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Epic Games Reveals Free, Community-Driven Unreal Tournament [Updated]

M

MHWilliams

Member
soxinthebox said:
Who cares what Valve calls it?
Click to expand...

Counter-offer: Who cares what Epic calls it? Hell, EA has a wonderful free games site.

I'm unsure what the purpose of the question is. The business model has, in the past, been called one thing. Epic Games wishes to differentiate itself, but why is their naming scheme on a single game in development better than Valve's on two launched titles?

I'm glad UT is coming back, but it's a weird that people are getting hung up on "free" or "free-to-play". Just call it one or the other and acknowledge that some people implement free in better ways than others.
 
D

Dire

Member
Damn the future of gaming, aside from consoles, looks amazing.

I also can't help but notice what seems to be a rapidly increasing chunk of big name games going to Linux on day 1 as well. I wonder if Valve/Steam Machines have anything to do with this.
 
M

megalowho

Member
Lots of good signs with this project. Forgoing the PR cycle and announcing the day they start work on it, the free + user marketplace model, releasing code to the public, positioning it as centerpiece for the UE4 community. Also the fact that eventually we all get to play a new Unreal Tournament. Even if the game falls short of its potential it's bound to be an interesting experiment at the very least.
 
D

Dryk

Member
Orayn said:
Epic won't be selling anything. Whatever they do related to UT from now one will be part of the free core game.
Click to expand...
Yeah but they're accepting community input and there's nothing to stop a community member from holding back their input so they can mod it in later. It probably won't happen I'm just looking for any downsides to this arrangement :p
 
H

Hedja

Member
MHWilliams said:
Of the "free" versus "free-to-play" thing:

http://www.teamfortress.com/
UAH7KMT.jpg


Dota 2
uTDAyRK.jpg


I understand why Epic is trying to change the meaning, but it is Valve's business model and they call it like they see it.
Click to expand...

The point they're trying to make is that, unlike DOTA2 and TF2, there's no microtransactions being made on their end. The only purchases you can make is whatever the community offers.

It's still F2P but a different model. F2P is not just "Valve's business model" it's been used for at least a decade by now.
 
K

Kissenkopf

Banned
Sounds very good to me. Can't wait to see what the final product will look like.
And I can't wait to play a fast FPS like UT again. Thats what always stood out for me...the fast pacing and ridiculous action.
 
T

Techies

Member
Strike Vector already scratched the itch though for me, it has dodging, dual plasmas which is like a hard to hit version of the instagib shock rifle.Missing the players though, because of the learning curve and difficulty to hit fast moving targets.

So for UT to grab my attention it would have to go the UT99 route, a very accessible game anyone can pick up. Which doesn't try to be too fancy with movement exploiting like the Quake games.

Not UT2004. The only reason I played UT2004 was because of Ballistics, and instagib hitscan worked well with all the floaty-ness.
 
SolidSnakeUS

SolidSnakeUS

Member
S

Sciz

Member
Nokterian said:
Guys one of the key composers of Unreal and UT. Michiel van den Bos posted on the unreal forums. Let's show epic that they need to bring him onboard because he and Alexander Brandon made off course the amazing music. Show them both support so mark can get them working on there!
Click to expand...

Oh man, getting van den Bos and Brandon on this would be fantastic.

Square needs to snag the both of them for DX4, too.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
The more connections to unreal 1999 the better. I can't wait to see people modding the game to put those levels back in.
 
E

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
So how is Epic going to make money on this?

What's going to cover paying their internal team?

edit: sorry, should have read the OP first
 
SolidSnakeUS

SolidSnakeUS

Member
efyu_lemonardo said:
So how is Epic going to make money on this?

What's going to cover paying their internal team?
Click to expand...

Probably going to have a pre-set loan of sorts from Epic, a certain spending limit, and then make up for all of that and more when mods/community content/etc come into the fold and Epic takes a portion of the sales.
 
O

Orayn

Member
Dryk said:
Yeah but they're accepting community input and there's nothing to stop a community member from holding back their input so they can mod it in later. It probably won't happen I'm just looking for any downsides to this arrangement :p
Click to expand...

"Input" meaning "suggestions and feedback about how to do things," not necessarily game content. I don't doubt some fan-made game content will make it into the official game, but that's not the main thing they're relying on.
 
E

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
SolidSnakeUS said:
Probably going to have a pre-set loan of sorts from Epic, a certain spending limit, and then make up for all of that and more when mods/community content/etc come into the fold and Epic takes a portion of the sales.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's an interesting move because I assume initially most content will be free or very cheap, which means it'll be quite a while before Epic start seeing a return on their investment.

They probably believe this will spur additional interest in developing for Unreal Engine 4, as well as gain Epic some good faith among gamers, too. But it certainly sounds like a significant part of this model is speculative.
 
cyberheater

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
I wonder how long it will take them to get an Alpha version with bots to play with. I hope it's 4-5 weeks rather then 4-5 months.
 
O

Orayn

Member
I would expect a multiplayer alpha before one with bots. Bots require setting up a lot of parameters that are specific to the new game, but getting a server up and running is much more generic.
 
A

a.wd

Member
Ok I have been resisting for a while now hoping to see how the console things shake out, but TBH all I see from the modern consoles are slightly upgraded no BC crap media players.

