{"id":1757,"date":"2026-04-09T08:40:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tagowill.com\/portfolio\/?p=1757"},"modified":"2026-04-09T09:23:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:23:58","slug":"week-1-why-unreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tagowill.com\/portfolio\/2026\/04\/09\/week-1-why-unreal\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 1 \u2013 Why Unreal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Image by: UnrealEngine website<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Last week I planted a flag. This week I have to start giving some content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A quick note before I get into it: this blog is, at its core, a personal log. I\u2019m documenting my experience, my ideas, and my journey as honestly as I can. I want to be upfront, this is an ambitious project for a solo developer, and there\u2019s a high chance it hits a wall I can\u2019t climb over<\/strong>. I\u2019m not promising a finished game. I\u2019m promising to show up every week and tell you exactly where things stand.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let me start with the question I\u2019ve already been asking myself: why on earth am I building a card game in Unreal Engine 5?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a fair challenge. Card games live happily in Unity. Some of the best digital card games ever made were built in frameworks far lighter than UE5. There\u2019s an argument (a reasonable one, I think) that reaching for Unreal to build something that is, at its core, about rectangles with text on them is like hiring an architect to build a bookshelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I heard that argument. I disagree with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alternatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I did consider the obvious candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unity<\/strong> was the first thing I looked at. It\u2019s the natural home for this kind of project. Unity have a huge community, mountains of tutorials, proven track record with card games specifically. But Unity and I have history, and not all of it\u2019s good. The last couple of years haven\u2019t exactly made me trust the direction it\u2019s heading: a licensing model that left a lot of developers feeling burned, decisions that seemed designed for shareholders rather than the people actually building things, and a market that appears to quietly agree. For a solo passion project, I need to trust the foundation I\u2019m building on. Right now, I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godot<\/strong> genuinely tempted me. Lightweight, open source, a community that feels like it\u2019s building something with real conviction. For a different project, at a different time, I think I\u2019d be there. But it would mean starting from zero with an unfamiliar toolset, and I don\u2019t have unlimited runway right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the choice was simpler than I made it sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Real Reason<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I know Unreal. Not perfectly but well enough that I can move fast when I need to, and debug confidently when things go wrong. Starting a solo project during an already uncertain period isn\u2019t the time to also be learning the fundamentals of a new engine. I needed at least one fewer unknown variable.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also Blueprint. Being able to move fluidly between C++ for the systems that need it and Blueprint for the logic that doesn\u2019t is exactly the kind of flexibility a solo developer needs. I can write the architecture in code and wire up card behaviours visually without context switching into a completely different mental mode. That matters more than I expected it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But honestly? There\u2019s a third reason, and it\u2019s the one that feels hardest to justify on paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This game, the one I\u2019m adapting<\/em>, deserves to feel like more than a card game. It has atmosphere. It has a world. The aesthetic is dense and specific and alive. I don\u2019t want it to feel like a UI exercise. I want it to feel like somewhere you actually go. Unreal gives me the tools to chase that, even if I\u2019m the only one building it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether I can actually pull that off is a different question. That\u2019s what this blog is for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week I\u2019ll finally stop being mysterious about which game I\u2019m actually building. I\u2019ve been hinting at it long enough and it\u2019s time to give it a name, tell you why it matters to me, and explain why I think it deserves better than what exists right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if this is interesting to you, share it with someone who\u2019d get it. And if you want to support the project while it\u2019s still just a blog and a folder of C++ files, just buymeacoffee<\/a>. Every coffee buys me another hour of not panicking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See you next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the following individuals who have chosen to support this project. Your contribution means a great deal and helps keep this work moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Azahar Machwe<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sara<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Elisabete<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Isabel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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