How to Successfully Pursue a Career in Unreal Engine -David Pereira
David Pereira is the co-author of Game Development Projects with Unreal Engine. In our recent interview, we got a chance to learn more about him, his thoughts on Unreal Engine, and his recent book with Packt.
Q1: Can you tell us more about yourself?
I was born in Lisbon, Portugal and from a very early age, I knew I wanted to be a programmer. Growing up, I was influenced by games like Golden Axe, Street Fighter 2, Samurai Shodown 1 and always wondered how they were made. I took my first steps into game development by learning how to program in C++ with Direct X and OpenGL. I graduated in Computer Science from FCT-UNL (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa), and also developed my own simple games in my spare time.
After working at a consulting firm for three years, I became a professional game developer when I joined Miniclip Portugal, where I worked on 8 Ball Pool and on most of the Android ports. Two years later, I left Miniclip to start working on my own games full time using Unreal Engine 4, which had recently been announced. At the time, my only experience with Unreal Engine was with UDK, which I didn’t really like, but once I found out that the new version was open source in C++ and had the blueprints visual scripting language, I decided to give it a try and I’ve been using it ever since. I also worked for MPC (Moving Picture Company) in London as the lead programmer for the John Lewis Christmas VR experience (http://mpccreative.io/project/pjswxew), which proved that Unreal Engine is not only great for games but also for interactive experiences. I’ve been working on my game’s demo (https://twitter.com/NocticalStudios) for the last couple of years. It will soon be presented to publishers and is my biggest achievement so far.
Q2: What is your view on ray tracing?
Right now, developers are in a tricky place regarding raytracing. Current and next-generation games are in a transition state between the ray-traced workflow that mostly just works out of the box and the standard workflow that uses screen-space reflections, cubemaps, fake lights, and skylights to simulate indirect lighting. This means that developer workload will increase to make sure both workflows are supported, especially with the performance and fidelity modes that next-generation consoles are adopting. In a couple of years, once ray tracing becomes mainstream and we no longer need the standard workflow, games will be developed more quickly, and visual fidelity will significantly improve. I am very excited to see what the future of ray tracing in Unreal Engine holds so that, maybe one day, we can start talking about ray tracing in realistic VR projects running at 90hz.
Q3: What is Game Development Projects with Unreal Engine, and who benefits from it?
This book was made for those who are just starting in Unreal Engine 4 and want a step-by-step guide on how to have a good overall understanding of the engine at an intermediate level, using mainly C++. Even if the reader is already at an intermediate or advanced level, they might still find some useful information. Also, it is always beneficial to revise the basics from time to time and to keep up with the latest changes, considering that the engine has changed quite a lot since it was released in 2014.
Q4: What jobs or career doors this book will open?
Back in the day, if you wanted to make a game you would typically have to create your own game engine because it was too expensive for small teams to buy a license for a proprietary engine. That meant that if you started a job at a game development company, you would have to spend a lot of time learning how the in-house engine works. Fortunately, times have changed, and Unreal Engine is now free and open-source, meaning that there is no barrier of entry for anyone who wants to learn it. Companies are starting to use Unreal Engine, so if your goal is to work in game development, archviz, or virtual production, learning how to use this engine is a must-have to greatly increase your chances of being hired.
Q5: How will this book help someone become better at what they do at work on a daily basis?
I have always been a firm believer that the best way to learn or improve a skill is by making doable projects from start to finish. This book is structured with the same mindset, because it will first teach you the theory, then guide you through step-by-step exercises and finally test you with some activities. The exercises and activities in the book also cover all sorts of game genres, from a multiplayer first-person shooter to a single-player platformer, to make sure your knowledge is well rounded, and you’re prepared for the real world. Even if you are a more experienced developer, there are always aspects that you can improve that will impact your daily work, such as a new blueprint node that you did not know about that will cut down on some of your code, or some tips and tricks that will improve the overall performance.
Q6: What advice would you have for someone who wants to become a game programmer?
Try to make as many different games as possible. It doesn’t matter if they are originals or clones, as long as you know you can finish them. This is especially important because it will ensure that you have gone through all of the different stages of making a game (design, implementation, and publishing). Also, participate in as many game jams as possible, since it builds your team communication and coordination skills under a time limit. If possible, work in a studio where there are more experienced developers, so that you can learn best practices and how to avoid certain mistakes.
The book is available on Amazon through the following link https://www.amazon.com/dp/1800209223/.
