View Full Version : Unreal Development Kit - now free for non-commercial work
onona
05-11-2009, 06:16 PM
This is pretty huge.
http://www.udk.com/index.html
Epic Games Announces the Unreal Development Kit, Powered by Unreal Engine 3
Unparalleled 3D Game Engine Toolset Now Available for Free Download
Epic Games, Inc. announces the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset like never before. This software release is available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology, including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers. Anyone can start working with the industry-leading Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at www.udk.com, where detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms, support resources and more are also available.
An unprecedented milestone in game development, the release of UDK awards free access to the same world-class tools and technology used by many of the world?s best video game developers and publishers. Unreal Engine 3 is a constantly evolving game engine, and UDK contains all the most recently added features and technological enhancements, including many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game. Furthermore, Epic Games will release ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.
There is no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. Over 100 academic campuses currently use Unreal Technology as part of teaching game development-related courses, and colleges with plans to incorporate UDK into their curricula include the University of Pennsylvania, North Carolina State University, The Art Institute system of schools, Drexel University, Westwood College, DeVry University and Atlantic College, with many others to be announced.
http://www.udk.com/features.html
Miktar
05-11-2009, 06:41 PM
I was just about to come post this. More info here: http://worthplaying.com/article/2009/11/5/news/69972/
dislekcia
05-11-2009, 06:54 PM
Going to see how I can get mah grubby paws on this soon. Will be informing various peeps at Compsci faculties around SA as well :)
Gazza_N
06-11-2009, 07:44 AM
The licensing terms are pretty spiffy, actually (http://www.udk.com/licensing.html). It's free for non-commercial use, but if you plan on selling a game, you pay a $99 royalty fee on release of the game, then 25% of all the revenue from your UDK-based stuff should you make more than $5000 in sales. Pretty neato for small Indie devs, no?
Necrolis
06-11-2009, 07:45 AM
someone pm'ed me a link to this last night, I though it was a joke :O, well now its just made my week :D well only another 4 odd hours till my sdk download finishes :| (yay for WA trails)
Fengol
06-11-2009, 08:09 AM
@Dislekcia, I have downloaded if you want me to stop past?
Their licensing is actually *horrible*. As soon as you make over $4 000-$5 000, you owe as much money to them as you would have to have bought Unity or Torque outright, and you keep paying them for every further sale.
It's great that you can use it for free to get a game to where it needs to be before selling it with zero upfront though. But be careful... if you have a game idea that you could just as easily do in Unity or Torque or whatever (let's face it... how many indie/smaller devs *need* all the features that Unreal has?), and you are confident that it's going to make you even something small like $25 000, you could spend ~$1 000 upfront on other tech and take home $24 000, or spend $0 upfront and only take home $20 000 (you only pay royalties on the amount above $5 000). That doesn't even count the fact that you have to pay royalties on *ALL* revenue related to your title, so if you charge for subscriptions, earn any advertising revenue (from in-game ads or even website traffic!), or print t-shirts, you owe them 25% of that too.
I'm not saying that it's crap per say, but I wouldn't just get all excited about being able to use Unreal tech if you are serious about making money off of selling your games. Chances are you'll spend more time just playing around with all of their cool editors and features and not actually focus on what you need to make your idea into a killer game.
Squid
06-11-2009, 08:56 AM
@Dislekcia, I have downloaded if you want me to stop past?
I have it too, the download is only 576mb. Pretty awesome.
dINGLE
06-11-2009, 11:17 AM
I would be interested to know how they would find out how much you make
I can see some court cases in Epic's future
dislekcia
06-11-2009, 11:53 AM
@Dislekcia, I have downloaded if you want me to stop past?
You in CT now? ;)
Their licensing is actually *horrible*. As soon as you make over $4 000-$5 000, you owe as much money to them as you would have to have bought Unity or Torque outright, and you keep paying them for every further sale.
It's great that you can use it for free to get a game to where it needs to be before selling it with zero upfront though. But be careful... if you have a game idea that you could just as easily do in Unity or Torque or whatever (let's face it... how many indie/smaller devs *need* all the features that Unreal has?), and you are confident that it's going to make you even something small like $25 000, you could spend ~$1 000 upfront on other tech and take home $24 000, or spend $0 upfront and only take home $20 000 (you only pay royalties on the amount above $5 000). That doesn't even count the fact that you have to pay royalties on *ALL* revenue related to your title, so if you charge for subscriptions, earn any advertising revenue (from in-game ads or even website traffic!), or print t-shirts, you owe them 25% of that too.
I'm not saying that it's crap per say, but I wouldn't just get all excited about being able to use Unreal tech if you are serious about making money off of selling your games. Chances are you'll spend more time just playing around with all of their cool editors and features and not actually focus on what you need to make your idea into a killer game.
Truth. I was wondering what the license terms would be after the initial announcement said that new terms would be out soon.
I think that Epic is trying to get students and game schools to use their systems. That way people entering the industry in hiring hotspots will have Unreal Engine skills and more studios will do the full engine license stuff. Sure, they sound like they're trying to compete with Torque and Unity, but I think that's just for the free word of mouth spread.
As a hobbyist just messing around, this is great and should scratch a bunch of itches. As a serious indie company, it's not the best option available.
