Why Solo Developers Should Use Unreal

So, I'm a Unity developer. I've been working in Unity for 10 plus years. But lately, like everybody else, I've been wondering just how powerful is Unreal and is it worth considering as a seasoned Unity developer? I sat down with Gavin at TwoStar Games. He's the creator of Choo Choo Charles and we discussed Unreal and why he chose to use it to create his instant viral hit, Choo Choo Charles. But also, he told me about some misconceptions about the engine as well. So, it started out with just kind of putting together I would call it like a visual prototype, just enough gameplay, just enough features to create that initial announcement trailer. The process there was really I was just trying to do stuff as quick as possible, really basic programming and stuff like that. So, I started out by just trying to figure out the train system. I hopped into Unreal Engine. I started working with splines and started creating kind of just a train track system. What's a spline? A spline? Great question, Thomas. A spline is when you take two or more

points in space, so in your game space, and you basically create a curve, like an interpolated curve between those two points. So you can create a smooth waving curving line. And then what you can do is you can attach objects or meshes, things like train tracks. In this case, you attach the train tracks to that spline so that it curves and waves all around whatever area. So, the mesh is not modular. It's not modular pieces that are snapping to a grid. Rather, it's No. No. It is it is it is it just straight pieces that are like 20 units long or is it literally building the mesh procedurally based on the spline? It's sort of a mix of both. So, I've got a a static track mesh, and then in Unreal Engine, you can just snap that mesh to the spline, and then that just kind of curves it, and then it'll just loop that mesh all the way along the

spline, and you get this nice curving mesh. So, let's give our audience here, let's give them an idea of what they're capable of. Okay, so let's try and be as honest as we can. Do you feel like anybody could create this spline system? Or are you uniquely suited as a solo developer? Are you smart with math? Are you smart with coding? Did you use blueprints? Did you use C++? Are you uniquely suited to create the system? Because I look at this game and I go, I wish I could say everybody could create something like this. But I think Gavin's special. I think he's he's a wizard. What do you think? I I wouldn't say special. I think just that oddly dedicated and willing to be beat up by a computer. I I guess that'd be a decent summary. That's good. I like that. I mean, I I think pretty much anybody if they really put their mind to it, they could create a similar system like for the track itself, you know, just the tracks, you know, looping into each other and a train that follows that.

Um, blueprints or C++? Blueprints. Okay. So, you did all this with visual scripting? Yes, the the entire game. I've never used C++ in my life. And I I want to make a note on this real quick because this is a misconception that I see way too much in the game industry and I've been thinking about it lately and I don't like I need to get the word out about this cuz this is ridiculous. So, here's the deal with Unreal Engine. A lot of people have this misconception that you can only do a handful of things in blueprint. They think, "Oh, well, yeah, you can do some basic prototyping in blueprint, but for anything complicated, you have to use C++." And there's a lot of information online that would seemingly reinforce this. So if you're a beginner using Unreal, you'll be looking up, okay, how do I make a train spline system or something like that or how do I snap a spline to another spline or whatever you're looking for. You'll go on to Reddit, you'll go onto the Unreal forums, and you'll always see always see people in the comments saying, "Well, that's impossible to do in blueprint,

but here's how you'd do it in C++." and they'll show you how to do it in C++, but they'll tell you that it's impossible to do in blueprint. I have read the phrase that's impossible to do in blueprint. I I've read that thousands of times and it has never been true. There's always either um maybe there's a function that does the same thing, but it goes by a different name in blueprint as opposed to C++. Maybe rather than being something that you do in blueprint, there's a different kind of asset that you use to do that function. Maybe there's a free plugin that you can download to get that functionality in Blueprint. Like unless you're making a AAA game or or an advanced double A game, you can use Blueprint for everything. Like just I just I want to put that out there. I think it's it's a frustration that I think a lot of game developers who actually make games full-time that we all share. The frustration being there's gatekeepers or there's like cultlike behavior. Yeah. About about how to make games the proper engine to I mean obviously Unity is

