Of all the features and improvements we’ve released for Unreal Engine 4, I’m not sure that any have really excited me and captured my imagination the way Paper2D has. Don’t get me wrong; we’ve added so many things to the engine over the last few months that I have to work pretty hard just to keep up – and I work here! But there’s just something about 2D games that touches on my first experiences in gaming way back in the old NES days (actually, it was an Intellivision, but I didn’t want folk to know I was that old).
With the release of 4.5, Paper2D became a bit more solidified in terms of its overall workflow. It’s not finished yet – still considered early-access – but I thought folks would like to get an idea of how they could start using it today to begin creating their own 2D experiences. So with the help of the system’s engineer (props to Michael Noland and the other engineers hammering on this system!) I’ve put together an introductory video set that shows how you can start using the early-access Paper2D tools today!
Watch the whole playlist on our YouTube channel.
These videos walk you through the creation of the same system as the 2D Side Scroller Template that is currently included with the engine. I thought building something that you could easily access and see the completed work without a lot of downloads might make things easier to digest. The good news is that we don’t really stop there – once we recreate the systems used in the Template, we go on to redesign the animation system into something a bit more like a state machine. Then, really just for the fun of it, I show how to put together a modular 2D lift that you can drop into the world, and quickly set its end position, movement time, rest delay, and even color. I just thought it’d be cool, and maybe help you start creating your own games from what we cover in the videos.
We hope you find these videos helpful! Thanks for checking them out, and be sure to send us your feedback as you start creating your own 2D games!