Change Game App Icon Using Unreal Engine 4

An app icon is often the first impression that a user has of your product, whether it is a game, a social media platform, or a fitness tracker. The best icons are those that either (i) explain what they do or (ii) identify your brand. For example, most users would be able to recognize and understand the Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat icons without supporting text. However you choose to design the icon, there is no question that you should have a unique icon.

Once created, associating the icon with your Unreal Engine 4 game is trivial. However, the process differs from platform to platform and the details are worth discussing.

Configuring Icons Through Project Settings

App icons for all platforms can be changed through the Project Settings menu in the Editor. Once the settings are open, scroll down to the Platforms category. Here, you will find the list of platforms that can be configured. Click on the platform of your choice to find options for changing the icon.

Platform-Specific Icons

Each platform has its own way of managing app icons. This article will focus on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. Other platforms like Magic Leap, PlayStation, and Xbox are not addressed here.

Windows

The Windows icon needs to be in .ico format, which contains multiple images at different sizes. There are plenty of online services that can convert your .png images to the .ico format, such as ConvertICO.com. The maximum size of the icon should be 256x256.

You can learn more about icon best practices from the Windows documentation.

Mac

The Mac icon needs to be in icns format, which also contains multiple images at different sizes. Although Apple now recommends against using this format, preferring .png instead, the Unreal Engine only accepts it in the icns format. Again, there are plenty of places to make the conversion online. The icon should have a max size of 512x512.

Mac has documentation on preferred styling and best practices for its icons.

Linux

Linux is probably the easiest platform to create an icon for. It simply accepts .png files. It is recommended that you stick with the standard 256x256 size.

iOS and Android

Both iOS and Android require icons to be in .png format, and they expects those icons to be provided in a bevy of sizes, from 57x57 up to 1024x1024. Check out the documentation for iOS iconography and Android iconography to better understand the respective size and style specs.

Test the Icon

To test your icon, you need to package the game. To do this, open the File menu at the top of the Editor, go down to the Package option, and package for your desired platform. Once the project is packaged, open the resulting package to ensure that the icon matches your expectations.