Make a Game in Unreal Engine? 

Creating high-standard and finest games ultimately depends on the sequential steps followed in developing a game. The following sequential steps help you get a clear understanding of developing AAA-quality games using Unreal Engine 5 from scratch. 

1. Analyze the game market 

2. Conceptualize the Game idea and Gather Data

3. Develop a Game Design Document

4. Design the Game Structure

5. Integrate Animations and Graphics

6. Create Game WireFrame

7. Develop Unreal Engine Game

8. Integrate Audio and Sound Effects

9. Game Testing and Quality Assurance

10. Game Deployment and Post Maintenance 

Analyze the Game Market 

The very first stage in developing a game is conducting market research and analyzing competitors. Brainstorm and redefine the game ideas to understand the primary goals and outlines the game’s scope to achieve the expected output. The market analysis becomes the backbone of Video game development as it helps developers to get an idea of the target audience and assess future investment opportunities, market demand, and trends.   

Conceptualize the Game idea and Gather Data

After analyzing the game market, the primary step is to conceptualize the game idea. The core concept of the game, storyline, game mechanics, technology stack, etc is defined. Further, other crucial data are gathered from the client to create a detailed plan based on the target audience, budget, key features, and time-frame to launch, etc. This is the root of the game development process which enables the game to grow based on the vision. 

Develop Game Design Document

Once the core game idea is ideated, the game design document is developed. It is nothing but a blueprint that outlines the features, and key elements of the game. It also defines the storyline, characters, game mechanics, progressions, technical requirements, level designs, visual styles, etc. This document helps to keep track of the core elements and can be altered based on the feedback. It acts as a guide for the developers and technical experts throughout the game development process. 

Design the Game Structure

Once the game design document is created, the further designing part takes place which gives life to the game ideas. This step involves the creation of 3D models, characters, environment concepts, and textures, and crafting dynamic-level designs. The game structure must be created in such a way that it offers an immersive and enjoyable gaming experience offering high engagement and interactivity. 

Develop Animations and Graphics

Once the game structure is designed, the animations and graphics are developed and integrated with the game. The animations must be realistic making the games that are visually stunning and more realistic with high fidelity and high resolution. To enhance realism the game is integrated with various features and effects like dynamic lighting, particle system, etc. The developers make the game look appealing and of high quality by incorporating various techniques 

Create Game WireFrame

Once the graphics and animations are created and integrated the game wireframe is developed. The wireframe is just the outline or a visual representation of the game being developed. The game wireframe acts as a blueprint for the game development which helps the developers with a clear design ensuring the graphics are visually appealing. Further iterations are made in the wireframe to get a clear understanding before getting into the main game development. 

Develop Unreal Engine Game

Once the wireframe is passed, the actual game implementation starts. In this phase, the game developers work on the frontend and backend processes. The developers start to create games with the blueprint visual scripting system or code using the C++ programming language. Once it is completed, the front end and back end are integrated by making the features and functionalities responsive. 

Integrate Audio and Sound Effects

After the final game is developed, it is integrated with audio and sound effects to enhance the overall gaming experience. The audio and sound effects are integrated based on the characters, environments, and events through sound spatialization technologies. This helps to mimic the natural sound of the characters thereby improving the reality in the games. 

Game Testing and Quality Assurance

Once the core game development is completed, the game is subjected to the testing phase. Here the developers and quality assurance team identify bottlenecks to improve the game’s performance, features, game mechanics, etc. The QA engineers conduct alpha and beta testing to ensure the game is free from glitches and bugs. 

Game Deployment and Post Maintenance 

Once the testing is completed, the game is ready for the final deployment. The finalized game version is deployed or launched in the respective environment and other platforms such as PC, mobile devices, and web browsers. After the game launch, post-maintenance support is offered to make future updates and solve minor bugs that arise within the game. 

How much does it cost to make a game in Unreal Engine?

Planning to create games on Unreal Engine? Then it is mandatory to know the cost and plan your budget considering the crucial factors associated with the cost. The cost of creating games on the Unreal Engine depends on various factors such as the licensing fee, size and complexity of the game, development team size and experience, tech stack and resources required, etc. 

Outlining the cost to create a game on an unreal engine without the exact scope and the level of graphics and animations might seem inappropriate. But in approximation, the cost of developing a mini to mid-level game in the unreal engine may range around $50,000 to $110,000 and the cost goes beyond $250,000 for high-level AAA games. 

How long does it take to make a game in Unreal Engine?

The duration for developing games on Unreal Engine might take around 5 to 10 months approximately for smaller to larger games. It is challenging to provide the exact period for creating games in an unreal engine as it may vary significantly depending on various factors like project goal, quality of the game, and the resources required. It is also crucial to have an eye on project management, and game evaluation as they make an impact on game development timeframe. Thus it is essential to plan the desktop or mobile game development accordingly considering all the necessary factors to launch the gaming platform on the estimated timeline. 

Challenges involved in making games using Unreal Engine

Developing games using Unreal Engine provides phenomenal opportunities but also comes with its own set of challenges. Developers face certain difficulties with the key tools Unreal Engine provides to create games. Some of the challenges game developers encounter while creating games are understanding the functionalities and the engine system, performance optimization eliminating unnecessary computations, the complexity of the blueprint visual scripting system, asset creation, etc. Regardless of the challenges Unreal Engine offers the necessary resources for the developers to overcome and create engaging and immersive games. 

Summing Up

Developing games on an unreal engine might be a daunting process but with the right set of tools, technologies, and a perfect team, it can be made more straightforward. By following a structured development process right from planning to deployment, developers can bring the gaming vision to reality. Ready to enter the dynamic gaming world? You are at the right place.

Maticz is one of the top unreal engine game development companies that develop games with unique gameplay features and game mechanics making them more engaging and interesting. Our creative team of vibrant game designers and developers strives to create games with out-of-the-box visuals and graphics.  We are rooted in offering next-gen game development services and our developers will create jaw-dropping game experiences with unreal engines.