I would disagree here. As much as I love UE4, I find Blueprints to be much more difficult than C#/Unity Script. I'm not anywhere close to being a decent programmer and so I love the idea of a visual system. However, whenever I try to do something in Blueprints, I find myself wishing I had access to high level text scripting instead.
Blueprints is a headache for me too, I'd rip my hair out trying to manage a big project.
"Professional editor skin" not in the personal edition.
If this is legit, are you fucking kidding me?
that was in every other unity version, too: free versions get the default light skin and pro users have the option to switch to a dark skin. no point in it imo
I have to disagree (somewhat). Aside from languages preferences, which really shouldn't matter, if you know how to program, you should be able to program, in any language that is somewhat similar in syntax. Jumping from Delphi to C++ could be problematic though and day of two of learning might be needed.
Granted, but for less performance-intensive tasks like gameplay scripting, C++'s verbosity can be a little much, and make it harder for designers to come in and tweak things themselves during early development (I'm really not convinced that visual scripting is a good alternative, there).
But, as far as I remember Unity on start is pretty bare bone. You have to create lot's of things from scratch. Networking support is nearly non existent, and is nowhere near level of Unreal (and in this case it help they have 14+ years of experience creating multiplayer games, not just engine).
Unreal have also loads of build in functionality, for supporting, character (movement, damage), projectiles etc.
You can make prototype of more or less generic game (which have vehicles and characters), obscenely fast with Unreal, since most of functionality is already done for you, and all you need to do is to connect it together.
The issues might start when you need something more specific, but then.. It's like anywhere else. You sit and have to figure it out.
I actually tried Unity, and I have never been convinced to it.I just couldn't get into this fast prototyping in Unity. To much things, to take care on start, to even thing about starting prototyping gameplay functionality.
True. Most of my projects in Unity have been related to procedural generation, and when you're constantly tweaking algorithms and re-evaluating your data structures, Unity's low-friction JIT compilation step really makes a difference in productivity.
The barebones nature of Unity is something I lean towards since I can grasp its feature-set quickly, and code things relatively easily from scratch without having to worry about breaking a system or rule that I didn't know was a part of the engine.
But unless you're the kind of person who likes to write their own toolset and workflow on top of a light framework, you're absolutely right. Unreal's the way to go.
For small project I would choose Unreal. I feel it's faster to get things done. But it might be also the fact, that I'm just used to it.
The big issue in Unreal, would be if you target Android. not that many devices are supported, and regardless of how much you tune it down, it's still very demanding engine, on common people hardware. Not everyone is using high end Nexus devices or HTC.
Definitely faster for more traditional gametypes, yeah. Epic's gone to great lengths to make all that stuff pretty easy. I've not touched UE4's mobile side, but I'd believe it. Which is really a shame.
Now totally unrelated thing. I like Epic approach better. When you ask Epic to add some feature of fix something the usual reaction is "well we don't know yet, but will surely figure it out!", or explanation why the won't do this, or do this they way it was requested.
Absolutely. I read Unity's forum once, never went back. Stuck with the documentation and ruing some of the design choices they made which got in my way.
related in comparison, unity 5 free is going full-featured as well, apparently:
no source code access and no performance profiler, though
Also no beta access, I love being able to download a preview build of UE4, or one of several branches currently in development from Github. Source code access has done a lot for getting fixes and features into the engine, a Polycount user actually got Epic to integrate his pull request to use MikkTSpace normal maps, so there's finally a synced normal map work flow for static meshes.
Also no beta access, I love being able to download a preview build of UE4, or one of several branches currently in development from Github. Source code access has done a lot for getting fixes and features into the engine, a Polycount user actually got Epic to integrate his pull request to use MikkTSpace normal maps, so there's finally a synced normal map work flow for static meshes.
Speaking of tangent spaces, has anyone tested to see if UnityTSpace normal maps work correctly in forward shading in the new release? I'd test it myself but their servers are getting slammed.
Two forum topics now, about free game engines. Generally, I think it's about the difference in the languages and approach that has made both companies go free. That's not to say people can't create a game in either language, and port them to both game engines. As an artist though I've always liked the ease of use and visual shader generation of Unreal.
5% royalties after $3,000 per quarter per game. Steam and other distributors take 30%, 5% is more than fair until you are a large studio, at which point you can get a custom license.
You should be able to create a shortcut for the engine .exe file that should be in the 64bit binary folder where you installed the engine. I think it's UnrealEngine\Engine\Binaries but I'll have to check later at home.
does right clicking on UE4 while its open and saying "Pin" work? You can create a shortcut like Zac mentioned too, should be in Binaries\Win64\ I don't have a version installed from the launcher so am not certain - but its in that general area
If you make a desktop shortcut, you can have it auto launch your project by editing the shortcut's path to say
C:\filepathtostuff\UnrealEnging4.exe PROJECTNAME
if you add -game it'll launch your project as a game instead of the editor.
