UMG & Slate

UMG is Unreal's widget-based UI framework: a Widget Blueprint pairs with a C++ UUserWidget subclass that holds logic, while the Blueprint handles layout and styling. Underneath sits Slate, the lower-level C++ UI framework. Prefer UMG for game UI and CommonUI for anything with menus or multiplatform input routing.

When to use this skill

• Creating a HUD, menu, inventory screen, or any on-screen UI.
• Wiring UMG widgets to gameplay data or handling button/input events in C++.
• Choosing how to create, show, and hide widgets at runtime.
• Building a 3D in-world widget on an actor (UWidgetComponent).
• Deciding between UMG, raw Slate, or CommonUI.
• Diagnosing or preventing UI performance problems (draw calls, per-frame cost, hitches).
• Structuring screens/menus for a real game (layer stacks, MVVM, resolution independence).

Mental model