Creating a tabletop game prototype in unreal engine 4

Abstract

QP_Tabletop (Quick Prototype Tabletop) is an Unreal Engine 4 project created with the purpose of simplifying the process of creating a board game prototype. It allows users to quickly mock up an idea and playtest it without spending time developing mechanics that may or may not work well with the overall game. The set forth enables users to quickly prototype using some predefined classes and behaviors most commonly found in typical board games which in turn allows them to focus on their idea early on rather than thinking about implementation details. This paper will briefly describe Unreal Engine 4, its base classes used in QP_Tabletop such as Object, Actor, and ActorComponent, as well as the classes in the application itself. Special attention will be given to QPT GameRule class which holds the game specific rules, the QPT_Actor class representing the physical object of the game such as dice, cards, and board, as well as QPT_CommonRule class which contains common rules found in many board games such as rolling multiple dice, shuffling cards, keeping player scores, and changing current player in a turn based game. There will also be an emphasis on the workflow as well as the interaction between these classes.