Unreal Engine now free for non commercial use!

[Gambit]

So the Unreal Engine has been released for free for noncommercial, or educational use. See for yourself.
I have tested it out, it is the real deal. Fully functional (except for source code access).

At first I couldn't figure out why they'd do this. I mean I'm not going to complain obviously, but WOW. Then I remembered the ACTA thread. Someone mentioned that companys use the software that they can find employees for. So it behooves Epic to put their software into the hands of people who are interested in it.

Also they get free beta testers because they're updating this thing almost weekly.

I must say it's a ton of fun taking that gazeebo I designed in sketchup, turning it into a nvidia PhysX fracture object, and then watching it crumble into little pieces when blasted with a rocket launcher.

[cool evil]

Does this mean that distribution of content under the U3 engine is also permitted provided that they are not used for commercial interests?

I'm curious because if users are indeed able to create games and distribute them for free online, then it would open up a world of possibilities that are currently unavailable to amateur developers and hobbyists.

[Gambit]

I'm not sure what you mean by "content". The assets and meshes that come with the game? They allow you to use those for a noncommerical project. But for a commercial one, you must own all the assets.

You can build the whole thing when it's finished. Right down to a distributable installer.

This might answer your questions:
http://www.udk.com/licensing-faqs.html
There was another good FAQ but I can't seem to find it. It included their definition of "noncommercial" and expounded more on your rights. I know that there was something about distributing your games on sites that included advertisements.

[cool evil]

Apparently games made with UDK can be distributed granted that they are absolutely noncommercial. This means that you must not use said work to advertise, promote or in any way benefit yourself or a third-party commercially. The grey area would be where if you made a game and distribute it for free, but the site that hosts it display ads on the portal pages and receives a share of the profit gained.

[Tonepoet]

Not according to them:

Q: Could i set up a website and put games onto it, but not sell the games, just make money through ad sense?

A: Collecting revenue from ads on a site designed as a portal to your UDK based games doesn't make your games free. It just acts as a proxy to direct revenue collection from your UDK applications. If you are collecting ad revenue as a proxy to collecting direct revenue from the game you will require a commercial license and Epic is due a royalty.

On the FAQs page there's also an area where you can ask questions about the license directly, so I'd really not count on the grey areas with these guys. No, I'm not saying its perfectly airtight, since there might be some leeway if your site wasn't created for the primary purpose of hosting the game, making it harder to directly prove "proxy". However the tonality of this note suggests that they would take you to court to find out for certain, so it's definitely not an advisable risk to take.

To me it really, really looks like they're just trying to hook students into using their engine so they'll end up buying the commercial licensing fees, as to refresh their product and gain profits without putting any extra effort into it themselves. I'll admit this is a relatively snap decision but that's mostly because it seems so obvious, at least to me. XD

[Gambit]

Right but if you already have a site and you just put your game on it then the site isn't "designed as a portal to your UDK based games".

Now designing a site specifically for your game, all about your game, the only place to get your game, etc and putting ads on that would be a nono. Because your game is the main thing drawing people to your website and generating your ad revenue.


The second scenario is still covered in their EULA, but they want royalties from it up to like your first $5000 or something as discussed in the other FAQ.

[Telaron]

Can't find wether it's for mac or not...

[King_Elendil]

Can't find wether it's for mac or not...

From; http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/DevelopmentKitFAQ.html,

Q: Will my UDK program run on Mac, iPhone, PS3 or Xbox 360?
A: As of right now, UDK is a Windows-only program. Please drop by from time to time to see if we've announced support for other platforms.

Q: What are the minimum requirements for UDK?
A: Here are the minimum and recommended requirements...
Minimum:
• Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista
• 2.0+ GHz processor
• 2 GB system RAM
• SM3-compatible video card
• 3 GB free hard drive space
Recommended for Content Development:
• Windows Vista 64 SP2
• 2.0+ GHz multi-core processor
• 8 GB System RAM
• NVIDIA 8000 series or higher graphics card
• Plenty of HDD space

As far as I can tell that means it doesn't work on a mac, at least not yet. I may be mistaken though, so please correct me if I'm wrong

EDIT: I wrote this post at 4:00 AM, and I was practically asleep, so this might not even be about the same thing .

[Gambit]

Some progress

[King_Elendil]

Wow Gambit that looks really cool . Now I really wish that it worked on a mac!