Build a Main Menu with a Play Button

Every game starts here

Press Play on almost any finished game and the first thing you see isn't gameplay — it's a menu. A title, a Play button, maybe an Options screen, and a way to quit. That front door is what turns a level into something that feels like a real game, and the good news is you can build a working one in about fifteen minutes.

A main menu in Unreal is just a UMG widget — the same kind of on-screen UI you met when you built a HUD — with a couple of buttons. The clever bit isn't the buttons themselves; it's the three small jobs we wire up behind them: load the game level, quit the application, and make sure the mouse actually clicks things. Let's build all three.

If a word like 'widget' or 'level' feels new, don't worry — we'll explain each one the first time it shows up. Tick off the steps as you go so you never lose your place.

Build the menu and wire the buttons

Work top to bottom. Each row stays ticked even if you close the page and come back.

1. ✓
   1Create the menu Widget Blueprint

   In the Content Browser, right-click an empty space and choose User Interface, then Widget Blueprint. (In some 5.x versions you pick a 'User Widget' base — accept the default.) Name it something clear like WBP_MainMenu.

   Double-click it to open the UMG editor. You'll see a Designer tab (the visual canvas) and, top-right, a Graph button that flips to the logic side.

   TipPrefix UI widgets with WBP_ so they're instantly recognisable in a busy Content Browser later.

2. ✓
   2Lay out a title and two buttons

   On the Designer canvas, drag a Vertical Box from the Palette onto the screen — it stacks its children neatly. Into it, drag a Text widget for the title (type your game's name), then two Button widgets.

   Drop a Text widget INSIDE each button and label them 'Play' and 'Exit'. A Button is just a clickable box; the text inside is what the player reads.

   TipSelect a button and rename it in the top-left (e.g. PlayButton, ExitButton). Clear names make the next steps far easier to follow.

3. ✓
   3Add the On Clicked event for Play

   Select your Play button. In the Details panel on the right, scroll to the Events section and click the green '+' next to 'On Clicked'.

   Unreal jumps you to the Graph and drops an 'On Clicked (PlayButton)' event node. This node fires the instant the player clicks that button — everything you wire to its output runs in response.

   TipIf clicking '+' doesn't jump to the Graph, click the Graph button (top-right) yourself; the new event node is waiting there.

4. ✓
   4Open the game level when Play is clicked

   From the On Clicked node's white output pin, drag a wire into empty space and search for 'Open Level (by Name)'. Drop it.

   In the node's 'Level Name' field, type the exact name of your playable level — just the level's name, not a file path (e.g. ThirdPersonMap). Open Level unloads the current level and loads that one, which is exactly how a Play button starts a game.

   TipGet the level name exactly right, including capitalisation. Find it in the Content Browser; a typo here loads nothing and looks like a broken button.

5. ✓
   5Add Exit and wire Quit Game

   Back in the Designer, select the Exit button and add its 'On Clicked' event the same way. In the Graph you'll now have a second event node.

   From the Exit button's On Clicked pin, drag out and search for 'Quit Game'. Drop it and leave its settings at the defaults. Quit Game cleanly closes the running game.

   TipIn the editor, Quit Game ends Play-In-Editor (it stops the preview) rather than closing Unreal itself. It only closes a real, packaged build — that's the correct behaviour.

6. ✓
   6Show the menu and switch to UI input

   Open the Level Blueprint of your MENU level (Blueprints button on the toolbar, then 'Open Level Blueprint'). From the Event BeginPlay node, add 'Create Widget', set its Class to WBP_MainMenu, and connect 'Add to Viewport' after it so the menu appears on screen.

   Then add 'Set Input Mode UI Only' (drag from a 'Get Player Controller' node into its Target), and add 'Set Show Mouse Cursor' with its tick-box enabled. Without these two, the player's mouse stays hidden and locked to the game, so the buttons look clickable but do nothing.

   TipPass your menu widget into Set Input Mode UI Only's 'In Widget to Focus' pin (use the Create Widget node's Return Value). It keeps keyboard/controller focus on the menu, which matters for gamepad navigation later.

7. ✓
   7Press Play and click your buttons

   Make sure the menu level is the one open in the editor, then press Play. Your menu should appear with a visible mouse cursor.

   Click Play — the game level should load. Restart and click Exit — Play-In-Editor stops. If both work, you've built a real main menu.

   TipSet this menu level as the project's default map in Project Settings → Maps & Modes → 'Game Default Map' so a packaged build boots straight into your menu.