9. April 2020
Join the Unreal Fast Track student challenge and learn Unreal Engine online this spring
Are you a university student who wants to learn Unreal Engine? Are you interested to know what the best practices are for game development today, for a better career tomorrow?
From April 9 to May 22, Epic Games is bringing university students from around the world together for the Unreal Fast Track, a personalized way for you to learn Unreal Engine, participate in exclusive Q&As with industry professionals, and get to know best practices for working on remote teams.
You do not need any prior Unreal Engine knowledge to participate, and we encourage you to register as soon as possible to get the most out of the Unreal Fast Track.
The workshop series and supporting resources are designed to be completed in teams of three or four people. We recommend creating your group before starting the first workshop in order to get the most out of the material, which can be stepped through and discussed together.
Student teams that register and join the Unreal Fast Track hub on Discord will participate in a five-week, student-driven online learning challenge. Activities will include completing Unreal Online Learning courses, participating in group discussions, and creating an overarching project. You’ll work with team members to add new mechanics and systems to the same game week by week, building upon what you learn. By the end of the Unreal Fast Track, you along with the rest of your team will be able to make games in Unreal Engine.
Unreal Fast Track is about more than just learning the world's most open and advanced real-time 3D tool. You'll hone the soft skills needed to succeed in school and in the industry. To help you stay on track with classwork and projects, we will provide tools, resources, and coaching in the Discord hub to help you work remotely. To ensure that you can connect and learn from professionals, we will also host weekly Q&As with Epic and experts from many areas of the game industry.
The Discord hub will only be live for the duration of the challenge, so if you’re ready to learn something new with our help, all for free, go ahead and register now!
FAQ
If I miss the start date, can I still participate?
Yes! Once you register, you will gain access to the Discord hub, the challenge, and relevant learning resources.Can I bring my own team or will I be put on a team?
It is expected that all participants will create or join a team on their own, and register before getting started. The challenge is designed for you to complete the workshops, ideally with classmates that you already know, for optimal collaboration and progression.Is it okay to miss a week or miss a workshop?
You should plan your team’s schedule so that everyone can complete all five workshops to get the full benefit of participation. While it is recommended that you do one workshop per week, if you need to skip a week for your own schedule, consider doing two workshops the next week to make sure you remain on pace with other participants. A valuable benefit of the Discord hub is being able to seek help and chat with other students while they complete workshops at the same time as you.
Do I need to be a current university student?
We are only accepting current university students into the Unreal Fast Track hub on Discord at this time, but anyone can utilize our Unreal Online Learning platform, which has always been free.Can I do the Fast Track alone?
We highly recommend that you do the Fast Track with others. Being able to talk with teammaters while you complete the workshops is an important part of the learning process. However, if doing it alone is the only option, treat each discussion question as a written-answer question. Take your time to write a lengthy response to each question to ensure that you are thinking through ideas and steps.Do I need to complete the Fast Track in five weeks?
One workshop a week is the recommended pace for the Fast Track. While you could technically complete the entire Fast Track in five days, you could risk feeling overwhelmed by the information and workload. For the sake of scheduling, if you need to do two workshops in one week, that is reasonable. We do not recommend going slower than one workshop per week, though, as you would miss out on the benefit of discussing the concepts and learnings with other students in the hub.Read more about Unreal Fast Track and register here. We look forward to seeing you online!