Getting Started with UDK

by John P. Doran

This book is written by someone who is passionate about games for those who are equally passionate about games. The step-by-step instructions contained within this guide will make creating your first game simple.If you have ever had the urge to know more about how all those amazing games you played for countless hours are created, then this book is definitely for you! This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to create a complete game within UDK.Even if you have no prior experience of UDK, you can still start building the games you want today.

140 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Adam Sherratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting Started with UDK is a fast track into the world of game development. By using the amazing power of the UDK (Unreal Development Kit) you are able to make a working tower defence game complete with scale form HUD and package it ready for distribution in less than 24 hours. It covers making levels from BSP geometry, using kismet to create gameplay logic without any traditional programming, ways to decorate and polish levels to make them both attractive and practical, how to make and use a scale form HUD in the game, which is a sought after tutorial in itself and finally how to use unreal front end to package your game ready to distribute. The guide is thorough and each step in decorated with screenshots so you can see how things should be looking at each stage and avoid problems further down the line. It also takes a lot of the instructions a step further by explaining why the step is being performed and this really helps create a greater level of understanding and allows you to be able to apply the knowledge to create some of your own game ideas. Another great feature of this book is its vast assortment of tips that greatly improve productivity in UDK and speeds up general workflow. On the other hand it does require you have a basic understanding of how to control the UDK so you would need to check out some tutorials for Camera controls and the general interface before setting out on this adventure. Also despite providing explanations for most steps there are still some concepts not covered that are important to beginners if they wanted to do a different type of game than the one made in the book. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone just starting out with UDK or in fact game development in general as much of the knowledge gained applies equally in other game making disciplines. Build a game in less than 24 hours, have fun doing it and then let your imagination run wild!

Check it out here:
http://www.packtpub.com/getting-start...

[Cam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that covers the fundamental concepts behind what makes games work in UDK. As an experienced UDK user, I kinda wish I had a book like this when I got started - it's much clearer and more concise than the majority of UDK tutorials out there.

By the time you finish this book you will have a working, playable game, which is incredibly valuable for those who are starting out in game development. "Getting Started with UDK" also acts as an overview to the whole game design process, as well as giving technical details and instructions.

Highly recommended as a first port of call if you are thinking of building something with UDK, or even if you just have a general interest in video game development.