The Game Developer's conference rolled around again this year, and what with the pandemic and fear of flying I didn't go. But I did feel the pang of missing out. In previous years people have posted talks and articles using the hashtag #notGDC but for 2022 it was looking pretty dead. So I figured let's revive it!
Despite no notice whatsoever, a bunch of wonderful people gave some fantastic talks on various Unreal and UI-related topics. We hosted them as events on the benui's Unreal UI Hangout Discord.
Understanding Unreal's Input Stack
Nicholas Helish walked us through how player inputs are handled in Unreal Engine. From the Unreal Heartbeat Tick down to Input Components and gameplay.
Creating a UMG/Slate Widget in Unreal Engine
I gave a sloppy rambling talk on how to copy-paste an existing UMG/Slate widget and use it to create your own.
Multiplayer Best Practices in Unreal Engine
Omid Kiarostami's incredibly in-depth talk on Multiplayer Best Practices was full of practical advice from his years as a multiplayer programming expert. I learned so many things that I can put to use!
UMG Layout Techniques for Unreal Engine
Scott Hernandez gave an amazing talk on how to compose UIs in UMG. In particular how to create UIs that are reactive to both the size of the content and the resolution of the display.
Unreal Engine 5.0 Enhanced Input Walkthrough
Alex Swaim covered Unreal Engine 5.0's new Enhanced Input system in a wonderful talk that has given me kick in the pants I needed to try the new system.
Unreal Overloaded - Soft and Hard References - Primary Assets
Amir Ansari's talk covered a huge number topics related to assets: the difference between hard and soft references, what Primary Assets are and how to create custom editor tools.
Designing Games for Commercial Success
Victor D. Goossens, co-owner of @VoxelPlugin gave a non-Unreal-specific talk on game design for indies on how to create games that are more likely to succeed, based on market analysis.
Thanks Again
Thank you again to everyone who gave a talk and attended! We had so many interesting questions from the audience, I think it's really helped everyone feel more connected within the community.
I'm looking forward to #notGDC 2023!
