United3dArtists Archive

Unreal Developer Kit. Probably not free for commercial purposes but still...


http://www.udk.com/news.html"

Wowzers..... I am sure this is just the kit... license to distribute will still be a pretty penny I am sure...

but this is nice to have in the drawer... lol

Holy cow.... I just read the licensing stuff... basically it is pay as you go.... you can develop a game and not pay anything until you actually sell it at which time you need the commercial license... but nothing down to develop the game....

UNREAL!!!!!!


Now the hard choices are Unity, DarkBasic or Unreal!!!!

What is happening to game development products?

I think it is the beginning of the end for game development for the PC platform.

Game companies all want to get on the console market to push the subscription service based games like WoW. For example, Infinity Ward will not be including dedicated server technology in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. As a result internet multiplayer games will have to route through their server system.

When this rolls out there will be no mod community for MW2 as the ability to deploy for players will not exist. Gaming clans on a global basis have organized a boycott of MW2 for this reason.

Epic, by releasing the development kit now are essentially allowing indie developers and modders to get a chance to join their club so when the PC game market dies its slow painful death these creative folks will be able to write console games that generate revenue for Epic.

I think when Valve and the other big players figure this manoever out we will see even more of the high end game engines embrace this concept.

The big revenue in the future will not come from creating the next great game but in getting the players to play the game from your server. Sorta like water.... water is free, clean water costs money but what people will pay for is the pipe that brings it to their kitchen....

Crap !

Need PC development

So join in please . No more consoles! No more consoles! No more consoles! No more consoles!

World is facing a hard time, all-in-one or one for all? Of course a one for all should do thing better than an all-in-one but an AIO should be more practical, anyway I like PC games...

Cya

v3rd3 wrote:I think it is the beginning of the end for game development for the PC platform.

Game companies all want to get on the console market to push the subscription service based games like WoW. For example, Infinity Ward will not be including dedicated server technology in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. As a result internet multiplayer games will have to route through their server system.

When this rolls out there will be no mod community for MW2 as the ability to deploy for players will not exist. Gaming clans on a global basis have organized a boycott of MW2 for this reason.

Epic, by releasing the development kit now are essentially allowing indie developers and modders to get a chance to join their club so when the PC game market dies its slow painful death these creative folks will be able to write console games that generate revenue for Epic.

I think when Valve and the other big players figure this manoever out we will see even more of the high end game engines embrace this concept.

The big revenue in the future will not come from creating the next great game but in getting the players to play the game from your server. Sorta like water.... water is free, clean water costs money but what people will pay for is the pipe that brings it to their kitchen....

Outstanding analysis v3rd3, I see it that way too.

One tries to avoid disappointing the fans...

The demise of the PC as a gaming platform has been mooted since I first played sonic the hedgehog.

Basically, a few companies have become big poopy pants about the PC because Blizzard is taking all of their revenue. Basically, old-school shooters are on the nose on the PC, and consoles are seen as a better bet for these games. They are also cheaper to develop for and more difficult to pirate.

Outside of this, RPG's, MMO's and RTS type games still flourish on the PC, and I'm sure shooters will get their turn on consoles, too, once Blizzard or someone else figures out how to get the MMO's into the console market (assuming it wants to).

I stopped playing shooters on the PC (mostly) a long time ago. I'm not alone. Many guys I know still play old schoolers like CS, if they do play them (but I'm sure MW2 will get a run). It's not really a fun time to be making these types of games on PC. This still doesn't stop people making them.......

And also, you'll find the no server deal with MW2 is more about controlling the delivery of their product (i.e averting software piracy) than a sign that they think the game won't be successful. It will be, despite the decline of the PC as a shooter platform, but perhaps not to the same levels of yesteryear. Blizzard are doing this too with Starcraft 2, and I don't hear anyone saying that this won't be anything other than a major hit on the PC.

Back OT: Holy crap, I can now make games with the U3 engine.......

Benji wrote:The demise of the PC as a gaming platform has been mooted since I first played sonic the hedgehog.

Basically, a few companies have become big poopy pants about the PC because Blizzard is taking all of their revenue. Basically, old-school shooters are on the nose on the PC, and consoles are seen as a better bet for these games. They are also cheaper to develop for and more difficult to pirate.

Yes. There does seem to be an increase in consumption of subscription based gaming. Also, most parents I know who are not technically inclined cannot keep up with the changes in PC technology so going to consoles is a whole lot easier...

Outside of this, RPG's, MMO's and RTS type games still flourish on the PC, and I'm sure shooters will get their turn on consoles, too, once Blizzard or someone else figures out how to get the MMO's into the console market (assuming it wants to).

It really boils down to how long it will take them to make the switch. All they really need is to mod their tools to deploy to multiple environments. At this point it does not seem to be economical for them.

The odd thing in all of this is Starcraft 2 is Windows and Mac only so I don't really know what would slow them down technically... other than Battle.Net being a problem....

I stopped playing shooters on the PC (mostly) a long time ago. I'm not alone. Many guys I know still play old schoolers like CS, if they do play them (but I'm sure MW2 will get a run). It's not really a fun time to be making these types of games on PC. This still doesn't stop people making them.......

And also, you'll find the no server deal with MW2 is more about controlling the delivery of their product (i.e averting software piracy) than a sign that they think the game won't be successful. It will be, despite the decline of the PC as a shooter platform, but perhaps not to the same levels of yesteryear. Blizzard are doing this too with Starcraft 2, and I don't hear anyone saying that this won't be anything other than a major hit on the PC.

I agree with you completely that the issue is entirely controling delivery. I also believe that there is a strong desire to eliminate the competition that modders create. You can either view modders as a group that extend the life of a title or a form of competition delaying the purchase of the next release of the title.

I think MW2 has the focus simply because of its release date and the loss of dedicated servers. As far as I know we are still a ways off on Starcraft 2 and it was deployed on Battle.Net not an open server model.

The changes to delivery in other games have been awful from where I am sitting. The first game that deployed console style multiplayer on the PC that I played was Far Cry 2. There are dozens of gamers in my community that will not buy that title, or any new Ubisoft titles with that mp model.

Back OT: Holy crap, I can now make games with the U3 engine.......

Yeah! Six years ago when I was working on a deal to set up a game studio they wanted $100,000 US just to let us look at the engine. It's amazing how the world has changed.

I think we are all happy with the release...

Have a look at the licencing terms. If you release a game comercially they want $99 and 25% of your income if you make over $5000.00.

It's just a smarter way to do business. They know that great games don't have to come from companys with millions of dollars. On the other hand people can't just walk out and spend money on software or engines without it.

Pretty much, if you use their engine and you make a game to sell. Well then you would have no problem buying a copy of their engine. If you just toy around with the engine and never do anything. Then no loss on either side.

When I first started researching game development about 4 years ago you needed $500,000 USD and a solid track record developing games just to broach the subject of a commercial project.

Paying a 25% royalty for the sake of using the Unreal Engine for a commercial release with no dollars up front is a terrific offer.