I watch numerous tutorials on blueprint scripting but I have trouble bringing it all together, one of the Epic games tutorials on inventory, there are variables, functions and references to different parts of the game in all different areas which confuses me. I want to learn blueprints but I don’t know some of the terms when it comes to scripting such as casting, self, and other inputs and outputs to the blueprint system, are there any tutorials that bring scripting and blueprint together so I can get a better understanding of how they are similar and different.
Specifically to answer your question – probably it’s better to take some course about UE4 for the beginners, there is one good (I’ve personally started with it) on Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/unrealcourse/ (it’s paid)
Also there are a lot of “getting started” tutorials in the docs: Blueprint Visual Scripting | Unreal Engine Documentation
The more common answer is the Blueprints is the same as “scripting” (programming, actually), it’s just have the different syntax (visual instead of textual).
The specific terms you’ve mentioned are common concepts across a lot of different programming languages.
You can just google them at first, it’s quickly become familiar.
If you didn’t had any programming experience before, you can look for some “novice” courses on almost any programming language to get those basic concepts (usually such courses are free).
Not sure if it’s answer your question, feel free to ask anything more specific in the comments.
I’ve watched a lot of the beginning tutorials on the engine, UI, particles and asset management, but the blueprints is where it gets confusing. Trying to figure out how to link every thing together by binding different aspects of an asset. It’s just hard trying to know where everything “talks” to each other. Once I get more familiarized with coding, more than likely c++. How would I convert what I’ve learned to blueprints? I understand c++ is faster but unless I need to squeeze every ounce of optimization out of my game, I’ll probably go with blueprints because I like the system, thanks for your help
if the things being used in a tutorial are completely beyond you then it is probably a bit to advanced for you right now. i would take a step back and learn other things until you gain a bit more experience and knowledge. you mention a inventory tutorial, thats a intermediate topic id say. i wouldnt go for that one until your familiar with blueprint communication.
if i were in your place, (and this is how i started out in UE4) i would do the intro to blueprints series. then once you know how to make things happen within an actor move on to the blueprint communication stuff and build a health system or a light that turns on when a switch actor is activated. simple things at first then build on it one node at a time and let the knowledge snowball until you can do it all.
another good playlist for beginners i think is the blueprint jumpstarts list .
the basic idea to learning programming and getting better at anything really just comes down to experience. learn something then build on it and adapt it to work in different ways.
once you understand basic logic your set, the logic is the same no matter which language. think of it like your given a set of instructions, it doesnt matter if its in english or chinese or spanish, the procedure to complete is still the same (ikea furniture building haha).
as for how everything talks to each other thats blueprint communication or just communication in general. check out the link in my answer its a great tutorial by Epic. at its most basic communication between classes is like communication between people, you have yelling things out, or walking up to a specific person, etc. yelling things is like event dispatchers and bindings, basically you yell and anyone who cares what your saying responds by doing a thing. going to a specific person and telling only them something is like direct blueprint communication, you get a specific person (actor instance in the world) then you pass on some information (call event they have or change a variable). casting is just a way to identify things. you take a item and you ask is this item like this other thing i know about. for example lets say your given a fruit, you have to identify said fruit right so you take note of its characteristics and ask questions. is it a apple (cast to apple)? so you ask is it red? is it apple shape? does it have all other characteristics of apple.