im sure a lot of you have read about this, but felt like it was worth a thread and conversation. i personally think this is the way game devs need to go to keep things fresh and basically, ****ing amazing. i see this as the best thing to happen to game development in years, and i truly hope that others will follow suit (not gonna hold my breath though)
ut4 "open source" free, not free2play
Protekt1
(Protekt1)
#2
Just to clue people in, the game will be free. They claim there will not be microtransactions. There is will be a marketplace where you can purchase community made content. Community made content proceeds split between the creators and epic.
This is a good move for their unreal engine. They’ll probably make a profit off of community sold content eventually (probably pretty fast). But it also gets hundreds if not thousands of people learning how to use their new unreal engine. Some, or many, of those people will enter the gaming industry with the know how to work with UE. More UE devs = more games being made on UE = more money from licensing UE.
I doubt a company like SD/nexon could follow suit. Eh, maybe. Who knows. But I doubt it.
shaftz0r
(shaftz0r)
#3
i also doubt it, but i forsee this being the smart directiong devs will start making. go back to what worked back in the day. community content
Rex
(Rex)
#4
I’m very doubtful about this whether it will pay off in the end or not, but I think only time can tell…
Tast1c
(Bangtastic)
#5
its an interesting attempt to make a game collaboratively. I think its great that they have everything pretty transparent, so ppl and new dev teams can get an insight of how such a project is built up. But ppl do it for free as well, im very sceptical that certain community desginer will stay for the entire dev cycle. So the thing is when lots of visuals come from lots of different “modders”, there might be a problem that the art style of the game wont be one piece. Ok in UT actually it doesnt matter since you have all characters you wanna have in that game… different settings might not work out. Still its an interesting way to outsource some of the work to the community, they work for free. Its a small project, dont expect too much, either it will be another UE3 or UT2k4^^
Actually you wrong SD, I mean they are also working with community on a Ideas and Feedback level the whole time.
Also you have to distinguish between devs who want to share their vision of a game and make it real (quite utopian^^) and that what the community wants. The community never has the same opinion.
k0k0nat
(k0k0nat)
#6
I started playing UT2004 again this week with some of my old UT-Pro Mates, after I got the news.
I can tell, the community is even more stubborn then the old W:ET or Wolfenstein Community.
They want a game that is EXACTLY like UT2k4 with more CTF features etc.
If EPIC will listen a 100% to this community, UT4 will be a CTF only game made for some old nerds.
I wrote on the forum that I played maybe 3 times CTF in my whole UT-Life ( and I was looking for 1vs1 and TDM) and got flamed massivly 
Christophicus
(Christophicus)
#7
This thread probably deserves to be in the off-topic section of the forum :P.
Anyway, it’s certainly commendable to see EPIC trying to pull an initiative like this off. Of course, it’s not the first time that something like this has been attempted, with the vast majority of other instances having ended with a less than stellar product…or the project collapsing entirely. With that said, today’s fantastic hardware, software, and knowledge resources that are relatively accessible mean that there’s never been a better time to try and make something like this work.
As for other companies doing similar things…this project is a loss-leader who’s primary goal is almost certainly to promote and sell the Unreal 4 Engine. I doubt Epic expects to make much of a profit on the game itself. I would be extremely surprised if the game is profitable 2 years after release…if ever.
Again though, I must applaud them for their efforts. I will certainly be keeping a close eye on this initiative and how they go about executing it. Here’s hoping that I’m proven wrong, and this model becomes a roaring success for company, creators and community. Neither Valve or Sony seem to have cracked it…maybe Epic can hit the nail on the head ;).
Exciting times :).
RasteRayzeR
(RasteRayzeR)
#8
Will definitely check UT4 out. Hope they release soon an SDK to create maps. But will probably have to wait for one year or so
Loffy
(Loffy)
#9
Thx for link to these groundbreaking news.
On a sidenote, this affects the work process for Xt, no/yes? I think it perhaps does, but, then, I am no expert in game dev.
Violator
(Violator)
#10
This is very cool 
However the ‘open source’ part will not be so ‘open’ -
Note this is the ut4 engine not the game which is true open source as far as I can see.
More stuff here - http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-05-08-the-next-unreal-tournament-will-f2p-developed-with-the-community
Christophicus
(Christophicus)
#11
Given the relatively open nature of UT’s development, peeps’ll be able to start working on maps relatively soon. If UE4’s subscription is too rich for your blood, I would imagine that the UDK, Epic’s somewhat free version of UE3, will make its way over to UE4 sooner rather than later.
[QUOTE=Loffy;497238]Thx for link to these groundbreaking news.
On a sidenote, this affects the work process for Xt, no/yes? I think it perhaps does, but, then, I am no expert in game dev.[/QUOTE]
I don’t imagine that this announcement would effect the development of DB/Xt in any direct manner, no. It’s built using UE3 rather than UE4. Even if it were on UE4, I would imagine that the vast majority of UE4 titles that hit the shelves over the next 2 years won’t follow entirely in UT’s footsteps.
[QUOTE=Violator;497240]This is very cool However the ‘open source’ part will not be so ‘open’ -
Note this is the ut4 engine not the game which is true open source as far as I can see.
More stuff here - http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-05-08-the-next-unreal-tournament-will-f2p-developed-with-the-community[/QUOTE]
The UDK for UE4 is apparently on its way. That may well enable those who don’t particularly wish to pay a subscription to tinker around with map making, to give it a go.
davidemo89
(davidemo89)
#13
[QUOTE=Christophicus;497269]
The UDK for UE4 is apparently on its way. That may well enable those who don’t particularly wish to pay a subscription to tinker around with map making, to give it a go.[/QUOTE]
I think they are releasing a free new UT with full modding for having people try the Unreal Engine 4 editor for free.
Like it was with Unreal Tournament 3 before the free UDK. A lot of games were born as mod for UT3 and then they made the stand alone