Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free • Hacker News Board

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#141

Post by trendnet » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:24 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #129

How really easy is it to set up a beginner's project with this engine ? I mean it's a commercial engine, it has all the bells and whistles, but how easy is it to learn it ? Does it require one to use the editor to use the engine, or can I start with a simple bit of code and start going from there ? What I hate about unity is the whole interface editor thing, it's big and you must use everything to use it. Is this Unr…

I don't have any experience on Windows, but here're my 5 cents.

>What I hate about unity is the whole interface editor thing, it's big and you must use everything to use it.

Unreal Editor is even bigger.

>...earth to earth when it comes to programming ?

~4k headers, they have their own build system. Using Xcode is not very fun, it's either indexing/compiling, or just waiting while the build system tries to decide which files were changed.

A powerful machine with SSD for Unreal is a must. Unity is not that beefy (thus responsive), but you don't get a powerful editor for materials, AI, visual scripting and so on out of the box.

Also guys at Unreal prefer new features over stability. Every release is a fight with bugs.

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#142

Post by SwellJoe » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:27 PM UTC

nacs wrote: post #136

archagon wrote: post #57

Has anybody done UE4 dev on lower-end computers? I want to make games that can run on laptops with decent integrated graphics (Iris Pro). Does UE4 allow you to turn down all the fancy effects in order to do this at 60fps?

UE4 even exports to iPhone and Android so I'm sure lower end computers will be fine.

Are there games in the wild built with UE for mobile?

I know there are quite a few Unity games out there in the market. I had ruled out Unreal and kinda settled on using Unity for my tinkering with games, because of the pricing differences...but now that Unity is so much more expensive at $1500+$1500 for each platform you want to support (if you don't want a Unity splash screen and the limits of the free version), and Unreal being effectively free forever for me (since I sincerely doubt any of my tinkering will result in a game that makes $3000+ a quarter, ever), I'm leaning toward giving Unreal more of my attention. But, I primarily want to develop for mobile, so having an effective mobile deployment process with the engine is kinda mandatory.

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#143

Post by legohead » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:27 PM UTC

agildehaus wrote: post #47

legohead wrote: post #33

Has anyone got it to install? I downloaded installer for Mac (57mb), and when I launch/login, it says "No Engine installed", but no links on how to install the engine. My profile has a link to download the engine, but it just downloads the installer again.

When in the Launcher, goto the "Library" item on the left. You'll be able to install engines there.

Thanks!

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#144

Post by psquid » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:29 PM UTC

GhotiFish wrote: post #121

SXX wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>this library can now be effectively used for open source initiatives. No it's can't be because UE4 is proprietary: http://opensource.org/osd

?? ... so? What provision on that page would I violate if I made an FLOSS project based on UE4?

#2, "The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form."

Unreal's license for obtaining the source does not permit you to redistribute in source form, so you can't comply with their license and still fulfil that point.

While it's certainly trivial now for most anyone to obtain that source independently, you can't include that source in your own project while still distributing your own project under any license that the OSD would label as open source.

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#145

Post by hasenj » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:30 PM UTC

bluesilver07 wrote: post #5

johntaitorg wrote: post #2

It's available at no charge, but it's not free.

It is free as in beer, which is the natural definition of "free" for most people.

The natural definition for "free" in the software development world has come to mean "open source".

It doesn't matter what the word means outside this sphere. Otherwise, "engine" usually refers to something like a car engine.

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#146

Post by morganvachon » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:31 PM UTC

bumblebeard wrote: post #140

morganvachon wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's initially doesn't cost anything, but if you want to charge for a game, it costs you. That's just it though; if you wanted to use this to make a completely free GNU/Linux game, you could, without ever paying a cent to Epic. If you do decide to make a game for profit, it's only when you "make it" that you have to pay for your tools. I see it as a fair and equitable arrangement, where both sides profit if and onl…

Is the source code actually free though? For example, could I redistribute the source code myself and not take any revenue from the people I distributed it to? Could I make some changes to the engine and redistribute it? How would the revenue sharing work if I did something like that and someone using my version of the engine started making money using it? I'm glad there's another no-cost video game engine available,…

Sorry, I should have clarified; I didn't use the capital-F "Free" because I was speaking strictly in terms of money. I honestly don't have a clue what the redistribution rights are either, I just think it's cool there's a professional level, tried and tested, modern game engine available to build games that target GNU/Linux. I'm excited to see what comes of it over the next few years.

