🎮 C++ for Unreal Engine

Programming gameplay in C++ with and for Unreal Engine 5.8 — beyond Blueprints, into the code that powers real games.

📚 About This Course

Blueprints are wonderful, but sooner or later serious Unreal work reaches for C++: for performance, for reusable systems, for engine features Blueprints never expose, and for the clean base classes your designers extend visually. This course is about that layer — writing C++ with Unreal (its types, its rules, its reflection system) and for Unreal (actors, gameplay, data, UI, networking).

It is standalone: a short on-ramp orients you to the editor from a programmer's perspective and refreshes the C++ features Unreal leans on hardest, so you don't need a prior Unreal or C++ course to keep up. From there we go deep, one system at a time, always tying native code back to the Blueprint workflow you already know. Every lesson uses real, compile-correct Unreal Engine 5.8 C++.

What You'll Learn

How Unreal's reflection system (UCLASS, UPROPERTY, UFUNCTION) makes C++ talk to the editor, Blueprint, serialization, and networking
The gameplay framework in native code — Actors, Components, Pawns, Characters, Controllers, and their lifecycles
Unreal's own types, containers, and memory model, and how garbage collection changes how you write C++
The C++ ↔ Blueprint boundary: exposing functions, properties, structs, and events, and the base-class/subclass pattern that teams actually use
Data-driven design, persistence, subsystems, modules, plugins, UMG UI, multiplayer replication, and performance profiling
How to assemble a complete, shippable C++ gameplay feature from scratch

Who This Course Is For

Blueprint-comfortable Unreal users ready to cross into C++
Programmers from other engines or general C++ who want the Unreal-specific way of working
Anyone who wants to understand what the engine is doing beneath the nodes

📖 Course Modules

12 modules · 44 lessons · ~55 hours · Unreal Engine 5.8

Module 1: Orientation & Setup

Where C++ fits in Unreal, the editor from a programmer's view, the toolchain, an Unreal-flavored C++ refresher, and your first compile.

Module 2: Unreal C++ Foundations

The reflection system, property and function specifiers, Unreal's core types and containers, memory and garbage collection, and debugging.

Module 3: Actors, Components & the Gameplay Framework

The gameplay framework class map, writing Actors and custom Components in C++, subobjects and lifecycle, spawning, and actor communication.

Module 4: Input & Player Control

Enhanced Input in C++, Pawns and Characters and movement, and the PlayerController and possession flow.

Module 5: Interaction & Events

Collision, overlaps and hit events, traces and spatial queries, timers, delegates and events, and interfaces for decoupled communication.

Module 6: C++ ↔ Blueprint Interop

The heart of the course: exposing functions, properties, structs, enums, and data to Blueprint, and the C++-base / Blueprint-subclass workflow.

Module 7: Data, Config & Persistence

Driving your game from data with DataTables and DataAssets, config properties and .ini, saving and loading, and Subsystems as the modern singleton.

Module 8: Modules, Build System & Plugins

Unreal's module and build system in depth, integrating third-party libraries, and packaging your code as a reusable C++ plugin.

Module 9: UI from C++ (UMG)

Creating and driving UMG user widgets from C++, binding data, and handling UI events in native code.

Module 10: Networking & Replication in C++

The multiplayer model, property replication and RepNotify, RPCs, and a full walkthrough of replicating a gameplay feature.

Module 11: Performance, Async & Profiling

Async and multithreading the Unreal way, and profiling with Unreal Insights alongside practical optimization patterns.

Module 12: Capstone

Bring it all together: build a complete C++ gameplay feature that integrates interop, data, persistence, UI, and optional replication.

Lesson 12.1: Capstone — A Complete C++ Gameplay Feature

✅ Prerequisites

This course is standalone — Module 1 orients you to the editor and refreshes the C++ you'll rely on. To keep the pace comfortable, it helps to have:

Basic programming literacy (variables, functions, classes, loops) in some language — the Module 1 refresher covers the C++-specific parts
Enough comfort in the Unreal Editor to open a project and place an actor (Module 1 gives a programmer-focused tour)
A willingness to compile, break things, and read build output — that's where the learning happens

Required Software

Unreal Engine 5.8 (this course targets 5.8; most concepts apply to 5.x)
A C++ toolchain & IDE — Visual Studio 2022 (Windows) or JetBrains Rider; Xcode on macOS. Lesson 1.3 walks through setup.
Several GB of free disk space for engine, symbols, and build intermediates