I have pretty much no programming experience other then some community college over 10 years ago. I remember none of the syntax but have a basic understanding of conditional statements and loops. I'm very good with learning overall concepts and very bad with exact syntax and memorizing small details unfortunately or else I would just try c++ instead.

What is the best way to go about trying to learn the UE4 blueprint system for someone like me? Any sites or books you would recommend (preferably free)?

What types of games are well suited to using the blueprint system and no c++?

I would guess its a very bad idea to do multiplayer in blueprints but most single player games should be fine?

Is there any type of test or general rule to figure out whether or not something will work well with just blueprints?

Is it almost as difficult to learn blueprints as c++? Should I just try c++ instead even though it will be much longer before I can actually do anything useful with it? Any recommendations on free c++ learning material?

Would c++ be easier to learn after learning blueprints?

Any additional advice is welcome. Thanks

Learning Blueprints is easier than learning C++. You can start by following the video tutorials.

About the kind of games you can make, I would suggest you dive in, get your feet wet, practice, make a few simple games, gain some experience, then you will be able to tell for yourself just how complex of a game you can make with blueprints alone. The theory though is that you can make all sorts of games with just blueprints, but I have no actual experience with BP to confirm this.

Anything you can do with c++ in UE4 you can do with blueprints.

YouTube has a vast wealth of tutorials, but I recommend altering the tutorial code and playing with it, breaking it then fixing it again.

The best way to learn is by doing.

Good luck!

If you don't have much experience with C++ or Blueprints for UE4, I would use Blueprints unless you're a good C++ programmer. I've found the UE4 documentation to be pretty good for getting started, I've done more C++ than blueprints but have used both. You can also download some of the documented examples from the UE4 marketplace for free to see how they work.

There are many videos and tutorials online that can useful but don't pointlessly copy it. If you don't understand how it works there isn't much point in copying it, you wouldn't have learnt anything. Like braindigitalis said, play around with the code.

As for what you can do with Blueprints, you should be able to make any type of game of various sizes and you can go a long way without needing to write any C++.

Learning Blueprints is easier than learning C++. You can start by following the video tutorials.

About the kind of games you can make, I would suggest you dive in, get your feet wet, practice, make a few simple games, gain some experience, then you will be able to tell for yourself just how complex of a game you can make with blueprints alone. The theory though is that you can make all sorts of games with just blueprints, but I have no actual experience with BP to confirm this.

Thanks for the video's link I'll check those out. One question you may or may not be able to answer. I see that the video says "pre v4.7". Do you know if all these videos still work with the latest version?

I have a sam's teach yourself book on UE4 and I have noticed at times that things they say to do are no longer possible the way they say to do them in the newest version of the engine.

As for what you can do with Blueprints, you should be able to make any type of game of various sizes and you can go a long way without needing to write any C++.

Ya I have read that anything that you can do programming you can do in blueprints. Is it as effective\efficient as programming though? Like will it waste more cpu or memory or waste more bandwidth (if multiplayer) then an expert c++ person coding instead?

There is a performance difference between using blueprints and C++, as blueprints is a scripting language it is slower than C++. As for how much slower one of the UE4 developers said that blueprints is around x10 slower than C++. Although blueprints is slower that doesn't mean it is too slow to be used, some games a mixture of the two, some develop in blueprints and only if they need the performance then start to convert into C++.

From a design view, using blueprints is easier for artists to add and modify game content. If you have a team of artists and programmers, think about how to design the game and its various systems to be used by the whole team. The link below could be worth reading as it explains some of the design choices by a UE4 dev for the game Fortnite and how, why and where they used C++ and blueprints: https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?3035-New-Twitch-livestream-with-Fortnite-developers-Thursday-April-17&p=19464&viewfull=1#post19464