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#147

Post by ffn » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:32 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #129

How really easy is it to set up a beginner's project with this engine ? I mean it's a commercial engine, it has all the bells and whistles, but how easy is it to learn it ? Does it require one to use the editor to use the engine, or can I start with a simple bit of code and start going from there ? What I hate about unity is the whole interface editor thing, it's big and you must use everything to use it. Is this Unr…

In my opinion, if you're just a hobbyist programmer who want to experiment building games on the side, it makes more sense to build your MVP demo using humble html5 canvas (I personally use pixijs, but things like threejs or whatnot might be more appropriate depending on your idea). This is because building a good indie game is a big commitment requiring lots of time (which is money), and unless you're building this game for your grandchildren, it makes sense to test the market with a MVP and try to raise money for it on a kick-starter site before you commit to building it on a powerful engine like Unreal (or Unity).

In addition, worrying about powerful graphics as an indie game dev is like worrying about distributed database scalability as a minor e-commerce startup. Your priorities are messed up and, just like how you can just get away with mysql on a free heroku instance as long as you have interesting junk to sell on your ecommerce startup, so too can you get away with a shoddy 2d engine with box2d physics as long as your story is engaging (or your mechanics are fun).

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#148

Post by ctdonath » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:32 PM UTC

gnufied wrote: post #102

ctdonath wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make money with it, you give them a fair share. Entry cost is $0. They'll ignore the first $3000 gross because hassling lots of "little people" for under $150 isn't worth the hassle for anyone. Pretty amazing, really. I've been in graphics since just drawing a line on the screen of a $6000 (2015 dollars) computer was a big deal for a beginner; now you can get a seriously robust graphics engine for no cost , devel…

> For developing with UE4, we recommend a desktop PC with Windows 7 64-bit or a Mac with Mac OS X 10.9.2 or later, 8 GB RAM and a quad-core Intel or AMD processor, and a DX11 compatible video card. UE4 will run on desktops and laptops below these recommendations, but performance may be limited.

"Recommend". If you're trying to develop as close to "free" as possible, "performance may be limited."

(I'm often puzzled that when I suggest a nigh-unto-free solution to a problem, someone usually complains some form of "but that's not optimal!" Of course it's not optimal if you're not willing to put substantial resources into it. Just because the solution isn't perfect doesn't mean there isn't one; do what you can with what you've got, and you'll make progress toward perfection.)

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#149

Post by drzaiusapelord » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:33 PM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #82

johntaitorg wrote: post #2

It's available at no charge, but it's not free.

You make money with it, you give them a fair share. Entry cost is $0. They'll ignore the first $3000 gross because hassling lots of "little people" for under $150 isn't worth the hassle for anyone. Pretty amazing, really. I've been in graphics since just drawing a line on the screen of a $6000 (2015 dollars) computer was a big deal for a beginner; now you can get a seriously robust graphics engine for no cost , devel…

Specs on that are really low. 2gb of ram with a single core processor? That kind of rig is probably best for 2D development, where something like Unreal or Unity would be way overkill.

A small step up would be something with a proper graphics card and a quard core processor. You can get a very nice computer for $450 nowadays:

http://www.gamersnexus.net/pc-builds/1786-cheap-gaming-pc-bu...

Also, not being able to test on Windows would be a major problem as that's going to be the lion's share of your sale. If you're budget conscious, I'd spring for a 3 year old laptop that came with an AMD or NVIDIA chip. That would be a low end desktop today, but can probably be had for $200-300 or so. Toss in a $80 SSD, and off to the races. I find laptops depreciate fast and that most people haven no idea how valuable that NVIDIA or AMD sticker is on their laptop. That's the difference between being able to play 70% of the games on Steam and being able to play 10% of the games on Steam.

Re: Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free

#150

Post by nacs » Mon, Mar 02, 2015, 9:38 PM UTC

SwellJoe wrote: post #142

nacs wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UE4 even exports to iPhone and Android so I'm sure lower end computers will be fine.

Are there games in the wild built with UE for mobile? I know there are quite a few Unity games out there in the market. I had ruled out Unreal and kinda settled on using Unity for my tinkering with games, because of the pricing differences...but now that Unity is so much more expensive at $1500+$1500 for each platform you want to support (if you don't want a Unity splash screen and the limits of the free version), an…

The XCom games on PC/iOS use UE4. The Zen Garden (Metal rendering) demo presented at the Apple keynote also used UE. Theres quite a few more but thats the only ones I remember off the top of my head ATM.

For 3D games on mobile, UE should perform pretty well. If you're doing 2D games, other engines may be more efficient (although UE does have a 2D mode).