This is really Unreal, who would've thought one year ago that we'd be able to work with the most advanced game engine in the world with no restrictions, things are changing and now it's Epic that is a role-model to the industry as we saw in the past couple of days, kudos Epic, you are Unreal.
Btw, the new component based workflow in 4,7 is awesome, it was one of those very few area's that unreal was behind the completion, and you addressed it beautifully, love the new workflow between Blueprints and Components, so fun to work with.
The whole 5% after you earn so much thing could be a real turnoff to investors in a company as it means you have to have very open books. I'm not an expert in games finance but companies often want the sales figure, list of investors etc hidden for as long as possible, maybe for tax reasons! This open book approach could mean that you will miss out on investment.
I'm not sure it's that simple, at the very least they need to know what you have sold on each platform and shop version. You would have to provide documented proof of this, possibly by tax receipts? You are essentially opening a large section of your books to a third party which is not something that business folks are keen on.
If your company is so large or concerned with 3rd party seeing that kind of information, they are very likely to have the funds available for an upfront fee based license where they won't need to pay royalties or provide that kind of sales information.
If your company is so large or concerned with 3rd party seeing that kind of information,
Bolded secondary argument to my statement, it impacts anyone who is concerned with a 3rd party having access to the kind of information listed in the release link.
But as I said, if you're concerned with that, it is covered by custom licensing - as discussed in Epics FAQ. https://www.unrealengine.com/faq
Wow, don't upset the Unreal fanboys! Your probably right, it would be nice to know what a custom license would set you back, I'm guessing a lot more than a few Unity pro seats but that's just speculation.
For the price of full one year of big Maya, to which I know I would have to buy 3 additional plugins (and each costs more than 800$), I can have all the software out there from other companies and work on what I like.
With...
- UE4 free
- Unity free
- BlackMagic Fusion free
- Visual Studio Community free
- Houdini Indie for $200
- Substance tools Indie for $318 + new payment options
- Zbrush for $795
- Modo for $1495
- Cinema4D Prime for $995
- Blender
... I can start shaping the world to my liking.
I have bigger chance to work on my own (freelance) and convince some companies that never thought about using/working with people like me to include my skills in their portfolio.
This opens up so many possibilities. And slowly but surely ends Autodesk reign. Sooner or later even companies will have to adapt and start using what normal people have access to. With companies of course this may take time, but they can't stop the trend.
Awesome, finally some quality models to play around with that's more nature oriented. Which is something that the engine is lacking at the moment, I understand that the marketplace is supposed to handle that. But it's nice to not have to spend +50$ to get something more complex to play around with. Looking at gray cubes all day is getting a bit boring.
Awesome, finally some quality models to play around with that's more nature oriented. Which is something that the engine is lacking at the moment, I understand that the marketplace is supposed to handle that. But it's nice to not have to spend +50$ to get something more complex to play around with. Looking at gray cubes all day is getting a bit boring.
There's free stuff in the marketplace too. You can get the elemental cinematic, the sci-fi hallway from Quixel, the matinee fight scene ... don't live with grey cube oppression.
how come unreal editor is always so sluggish. I mean I love the tech , but even when i was working full time on games with unreal engine it just chugged in every way ie rebuilding shader, ui refresh.
perhaps I am doing somehting worng here:/
Don't know if it would help but I always limit the editor FPS. I don't see why I need 60+ fps in the editor, with my GPU at a constant 60+ degrees as well.
Just go into Unreal Engine\4.7\Engine\Config > consolevariables.ini and add t.MaxFPS=25 or whatever.
There's free stuff in the marketplace too. You can get the elemental cinematic, the sci-fi hallway from Quixel, the matinee fight scene ... don't live with grey cube oppression.
I've already looked at the assets from the elemental demo, but the Kite projects assets kinda fits my project perfectly.
Seems like it does Makkon! This has me so stupidly excited, getting back into the engine and just fiddling about and aaaaaa, its so much fun! it brings back many great memories and feelings I haven't had in way too long.
Some paralyzed friends of my family have shown interest in something like a walking and exploration sim that runs on Occulus or similar VR headsets. Just to give them the experience of walking around in a huge beautifully detailed world again, this all seems 100% perfect for that
Replies
no source code access and no performance profiler, though
Blueprints is a headache for me too, I'd rip my hair out trying to manage a big project.