That's it Epic, I am getting a new PC. and its all for you.

Awesome work.
 
E

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
Orayn said:
I would expect a multiplayer alpha before one with bots. Bots require setting up a lot of parameters that are specific to the new game, but getting a server up and running is much more generic.
Click to expand...

I wonder how easy it would be for Epic to port certain assets and modules from previous UT games, just to have something to play with.
 
I

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
cyberheater said:
I wonder how long it will take them to get an Alpha version with bots to play with. I hope it's 4-5 weeks rather then 4-5 months.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure one of the EPIC devs said it would be many months before there's anything to play.
 
SolidSnakeUS

SolidSnakeUS

Member
I know a lot of people may think it won't be out till late 2015 or into 2016... but I feel that considering the PC community, how close they are working with modders, programmers and so on, I think this game could be in alpha as early as the beginning of 2015. Even if they may not be employed, there are some brilliant fucking people out there that can do wonders. Just think of that kid that made that HUGE Skyrim mod on his own in 2 years. Imagine what he could of done if he had a small team.
 
S

SparkTR

Member
SolidSnakeUS said:
I know a lot of people may think it won't be out till late 2015 or into 2016... but I feel that considering the PC community, how close they are working with modders, programmers and so on, I think this game could be in alpha as early as the beginning of 2015. Even if they may not be employed, there are some brilliant fucking people out there that can do wonders. Just think of that kid that made that HUGE Skyrim mod on his own in 2 years. Imagine what he could of done if he had a small team.
Click to expand...

Given how community focused this is, it's probably going to be playable sooner rather than later. Not finished but playable.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
I would love it so much if the first demo was a level from the original Unreal Tournament. God damn that was god-tier
 
M

Mik2121

Member
I got the newest UT build via GitHUB though it's still pretty much the basic FPS preset. I can't wait until they get going with something that plays closer to UT because right now the preset is too floaty.

Whenever the basic gameplay is done, I would love to do an actual map for the game.
 
D

Dire

Member
SolidSnakeUS said:
This song right here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--5COmk8ZM0

Did he do this song?
Click to expand...

OT music lover thing (particularly for those who like stuff like this):

You would probably love the X3 soundtrack : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAfJuQaXWgk&list=RDnAfJuQaXWgk#t=2

Exact same sort of well paced ambience. That links to one of the more 'aggressive' songs. Check the others for more subtle stuff - particularly Alexei Zakharov's stuff. He did the music for most of X3 as well as games like Eve Online. If the music has you interested in the game - avoid Rebirth like the plague. The other titles in the series are insane though.
 
Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
Tzeentch said:
Exactly this. This is amazing news for everyone except for uhhh ... ok, I'm drawing a blank on who this is a negative for.
Click to expand...

For people who will be earning money for Epic while likely making substantially less than they would be if they were an official employee (and no benefits ie healthcare sick days etc.). You could argue there are going to be a lot more people that will be making money that otherwise would not have, but it's still murky.
 
O

Orayn

Member
Angry Fork said:
For people who will be earning money for Epic while likely making substantially less than they would be if they were an official employee (and no benefits ie healthcare sick days etc.). You could argue there are going to be a lot more people that will be making money that otherwise would not have, but it's still murky.
Click to expand...

How so? They're not asking the community to make the game, it's more or less like TF2 where people contribute individual pieces of content that will be available through a storefront.
 
T

Techies

Member
Orayn said:
How so? They're not asking the community to make the game, it's more or less like TF2 where people contribute individual pieces of content that will be available through a storefront.
Click to expand...

It goes further than that, for instance there's already a contributor who coded that jump pads which is now implemented in the build. They are also coding some of the weapons atm.
 
Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
Orayn said:
How so? They're not asking the community to make the game, it's more or less like TF2 where people contribute individual pieces of content that will be available through a storefront.
Click to expand...

And Valve/Epic takes a cut of the earnings. Much of the content creation is not coming from Epic/Valve, it's being outsourced to non-employees for less money and no benefits, unless your mod/creation is one of the few that's extremely popular.

This is like some kind of free lance development. It's not all bad I just don't think this is a model everyone should be so quick to embrace. It'll be great for consumers who want more stuff but I don't know about the people who do the actual work.
 
T

Techies

Member
Angry Fork said:
And Valve/Epic takes a cut of the earnings. Much of the content creation is not coming from Epic/Valve, it's being outsourced to non-employees for less money and no benefits, unless your mod/creation is one of the few that's extremely popular.

This is like some kind of free lance development. It's not all bad I just don't think this is a model everyone should be so quick to embrace. It'll be great for consumers who want more stuff but I don't know about the people who do the actual work.
Click to expand...

I think they help shape the game, make sure it's the game they want to play and make content for so that they can earn money.
In order to make the content, the core game needs to be there and people need to be actually playing it.
 
T

Techies

Member
Ingueferroque said:
The UT99 pulse rifle looks so much better to me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm in divide atm.
By all standards the futuristic linkfun is suppose to be the prettier more stylished one.

But the 1999 one with the new metal rendering and that looks like old technology, has that kind of retro personality and awesome factor to it that's hard to to explain.

Look at the new Alien game where you see all the old computers and machines in the "future". It gives the game a real oldschool vibe, the future as seen in 1999...
 
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