How Successful People Make The Most of Unreal Engine

Many developers have started using Unreal Engine to achieve their expected level of visual realism.

The reason is the growing popularity of video games. The ever-increasing power of modern game engines has also led many people in gaming industries to strive for a more visually impressive and immersive gaming experience.

In this article, we will focus on how successful people make the most of their Unreal Engine with the help of WholeTomato’s Visual Assist.

1. What is Unreal Engine?

Unreal Engine is a video game engine developed by Epic Games. The founder, Tim Sweeney, designed it to help developers create video games for both PC and Mac platforms.

As the product grows, it can now be used by creators across industries. You can use it to create any VR, AR, mobile game, traditional console game, or animated feature film.

The company offers a free version of the software and a subscription-based version that allows you to use its engine on multiple platforms.

Unreal Engine is easy to use because it has Blueprints’ development tools. Blueprints tool helps a beginner game developer, who doesn’t quite master the programming language yet, to create their game from scratch.

The key benefits of using Unreal Engine include:

• You can use Unreal Engine to create games on mobile platforms, consoles, VR, and AR platforms.
• Unreal Engine also allows you to create 3D games.
• Unreal Engine also allows you to use code written in C++ and C#. Even if you’re not familiar with programming, there are many extensions out there that can help you use it.

2. What is Visual Assist?

Visual Assist is a tool that helps you simplify your game development workflow. When paired with Unreal Engine, it helps you work with a slew of efficiency.

It is a plugin for Visual Studio and it is available for all versions of Visual Studio. It is a Visual Studio extension and can make your life easier when working with Unreal Engine. 

You can use it to make the most of your time while working on a project and it will help you save hours of your time by eliminating tedious tasks.

Visual Assist has settings to customize how it works to suit your workflow better.

For example, you can choose to autocomplete U*Macro specifiers or make intelligent suggestions based on what you’re writing.

You can also automatically select which type of return value you want in C++ and C# by making implicit application and validating method aware of all U*Macro specifiers.

3. What Are the Top Features of Visual Assist?

Visual Assist is famous for several of its key features, including:

• Refactoring
• Code Generation
• Coding Assistance
• Code Inspection
• Debug Assistance

Refactoring

The Refactoring feature allows you to refactor your code quickly without losing the source code. Visual Assist makes it easy to rename variables, methods, classes, etc., and instantly shows you what will happen if you apply the change.

Code Generation

Visual Assist is also known for its code generation feature. This feature allows you to auto-generate methods and classes for your code.

You can choose between different code generation methods and define a custom set of rules for generating code.

Visual Assist will then provide a list of methods generated based on your defined rules.

Coding Assistance

The coding assistance feature of Visual Assist offers syntax highlighting, which shows the format of your current program.

It also includes auto-completion, which offers suggestions as you type a method name or variable name.

This feature provides handy functionality in helping to write large programs more quickly.

Code Inspection

The Code Inspection feature of Visual Assist allows you to view any part of your program. It gives instant feedback about what is wrong with the current line or block of code that you are viewing (if any).

The feedback is provided by “understanding” what you are doing. It can guide you to fix the problem on that line or block of code.

Debug Assistance

The Debug Assistance feature of Visual Assist provides an easy way to debug your program. It will show you all methods that have been called and the values they have returned.

This feature allows you to quickly and efficiently track down why your program doesn’t work.

4. How Can You Use Visual Assist to Make The Most Of Unreal Engine?

There are several ways Visual Assist can help you make the most of your career in the games industry.

You can use it to:

a. Remove Annoying Tabs

When you’re working on a project with Visual Assist, you won’t have to worry about creating tabs for every file you work with. Visual Assist will do that for you.

You will only need the tabs when you want to add or edit code. Therefore, this feature is crucial for developers who are new to programming. They’ll be able to focus more on what they’re doing and less on the mundane tasks.

b. Smart Suggestions for U*Macro Specifiers

U*Macro specifiers allow developers who are new to programming to use C++ and C#. With this feature, developers don’t have to enter them manually every time they write code.

Visual Assist automatically selects the best way, such that new developers do not need to think which specifier is which every time they write code.

c. Implicit Application and Validate Method Aware

Implicit application and validate method awareness is another feature that makes it easy for developers who are new to programming. The feature lets them know when they make mistakes in their coding logic and how they can fix those mistakes.

d. Go Without IntelliSense

Visual Assist lets you work without worrying about the type of return value you want to get from a function or method. It will auto-select the best way to write code for you.

Therefore, you don’t need to use IntelliSense in Unreal Engine. In addition, you can remove unnecessary built-in plugins from your software. Finally, creating more space is essential for developers who need more memory and storage.

e. QuickInfo for U*Macro Specifiers

The QuickInfo feature lets you know the specifier of a function or method when you hover over it. This feature is helpful for developers because they can read up on specifiers whenever they need to.

5. Ready to Snatch Success with Visual Assist?

WholeTomato’s Visual Assist is a tool that makes it easy for developers to focus more on their craft and less on coding. So, any game maker can have it easy while working on the next-gen console game and test their creative side.

It’s not a replacement for a dedicated team of programmers, but it can significantly lift developers’ work burden.

To get started with Visual Assist, check out the trial version and the tutorials on our site. Make the most of Unreal Engine now!