TRAIN THE TRAINERS: Game Development with Unreal Engine 4
Train The Trainers – Game Development with Unreal Engine 4 is a specialized course designed to empower university professors in Serbia eager to explore the possibilities of current interactive technologies.
After completing the Train the Trainers course, participants will be able to implement the newly-gained knowledge to their work or push their lectures on a higher level through the power of high-quality interactive content. They will gain skills and knowledge that goes ahead of the current needs of the local industry. But most importantly, the course will allow them to share the knowledge of Unreal among their many students.
The course has been developed by Crater Training Center and supported by Epic Games through the Epic MegaGrant with insight coming directly from 3Lateral, the team who stands behind the MetaHuman Creator.
EDUCATION DESIGNED TO DIRECT THE COURSE OF THE INDUSTRY
As a link that connects academia and industry, throughout two iterations of this course in 2021, Crater Training Center successfully gathered more than 40 university professors coming from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Niš and Zrenjanin. Together, they educate between 1,000 and 1,500 students a year.
Who was enrolled in the course?
Train the Trainers, the course, is designed to suit the needs of university professors teaching in a variety of fields, ranging from computer science and mathematics, all the way to graphic design and applied arts. Throughout the course, participants acquired the necessary knowledge and skills to use Unreal Engine 4. They were trained to create interactive content primarily for video game development, but also in animation, architecture, and the development of interactive applications.
Participants enrolled in Train the Trainers – Game Development with Unreal Engine 4 came from: Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Technical Faculty in Zrenjanin, University of Arts in Belgrade, Belgrade Polytechnic, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, Academy of Technical and Art Applied Studies, College of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Kragujevac, and Metropolitan University.
What is the course programme based on?
On Train the Trainers, lectures were divided into theoretical and practical work. During the course, participants were introduced to the structure and tools within Unreal Engine 4. They have also learned to implement models, textures, animations, audio files, and other elements created in other software in their UE files. Our tutors helped them understand basic principles for creating interactive content using the Blueprint visual programming language. Finally, by the end of the course, participants have learned to showcase their projects or prepare them for distribution.
In late 2022, we held a two-part mini series of lectures that provided insight into the advancements and development of the engine’s features. Unreal Engine 5 Digest was intended for all the participants of the first two course iterations.
What is the final product of the course?
The final product of the course is a first-person puzzle adventure game that takes place in an enclosed location surrounded by a limited natural environment. The game has many interactive elements, including various objects, simple shooter or hand combat mechanics, linear film sequences, basic AI, and menu systems.
A LINK BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA
For many years, Crater Training Center has worked as the main link between formal education and industry. Following the ever-growing industry needs, we have helped shape the educational landscape in Serbia with tremendous help from our network of collaborators and experienced tutors in the field of computer graphics.
As one of the founders of CGA Belgrade, a computer graphics conference and community platform, we are constantly corresponding to the ever-growing industry needs. In late 2020, together with industry partners, we launched CGAcademy, an online learning platform to help students and entry-level artists work their way up in the CG world.
As of 2020, in collaboration with Digital Serbia Initiative, Crater Training Center took part in Master 4.0, the state-wide educational program dedicated to digital technologies and game development. Shoulder to shoulder with the biggest universities in Serbia, our team is conducting one semester-long course on 3D Game Art.
It was a great pleasure to learn that Epic Games recognized our efforts in the field of (in)formal education and decided to grant us much-needed help for delivering Train the Trainers specialized course. Needless to say, we are thrilled to be listed as the Epic MegaGrant recipient.
TESTIMONIALS
The course opened many worlds for me, for which I am thankful! Unreal Engine is sophisticated software, and the number of its features is impressive. Incredible algorithms and technical optimization follow the whole setup, so my students on Scientific Calculation studies find its mathematical and architectural background particularly inspiring. All these concepts have their own artistic and technical interpretation that is user-oriented, which is a novelty, and we have a lot to learn from this area.My motivation for enrolling in the course was fluid play. Since I am researching natural language processing - artificial intelligence combined with text and speech - I approached the game as a narrative structure. I am interested in how (and to which extent) the story narrative could be interactive and adaptable to users. So, in my future research, I will be focusing on generative games.
Anđelka Zečević (Faculty of Mathematics, Belgrade)
Unreal Engine is extremely popular among the senior students in my department. Our research areas are spatial narrative, basics of visualization, and the design of micro-units for 3D video games. The environment in Unreal Engine is very intuitive, and it provides excellent results. It allows us to test different ideas and ways of moving throughout space.In the future, I plan to implement the basic principles of AI in our new projects, as well as to work on more interactive content. Before this course, this area was a bit unknown to me, and I was happy to see it included in the program. This new knowledge will help me bring our projects to an even higher level.
Ana Perišić (Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad)
For me, Unreal Engine has become one of the most flexible tools for real-time generative graphics, data visualization, and content control in my interactive installations. Its biggest advantage is its extensibility for virtual productions and the possibility of using VFX techniques during content creation. All this allows a tremendous number of iterations in a short time.Being a participant in this course and being a student at the Crater Training Center feels fantastic. Here you get a chance to meet people from your own country creating magnificent things. I consider it a privilege to be invited to attend such projects. I recommend everyone to attend Crater's courses, primarily because Crater is the first real link between industry and knowledge that is automatically applied in various fields.
Milan Ličina (Metropolitan University)
