Unreal Engine goes free

mid_gen · 2 Mar 2015 at 17:10

www.unrealengine.com

Well, no upfront cost, still has the 5% royalty on titles over a certain gross revenue....it was very good value anyway, but now you can download it and complete source code for nothing.

Thinking of switching my prototyping to it from Unity as the bugs and lack of source get on my tights sometimes, and I could do with brushing up my C++. Mobile support is improving all the time too...

Moothead2 · 2 Mar 2015 at 17:31

It was already a good deal before but it's nice to see such a powerful engine released for free. Of course it's just clever marketing as more people use it so they get more in royalties than they'd probably make with the old subscription model but things like this really work for both parties. Giving the whole package out, including the source code, is a great touch too.

Zhokel · 2 Mar 2015 at 17:45

I'm gonna be all over this... like... something. I mean my prototype is in Unity but, this kind of just made things a bit easier to go for a full product I think. I did have an old version around (4.2 I think when it was first done?), so looking forward to this when I get round to it

edit: Although Unity is now saying they will have awesome news tomorrow at their livestream haha, this could be pretty interesting

mid_gen · 2 Mar 2015 at 19:53

Mind is already made up for me, just porting my current prototype over (it was v early phase anyway).

Source access plus no feature paywall = win. Not as fussed about mobile support as I used to be.

DesG · 2 Mar 2015 at 21:01

Epic!

MasterOC · 2 Mar 2015 at 21:35

If nothing but to get access to alpha of UT ita worth a download

Rroff · 2 Mar 2015 at 21:38

Nice.

From my (albeit limited) experience of unity its ok if you want to make your average run of the mill game but trying to do anything even remotely out the box with it is no fun at all.

TBH its a big win for epic if they push and support it well enough - a lot of people out there with the talent and ideas to develop their own games but without necessarily the resources or finances to get it off the ground - doesn't take too many people making the odd hit game and even a fairly small percentage of the profits would be a fairly decent income for them.

mid_gen · 3 Mar 2015 at 06:58

Unity Pros

Popular
Range of accesible coding options (JS etc)
Great mobile support
Good 2D tools to get started with

Cons

Buggy!
No source code access to investigate/fix said bugs
You're not going to push the limits of hardware using it
Feature paywall you will hit very fast if you do anything serious
Expensive up front cost or sub to unlock all features (could change)

Unreal Pros

Cutting edge gfx engine
Full source access, fix bugs yourself and contribute!
No upfront costs
No feature paywall
Great development env
Proper coding! C++
Blueprint system

Steeper learning curve, C++ isn't as easy for people to pick up
Lacking in 2D and mobile support compared to Unity

The UE marketplace is starting to fill up with real useful stuff. I can see them starting to take a big chunk of the indie dev space. Certainly if anyone was starting out learning how to create games, I would point them at UE4 now.

Zhokel · 3 Mar 2015 at 11:03

If you don't like C++ much (or don't want to use it/know it) and want to do some coding and not rely on blueprints too much, then there's always C# / F#

https://mono-ue.github.io/

Also if you are a Unity developer and interested in UE4, then this may be useful: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/GettingStarted/FromUnity/index.html

Washout · 3 Mar 2015 at 11:44

Interesting! Are there any decent tutorials for getting started to show the basics?

Not touched c++ since uni over 10 years ago!

Moothead2 · 3 Mar 2015 at 12:06

Washout said:
Interesting! Are there any decent tutorials for getting started to show the basics?

Not touched c++ since uni over 10 years ago!

They have a whole bunch of them on their YouTube Channel. It's obviously more about how to use the engine but they also go into their blueprint scripting which you can try out it you don't want to dive head first back into C++. I've heard good things about it.

Noxia · 3 Mar 2015 at 12:06

I was toying with this last year just for giggles. Is very powerful and way above my capabilities to use. Then again I was only trying to make games as a hobby as trying to 'get rich quick' by developing the next greatest indie game is unrealistic. On a plus I got given $30 of store credit to use as I was a subscriber.

mid_gen · 3 Mar 2015 at 13:05

Blueprints are very cool, even if you know C++. When I'm coding I have a mental image floating around my head anyway, so having it down in visual format is a nice way to work on scripting elements.

Lots of good video tutorials around now, and the developers do regular twitch Q&As, good community engagement.

Zhokel · 3 Mar 2015 at 15:09

Someone posted this and not sure if true, looks like Unity 5 will be out today and some stuff has changed in terms of pro,

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_LiE8AXIAAhKCu.jpg:large

Looks like all engine features might now be available for people for free, and pro comes with all the extra stuff. Laughed at royalty free, not sure what to think of the "Unlimited Revenue and Funding" part, which might still be the $100K still needs pro thing.

mid_gen · 3 Mar 2015 at 15:47

Well, good to see there's no feature paywall now....but still no source access? Biggest sticking point for me, especially given their tardiness in fixing bugs.

No profiling on free? Restricting the dark editor theme to pro? :|

Competition is all good though, Autodesk have thrown their hat in the ring too today.

jsmoke · 3 Mar 2015 at 16:36

mid_gen said:
Well, good to see there's no feature paywall now....but still no source access? Biggest sticking point for me, especially given their tardiness in fixing bugs.

No profiling on free? Restricting the dark editor theme to pro? :|

Competition is all good though, Autodesk have thrown their hat in the ring too today.

There has been source since day one.

Zhokel · 3 Mar 2015 at 16:39

mid_gen said:
No profiling on free? Restricting the dark editor theme to pro? :|

Just looked it up and we do get the profiler free (99% sure). "Game Performance Reporting" says

"A preview of a new service that monitors and analyzes managed code crashes from your games."

Profiler falls under the engine features http://unity3d.com/unity/engine-features

More here
http://unity3d.com/get-unity

Can't download at the moment because, well, site is getting hammered haha, so I could be wrong but would be nice.

hawky525 · 3 Mar 2015 at 17:17

DesG said:
Epic!

I see what you did there

mid_gen · 4 Mar 2015 at 08:51

jsmoke said:
There has been source since day one.

It's not a priced option, you have negotiate and pay extra $$$$ to get source access. The biggest issue with Unity for me.

jsmoke · 4 Mar 2015 at 09:01

mid_gen said:
It's not a priced option, you have negotiate and pay extra $$$$ to get source access. The biggest issue with Unity for me.

Oopps, I thought you meant Unreal.