If this is legit,
Unity are you fucking kidding me?
that was in every other unity version, too: free versions get the default light skin and pro users have the option to switch to a dark skin. no point in it imo
Granted, but for less performance-intensive tasks like gameplay scripting, C++'s verbosity can be a little much, and make it harder for designers to come in and tweak things themselves during early development (I'm really not convinced that visual scripting is a good alternative, there).
True. Most of my projects in Unity have been related to procedural generation, and when you're constantly tweaking algorithms and re-evaluating your data structures, Unity's low-friction JIT compilation step really makes a difference in productivity.
The barebones nature of Unity is something I lean towards since I can grasp its feature-set quickly, and code things relatively easily from scratch without having to worry about breaking a system or rule that I didn't know was a part of the engine.
But unless you're the kind of person who likes to write their own toolset and workflow on top of a light framework, you're absolutely right. Unreal's the way to go.
Definitely faster for more traditional gametypes, yeah. Epic's gone to great lengths to make all that stuff pretty easy. I've not touched UE4's mobile side, but I'd believe it. Which is really a shame.
Absolutely. I read Unity's forum once, never went back. Stuck with the documentation and ruing some of the design choices they made which got in my way.
Also no beta access, I love being able to download a preview build of UE4, or one of several branches currently in development from Github. Source code access has done a lot for getting fixes and features into the engine, a Polycount user actually got Epic to integrate his pull request to use MikkTSpace normal maps, so there's finally a synced normal map work flow for static meshes.
Speaking of tangent spaces, has anyone tested to see if UnityTSpace normal maps work correctly in forward shading in the new release? I'd test it myself but their servers are getting slammed.
I love epic.
If any of the epic crew are following this thread: youz guys iz da shiz!
If you make a desktop shortcut, you can have it auto launch your project by editing the shortcut's path to say
C:\filepathtostuff\UnrealEnging4.exe PROJECTNAME
if you add -game it'll launch your project as a game instead of the editor.
i'm cool with either of those.
Btw, the new component based workflow in 4,7 is awesome, it was one of those very few area's that unreal was behind the completion, and you addressed it beautifully, love the new workflow between Blueprints and Components, so fun to work with.
Btw, how is the Mono/C# for Unreal Engine project coming along? has anybody given it a try here?
here are the requirements re royalty on UE4 engined games:
https://www.unrealengine.com/release
Provided you are using the standard royalty license.
If you have issue with that kind of transparency, they do a custom license with an upfront fee:
https://www.unrealengine.com/custom-licensing
If your company is so large or concerned with 3rd party seeing that kind of information, they are very likely to have the funds available for an upfront fee based license where they won't need to pay royalties or provide that kind of sales information.
Bolded secondary argument to my statement, it impacts anyone who is concerned with a 3rd party having access to the kind of information listed in the release link.
But as I said, if you're concerned with that, it is covered by custom licensing - as discussed in Epics FAQ.
https://www.unrealengine.com/faq
How very constructive of you.
For the price of full one year of big Maya, to which I know I would have to buy 3 additional plugins (and each costs more than 800$), I can have all the software out there from other companies and work on what I like.
With...
- UE4 free
- Unity free
- BlackMagic Fusion free
- Visual Studio Community free
- Houdini Indie for $200
- Substance tools Indie for $318 + new payment options
- Zbrush for $795
- Modo for $1495
- Cinema4D Prime for $995
- Blender
... I can start shaping the world to my liking.
I have bigger chance to work on my own (freelance) and convince some companies that never thought about using/working with people like me to include my skills in their portfolio.
This opens up so many possibilities. And slowly but surely ends Autodesk reign. Sooner or later even companies will have to adapt and start using what normal people have access to. With companies of course this may take time, but they can't stop the trend.
It's amazing.
Sounds like Epic is going to release this product with 4.8 whenever that comes out.
[ame]
Very nice work... Ive watched it bout 7 X today!
hhhhhnnnggggggg
There's free stuff in the marketplace too. You can get the elemental cinematic, the sci-fi hallway from Quixel, the matinee fight scene ... don't live with grey cube oppression.
perhaps I am doing somehting worng here:/
Just go into Unreal Engine\4.7\Engine\Config > consolevariables.ini and add t.MaxFPS=25 or whatever.
I've already looked at the assets from the elemental demo, but the Kite projects assets kinda fits my project perfectly.
WAIT WAIT WAIT
Are they saying that landscapes now support Distance Field Ambient Occlusion and Raytraced Distance Field Soft Shadows?
Some paralyzed friends of my family have shown interest in something like a walking and exploration sim that runs on Occulus or similar VR headsets. Just to give them the experience of walking around in a huge beautifully detailed world again, this all seems 100% perfect for that
Yes they should be now and with 4.8 you will have Distance Field Global Illuminaton (DFGI) their real time GI solution
Waiting with discipline