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Free Unreal Engine 3 is very popular News
PC Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 News by Robert Purchese
Epic Games has watched over 50,000 people download the Unreal Development Kit in just one week.
Released on 5th November, the UDK is a free version of Unreal Engine 3 that provides students and enthusiasts with tools that underpin some of today's best PC and console games.
Anyone can build and release a UDK-powered game for free, but Epic draws the line when companies decide to charge for their creations.
The excitable Mark Rein is "very excited" about all of this, and is "looking forward " to seeing what games and applications are made using the UDK.
Head over to the Unreal Developer Network to join a busy network of game-builders, and keep an eye on 3D Buzz for "dozens" of video tutorials for the UDK.
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Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
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altitude2k
13/11/09 @ 10:54
0
Does anyone know how easy this is to dev for? I've only ever done the odd bit of mapping and coding in the old HL engine and then Source - what's it like in comparison to that? Good toolset?
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Negotiator
13/11/09 @ 10:58
+17
I'm already half way with my game, it's a generic shooter about a squad of huge meatheads fighting......oh wait.
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+2
You can't really do squat with the engine unless you know programmming and art quite frankly. They don't give you any gears of war style scripts or stuff like that and certainly not any of the artwork. You also have to give away anything you make with it as it's purely non commercial, even if your an indie.
To me this move seems more like a ploy to get more comapnies using the engine as it's become less popular over the years as it's rediculously expensive to license. That may be just the cynic in me though. |
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+1
@MKone
It's just one of the pieces. You'll need something like Maya or 3D Studio and knowledge of C/C++ as the scripting is based on that. Then you'll need to learn the editor in order to put together the levels, AI pathing etc. etc. Basicallythe engine is nice to have but, totally useless in most hands. Heck it's next to useless in some AAA team hands too! Damn I need to leash that inner cynic! |
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"To me this move seems more like a ploy to get more comapnies using the engine as it's become less popular over the years as it's rediculously expensive to license. That may be just the cynic in me though."
You put it in a very cinical way indeed, but there's probably truth in there. If students and amateurs who aspire to get a position in the games industry get familiar with the engine and it's code on a hobbyist basis, then there's a good chance they're all in favor of using UE3 for commercial products they might one day end up working on. |
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I think the main beneficiaries here are the existing mod teams. I doubt that more than 1% of all the downloads will result in something actually playable, and only 1% of that would be something you'd want to play.
But Epic can convert that vanishingly small number into revenue for them (surely the goal here) then fair play to them. |
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@Wolverfrog
It made sense to do it, say 5 years ago, but it seems quite frequently that they started off as a programmer ego-trip where competent but unexceptional devs thought they were John Carmack. If you can do something better (CryEngine etc) then go for it. Otherwise spend the time/money making a better playing game. On the other hand, it does mean that you don't get that everything-looking-same feel to games, like you did when every goddamn studio was using Renderware - circa GTAIII. |
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0
I like it when the wheel is reinvented, especially since the current state of the art virtual wheel still is far removed from a real wheel. Plus, coders can really introduce their identity into it, resulting in a different feeling wheel in every other game which reduces similarity. So +1 to Wolverfrog.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 13/11/09 @ 15:34
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canIdoyabombsforya
13/11/09 @ 21:51
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Recommended for Content Development:
* Windows Vista 64 SP2 * 2.0+ GHz multi-core processor * 8 GB System RAM * NVIDIA 8000 series or higher graphics card * Plenty of HDD space |
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notmyrealname
13/11/09 @ 21:52
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Smart move.
1. reaps goodwill and good pr 2. makes even more people aware of the programming required with the engine (thus more attractive for adopters to licence UE3 and in the future UE4, MS likes doing this too with allowing the bootlegging of private individuals, then making money on companies since everyone is experience with windows already) 3. Lower entrance for smaller projects, thus more chance they will finally release a commercial game, thus maknig epic more cash (probably not too much though) |
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notmyrealname
13/11/09 @ 21:54
+1
@ sanxo that is bullshit. The game only looks the same if it copies assets included with the engine. You can also make your own. It's not the engines fault but cost cutting on the dev side. You can also often tweak and mod enginges to suit your needs, which is also the case in ue3. If you've seen whawt they did with ue 2 you'd understand that not EVERYTHING looked like ut2k3 / ut2k4 or u2...
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+1
An engine's renderer has it's own graphical characteristics. I think most people could tell a game is Unreal based if presented with comparisons.
If it's done right then it can look different. Take Borderlands for example. One big benefit I see of this release is higher accessibility for what were previously Unreal game mods. For example, The Ball is now a standalone demo. |
Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
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