Free Unreal Engine 3 is very popular

By Robert Purchese Published 13 November, 2009

Downloaded 50,000 times, says Epic.

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.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • matrim83 #1 2 years ago

    I am betting half of those downloads are guys like me who dont know squat about making games/mods but just wanted to have a look.

    Good initiative by Epic nonetheless.

  • JayPee #2 2 years ago

    This seems like a great move for all. Hopefully we'll see the U3 engine used in some interesting ways as a result of this. That will probably extend it's useful life too, not to mention making it a familiar and preferred tool for up-and-coming developers.

  • altitude2k #3 2 years ago

    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?

  • Negotiator #4 2 years ago

    I'm already half way with my game, it's a generic shooter about a squad of huge meatheads fighting......oh wait.

  • mkreku #5 2 years ago

    Does anyone remember S.E.U.C.K. on the Commodore 64? That's the closest I've ever gotten to designing my own game.

  • penhalion #6 2 years ago

    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.

  • udat #7 2 years ago

    You need to know programming and art to design and build games now? Boo!

  • altitude2k #8 2 years ago

    @ udat

    Not really, have you played MW2 ;)

  • butler` #9 2 years ago

    hahaha Negotiator +1

  • Mkwone #10 2 years ago

    Am i right in think you can makes games with this then or is it just one of the pieces of software that is needed?

  • penhalion #11 2 years ago

    @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!

  • killest #12 2 years ago

    Does anyone remember S.E.U.C.K. on the Commodore 64? That's the closest I've ever gotten to designing my own game.

    I had that for the Amiga 500+. It was AWESOME!

  • Eraser #13 2 years ago

    "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.

  • Sanxo #14 2 years ago

    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.

  • sargulesh #15 2 years ago

    Only 50,000 times? I could swear there were more than 50,000 Unreal engine games on the market.

  • robg #16 2 years ago

    Fifty thousand people used to develop here.

  • matrim83 #17 2 years ago

    ^^ROFL.

    I was just playing that today.

  • Sanxo #18 2 years ago

    @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.

  • VMerken #19 2 years ago

    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 by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 15:34

  • canIdoyabombsforya #20 2 years ago

    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

  • L0cky #21 2 years ago

    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.