Thread: Unreal 4

  1. #1
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    Unreal 4

    Epic changed their licensing agreements this year and they favor smaller developers and those who want to focus on a game as opposed to an engine.

    Unreal 4 is now $19 / mo with 5% royalties on gross income. However, if you cancel you can still use all of the source and engine to do what you want but you do not get updates. When you see an update you want, re-subscribe and pay $19 and get the update.

    I've heard CRYENGINE is now about $12 / mo with limited source access. It is also available on Steam.

    With all of the popular game engines changing their licensing models there isn't any reason not to try them.

  2. #2
    Registered User Alpo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by VirtualAce View Post
    Unreal 4 is now $19 / mo with 5% royalties on gross income. However, if you cancel you can still use all of the source and engine to do what you want but you do not get updates. When you see an update you want, re-subscribe and pay $19 and get the update.
    If you've canceled your license, could you still release a commercial project using the engine? Also, can you use the engine without licensing (like just to learn or explore it)?

    This seems pretty cool, I haven't even thought about getting a license for anything before, but I'm definitely going to look into it now . Thanks.
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    [](){}(); manasij7479's Avatar
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    Neat, thanks.
    The update when you need seems to be a great idea!

    I can not determine from their site and wiki whether the the engine has the full SDK available for linux at this point or just allows linux as a build target.
    Can you say something about that ?

    [EDIT]
    It seems some stuff works and some doesn't.
    Will try it out.
    The source for $19 is a good deal.
    As for Cryengine , there seems to be a lot rumors of an internal linux sdk, but the steam store sells only the windows version for now (for <= $ 9.9 /mo depending on the plan).
    Last edited by manasij7479; 11-24-2014 at 02:01 PM.

  4. #4
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    Can you say something about that ?
    • I don't know anything about the Unreal Linux versions. There is mention on Unreal's site that they support multiple platforms whatever that means.
    • I would go ahead and get the Steam version of CRYENGINE to at least learn it. I cannot imagine that much difference in the API between Linux and Windows since the main job of an engine is to abstract all that low level stuff into common interfaces. Ideally you would use their methods and objects and would be none the wiser as to which platform it was using under the hood.


    A few comments
    • Note that the 5% for Unreal 4 could become problematic for those wanting to release on Steam. That royalty combined with Steam's royalties could be enough to make your game less than profitable depending on your pricing structure and how well your game sells. Regardless this is much better than any deal currently put in place by Unity and frankly you are getting a much better product for your money that has proven itself time and time again in the marketplace. I can't even count how many games have been built on the Unreal platform in the last ten years but rest assured it is a bunch.
    • I don't know if this also gives access to Scaleform which was added into Unreal and all the major engines when I was working with it in version 2 and 3. Since then Scaleform has been purchased by Autodesk and incorporated into something called Gameware. All of us figured Autodesk was going to refactor it and have been called many times and asked to assist with the refactoring of the codebase but we are always too busy with other work to take on any contracts. If it does give you access to Scaleform then keep in mind that Adobe now has a free Flash Express that allows you to develop Flash w/o purchasing their huge Adobe CS behemoth which isn't cheap. Scaleform is a godsend when creating UIs provided you can get the beast to perform like you want. Perhaps it does now after the refactor. Epic says you get full source so I can only assume this includes Scaleform within the system.


    If you've canceled your license, could you still release a commercial project using the engine?
    I would imagine you could but the problem would be that you would want to re-subscribe and get their latest to ensure major bugs were fixed. I would re-sync their latest, integrate with your final build and fix any issues. Run your game back through QA for some regression tests and then launch. The 5% will kick in when you reach the profit threshold. Clearly they intend to make their money off of the 5% royalties and the $19 / mo just covers other expenses, etc.

    I will likely go with Unreal 4 since my game ideas are more in line with what it targets. CRYENGINE appears to be geared towards outdoor environments whereas Unreal 4 does interiors extremely well. Also Unreal 4's global illumination model is simply astounding and looks amazing. They are both great, though. Choose which one suits your game the best.
    All it takes is one hit on Steam and you could almost fund your own studio. That sounds crazy I know but many have done just that.
    Last edited by VirtualAce; 11-25-2014 at 03:06 AM.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by VirtualAce View Post
    • I don't know anything about the Unreal Linux versions. There is mention on Unreal's site that they support multiple platforms whatever that means.
    • I would go ahead and get the Steam version of CRYENGINE to at least learn it. I cannot imagine that much difference in the API between Linux and Windows since the main job of an engine is to abstract all that low level stuff into common interfaces. Ideally you would use their methods and objects and would be none the wiser as to which platform it was using under the hood.

    A few comments
    • Note that the 5% for Unreal 4 could become problematic for those wanting to release on Steam. That royalty combined with Steam's royalties could be enough to make your game less than profitable depending on your pricing structure and how well your game sells. Regardless this is much better than any deal currently put in place by Unity and frankly you are getting a much better product for your money that has proven itself time and time again in the marketplace. I can't even count how many games have been built on the Unreal platform in the last ten years but rest assured it is a bunch.
    • I don't know if this also gives access to Scaleform which was added into Unreal and all the major engines when I was working with it in version 2 and 3. Since then Scaleform has been purchased by Autodesk and incorporated into something called Gameware. All of us figured Autodesk was going to refactor it and have been called many times and asked to assist with the refactoring of the codebase but we are always too busy with other work to take on any contracts. If it does give you access to Scaleform then keep in mind that Adobe now has a free Flash Express that allows you to develop Flash w/o purchasing their huge Adobe CS behemoth which isn't cheap. Scaleform is a godsend when creating UIs provided you can get the beast to perform like you want. Perhaps it does now after the refactor. Epic says you get full source so I can only assume this includes Scaleform within the system.

    I would imagine you could but the problem would be that you would want to re-subscribe and get their latest to ensure major bugs were fixed. I would re-sync their latest, integrate with your final build and fix any issues. Run your game back through QA for some regression tests and then launch. The 5% will kick in when you reach the profit threshold. Clearly they intend to make their money off of the 5% royalties and the $19 / mo just covers other expenses, etc. I will likely go with Unreal 4 since my game ideas are more in line with what it targets. CRYENGINE appears to be geared towards outdoor environments whereas Unreal 4 does interiors extremely well. Also Unreal 4's global illumination model is simply astounding and looks amazing. They are both great, though. Choose which one suits your game the best. All it takes is one hit on Steam and you could almost fund your own studio. That sounds crazy I know but many have done just that.
    Yes but with the amount of people trying to make their fortune this way, it's a bit of a lottery especially in the mobile markets. But Unreal does seem a good deal, 5% is low but then as you said you have Steam costs, if you even manage to get it on there. Most devs make pizza money at most, a few fluke it like flappy bird, minecraft(well debatable) but generally dreams of gold will only be found by professional teams or indies that build up a cult following like super meat boy. Have a read of this post, well it's for Android but similar idea for PC. [Android] anyone have experience of selling Android game? - Business and Law - GameDev.net

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