Still fun messing around with UEngine stuff. I pulled down UEngine 2 when they released it for non-commercial use too. Just haven't really done anything with it. Something similar will probably happen with this too... TBH, I'm keener on getting to mess with Unity at the end of the month.
herman.tulleken
06-11-2009, 12:28 PM
Yeah, when I opened the UDK editor, my first impression was "Ughhhh... b r a i n d a m a g e". This in stark contrast with Unity - we have been converting a XNA project to Unity...took us about 3 days to almost duplicate 2 month's work (obviously, all the art is already built)... and it is rendering at about 8 times the speed. So far I love it (but I used to love Blender and Torque and XNA too....)
xyber
06-11-2009, 12:41 PM
Their licensing is actually *horrible*. As soon as you make over $4 000-$5 000, you owe as much money to them as you would have to have bought Unity or Torque outright, and you keep paying them for every further sale.
.....
+1
I got all excited when I first read bout it but after reading the Licensing I feel Torque 3D and Unity 3D are still better options for indie devs.
OnlyOneKenobi
28-12-2009, 08:57 AM
I've been poking around with the UDK for the last few days, it's actually quite easy to get the hang of once you get started. Admittedly, I've only really been experimenting with level and materials editing so far, but there is a whole lot of information with regards to creation of custom characters, cinematics, etc.
It has a lot of potential.
.:Enigma:.
28-12-2009, 03:50 PM
Mine is being odd.
I open the installer and it just sits on the Splash screen.
Help meh?
SplaT
29-12-2009, 08:27 PM
Is it just me, or is UDK a ghost?
I know it hasn't been released as a -free for non-commercial use- package for very long, but I have a hard time finding indie projects, WIP or otherwise, that made use of the UDK.
The official forums have a subsection called Showcase, which is disappointing to say the least.
Wizzle and The Ball are the only really interesting projects I have come across.
Really? No other real contenders?
Am I just jumping the gun?
Also, Enigma; have you fixed your problem?
Dragon-Ion
31-12-2009, 06:47 AM
Do you think Epic would blow a gasket if the UDK was used for a non-profit game?
BlackShipsFillt
31-12-2009, 09:51 AM
It's free for non-profit... if I understand correctly
Dragon-Ion
31-12-2009, 05:45 PM
That's the way I understand it as well, but you never know with these big game devs.
dislekcia
31-12-2009, 06:18 PM
That's the way I understand it as well, but you never know with these big game devs.
Read the license agreement. It clearly states terms for the UDK. The same terms were talked about earlier in this thread... Be warned that NOT reading isn't going to hold you in good stead here.
Dragon-Ion
01-01-2010, 08:41 AM
Look, I've read this thread, the EULA and the Commercial Licencing Agreement. I get that I am ALLOWED to make the game for free, and if I plan on selling it I have to pay the fees and royalties. But it doesn't say much regarding the release of a non-profit game, ie the release of a UDK developed project to the public free of charge. Unless I missed something.
.:Enigma:.
01-01-2010, 12:16 PM
SplaT no I haven't, I have tried to download it twice more, from different mirrors, but still the problem persists.
dislekcia
01-01-2010, 02:47 PM
Look, I've read this thread, the EULA and the Commercial Licencing Agreement. I get that I am ALLOWED to make the game for free, and if I plan on selling it I have to pay the fees and royalties. But it doesn't say much regarding the release of a non-profit game, ie the release of a UDK developed project to the public free of charge. Unless I missed something.
It says everything it needs to: If you don't make any money off the game, it's not commercial and therefor free. You don't owe any share of royalties if there aren't any.
OnlyOneKenobi
11-01-2010, 07:05 AM
Is it just me, or is UDK a ghost?
I know it hasn't been released as a -free for non-commercial use- package for very long, but I have a hard time finding indie projects, WIP or otherwise, that made use of the UDK.
The official forums have a subsection called Showcase, which is disappointing to say the least.
Wizzle and The Ball are the only really interesting projects I have come across.
Really? No other real contenders?
Am I just jumping the gun?
Also, Enigma; have you fixed your problem?
It takes a LOT of time to create something substantial with the UDK, even with a team of people, making textures, materials, levels, models and animations, cinematics, sounds, music, menu's and doing the coding and AI - you're not likely to see anything worthwhile in less than 6 months from its release.
froogle
09-02-2010, 11:53 PM
Yeah if you don't make money off your game (basically don't sell it for a price), there are no royalties involved and the Engine is free. As soon as you sell your game for money and you pass $5000 in profit then you need to start paying Epic their royalty fees.
Pretty Cool. Good for Indie Developers.
FuzzYspo0N
10-02-2010, 11:18 AM
Indie developers who dont want to make money*
froogle
11-02-2010, 01:28 AM
Yeah as an Indie developer you would definitely want to pass the $5000 mark of course, but it's not a bad thing to pay Epic's 25% royalty fee. It's a lot cheaper than a Publisher's which can be as high as 70% based on how much development time they paid for. The advantage of being with a publisher is security and knowing that they will publish and distribute your game.
UDK definitely has it's place amongst developer's who don't have publishers, but once you pick up a publisher they won't want you using UDK, because a publisher would want to keep as much profit to themselves as possible. So for them to give away 25% wouldn't work for them, so they would just buy the Unreal Engine rather.
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