Start Building

You have a project and a folder structure from Lesson 2. Before you drop in random meshes and textures, you need a clear art pipeline and asset plan.

This lesson locks in:

  • What 3D assets you actually need for your FPS scope
  • Naming and organization so Content Browser and version control stay sane
  • A simple LOD and performance strategy so levels do not tank frame rate later

You will leave with a concrete asset checklist and a pipeline you can hand to a teammate or contractor.

Step 1: Define your minimum viable asset list

Start from your game design and technical architecture (Lesson 1). List only what the first playable slice needs.

Typical FPS minimum:

  • Player: First-person arms (or hands), weapon attach points, basic animation set (idle, walk, sprint, aim, fire, reload).
  • Weapons: One primary gun (mesh, muzzle flash, impact decal or particle, shell eject, reload sound).
  • Enemies: One enemy type (mesh, material, simple AI behavior you will hook in a later lesson).
  • Environment: One small level blockout (BSP or simple static meshes: floor, walls, cover props, one spawn and one objective area).
  • UI: Crosshair, ammo counter, health (can be placeholders).

Write this down in a doc or spreadsheet: Asset name, Type (mesh, material, texture, animation, VFX, sound), Source (create, buy, free pack), Owner (you, artist, audio). Do not add “nice to have” items yet; they belong in a Phase 2 list.

Pro tip: If you are solo, cap your first slice to one weapon, one enemy, and one room. You can always add more in later lessons.

Step 2: Naming and folder conventions in Content Browser

Stick to one naming style so everything is searchable and predictable.

Suggested pattern:

  • Meshes: SM_ThingName (e.g. SM_Weapon_Rifle, SM_Enemy_Grunt, SM_Prop_Crate).
  • Materials: M_ThingName or M_ThingName_Instance for material instances.
  • Textures: T_ThingName_Type (e.g. T_Weapon_Rifle_D, T_Weapon_Rifle_N, T_Weapon_Rifle_Roughness).
  • Blueprints: BP_ThingName (e.g. BP_Weapon_Rifle, BP_Enemy_Grunt).
  • Animations: AM_Character_Action or per-skeleton naming that matches your skeleton (e.g. AM_Arms_Idle, AM_Arms_Fire).

Folders (you can align with Lesson 2):

  • /Game/Characters/Player, /Game/Characters/Enemies
  • /Game/Weapons/Primary, /Game/Weapons/VFX
  • /Game/Environment/Meshes, /Game/Environment/Materials
  • /Game/UI

Keep Materials and Textures in subfolders (e.g. /Game/Weapons/Primary/Materials) so they do not clutter the main weapon folder.

Common mistake: Mixing naming schemes (e.g. rifle_01, WeaponRifle, SM_Rifle) makes search and refactor painful. Pick one and document it in your project wiki or README.

Step 3: LOD and performance rules up front

Decide simple rules now so you do not have to retrofit later.

  • Characters and weapons (first-person and world): Plan for at least 2–3 LOD levels (e.g. LOD0 close, LOD1 mid, LOD2 far). Unreal can auto-generate LODs, but defining “close / mid / far” distances in a small table helps.
  • Environment props: Small props (crates, barrels) can be one LOD or two; large set pieces (vehicles, buildings) should have a lower LOD or impostor for distance.
  • Draw calls: Prefer merged or batched static meshes where possible (e.g. modular wall pieces that share one material).
  • Texture size: Lock in max sizes (e.g. 1024 for weapons, 2048 for hero characters, 512 for small props) and stick to them for the first slice.

Add a short “Performance budget” line to your asset list: e.g. “Player + 1 weapon + 5 enemies + 1 room under 2 ms GPU on target spec.” You will profile in a later lesson, but the habit of planning for performance avoids big cuts later.

Step 4: Source and pipeline (create vs buy vs free)

For each asset type, decide:

  • Create: You or your artist build it (Blender, Maya, etc.) and export to FBX (or Datasmith if you use that). Document export settings (scale, rotation, LODs) in one place.
  • Buy: Marketplace or external store; note license and whether you need to rename/repack for your naming convention.
  • Free: Quixel, Sketchfab (check license), Unreal examples; same note on renaming and folder placement.

Define one ingest step: e.g. “All meshes land in /Game/Import/ then get moved and renamed into the right folder after review.” That keeps the main folders clean and makes it obvious what is still “raw” vs “approved.”

Step 5: Checklist and next steps

Turn your minimum viable list into a checklist (spreadsheet or task board):

  • [ ] Player arms/hands mesh and materials
  • [ ] Player weapon attach socket and animation set
  • [ ] Primary weapon mesh, materials, VFX (muzzle, impact, shell)
  • [ ] One enemy mesh, material, basic rig
  • [ ] Blockout level (floor, walls, 3–5 props)
  • [ ] Placeholder crosshair and HUD

Tick items as they land in the project and match your naming. When everything is ticked, you are ready to implement player controller and movement (Lesson 5) and weapon systems (Lesson 6) without “we’ll drop a mesh in later” blocking you.

Pro tip: Add a “Pipeline doc” link to your project (Confluence, Notion, or a docs/ folder in repo) so anyone joining later sees naming, LOD, and ingest rules in one place.

Troubleshooting

My asset list keeps growing.
Lock the “first playable slice” and move everything else to a “Phase 2” list. You can always add more weapons and enemies after the core loop works.

I’m using Marketplace assets with different naming.
Create a one-time pass: duplicate or move assets into your folders and rename to your convention (e.g. SM_Prop_Crate). Update references in levels and Blueprints so the main codebase only sees your names.

I don’t have a dedicated artist.
Use placeholder meshes (cubes, cylinders, free packs) and one consistent material so the game is playable. Swap in final art in a later pass; the pipeline and checklist stay the same.

FAQ

Do I need LODs for the first playable build?
You can ship the first slice with one LOD per asset, but defining LOD distances and a simple table now makes it easy to add auto-LOD or manual LODs before you add more content.

What if my target platform is high-end PC only?
You can relax LOD and texture rules slightly, but naming and folder structure still matter for collaboration and future porting.

Should materials live next to meshes or in a shared folder?
Both work. Prefer per-asset or per-category materials (e.g. under /Game/Weapons/Primary/Materials) so reuse is explicit; avoid one giant “Materials” folder with hundreds of items.

Recap

  • You defined a minimum viable asset list for your first FPS slice (player, one weapon, one enemy, one blockout room, basic UI).
  • You set naming and folder conventions (SM, M, T, BP, etc.) and aligned them with your Content Browser structure.
  • You set simple LOD and performance rules (LOD levels, texture sizes, draw-call awareness).
  • You decided source and pipeline (create vs buy vs free) and a single ingest step so new assets do not clutter the main folders.
  • You turned the list into a checklist so you can tick off assets and move to implementation.

In Lesson 4 you will lock in version control and team collaboration (branching, check-in rules, and how art and code work in the same repo or sync). After that, you will build the player controller and movement in Lesson 5 and weapon systems in Lesson 6, using the assets you planned here.

Found this useful? Bookmark the course and share it with your team so everyone follows the same pipeline.