really screwed up based on their pricing. But in terms of the engine itself, I love Unity. I think it's great, but there's pros and cons to all engines and and the purpose you're going to use it for. Point being though, I'm I'm really into weight training as well. The same thing is true in the weight training community. There's always a right way to do stuff and there's always a wrong way and there's always somebody saying you can't do X, Y, and Z. But I've always said the people you should really be listening to are the people who have done it and not only done it, but they do it full-time and they're profitable doing it. Those are the people you should listen to. Everyone else on the forums and on Reddit and on social media who are just complaining or talking about how to do something, but they've never actually released anything. My theory is it's best to just take their what they're saying with a grain of salt. Do you know what I mean? I mean, honestly, it's like until you've done the thing yourself, it's difficult to identify who doesn't know what they're talking about. So, yeah, it's always just one of these things where Yeah. I mean, exactly like you said, here's the funny thing. You can make a

game wrong and it be profitable. Exactly. Exactly. I mean, if anybody was to crack open my game Pinstripe or Never Song or even Twisted Tower, which is our first 3D game, you're going to see a mess. Like, there's so much about our games that's just made wrong. And when I live stream, you know, 25% of the comments, and it doesn't make me mad, but 25% of the comments are like, "Here's how you should do it, Thomas." And I'm like, "Yeah, I don't really care." You know, we're we're making progress here, so we're good. Um, so I just want to encourage everybody listening that there's a million ways to do something. So, don't let the internet community tell you that you're stupid or you're not smart. Rather, just make progress. That's all you need to do. Make progress. Okay. So, you made this track system. Um, you're really impressed with yourself and you did it with blueprints and you didn't even use C++. Okay, keep going. I took some time, a couple days to put together this, you know, decent enough train model, uh, the player train model. Drew up some textures for it in I just did fully from scratch textures for

that one since I didn't since it wasn't based on an asset. So, I just had to do those ones from scratch. So, you didn't use like substance to paint the train or anything? No. No. See, this is one of these examples of something that I did wrong. Exactly. I don't know why, but I would rather I would rather open up a UV map in Photoshop and paint inside of that as if I was like coloring on Christmas wrapping paper. You know what I mean? And then you fold it up over the box. That's how I prefer to do things, which is totally wrong. Yeah. I mean, the like just for an example here with how to do things the wrong way. So, for the train mod, for most of the basically any custom model that I did in in Juju Charles, there's always like six different materials that are applied to it, I just use the Blender smart UV unwrap. Yeah. And like I don't even export the the UV map. I make the texture first. I put it into Blender and then I adjust the UV map within Blender, dude. To fit the text. It's It's messy. It's

messy, but it works at the end of the day. I released the game, so it's it's Oh, man. Gavin, I'm sure that encourages so many people listening right now that they're like, I I hope so. I hope so. To be blunt with you, that is the most ridiculous way I've heard of of actually painting a model. But the way my team does it, uh, I have a 3D artist that his name is Felipe. He's really great. The way he does it is he does it the the right way, you know, and I put that in quotes because there's there's a million right ways to do things, but he'll just he'll he'll actually export the blend model and then bring it into Substance and then paint it that way. But it doesn't matter cuz like when I look at Choo Choo Charles, I look at a game that has a very unique flavor. It just looks like it's handcrafted despite the fact that you used assets. Now, I know that your game it seemingly relies heavily on post-processing to make it look as beautiful as it does. Um, is this correct? No. No, it's not. Actually, I think the Are the volumetrics not post-processing?

Well, in Unreal, they're not post-processing. In Unreal, the volumetrics, that's a specific kind of It's an actor type, I guess. Mhm. I got So, it's it's classified a little bit differently, but I I would say the the volumetric fog that is that is pretty cool, though, and it does add a lot to the to the atmosphere. Um, the game would look very different without it. The the everlasting debate of Unreal Engine and Unity. There are merits to one being better than the other. Um, but I'll just say to people, maybe you disagree with me here, but I think the majority of us game developers shouldn't get too lost in the weeds and should just pick something and move forward. Um, assuming Unity's pricing model is going to stay the way it is, which that's a big if, but we'll see. Um,