Unreal Tournament is coming back

[WhipperSnapper]

Here are the take home messages that I came up with:

--- No Consoles! PC only!

--- "Free" but modders can sell content

 

[12andy]

Ambitious project!

STOKED. ABSOLUTELY.

 

[reallyscrued]

Oh.


My.


Gawd.

 

[Koing]

Seems like a fantastic idea and I hope they do really well

Has any other big game been made this way and how did it turn out?

Koing

 

[slugg]

My only problem with this is that I have to pay $20 a month to develop for a free game. How about you let me develop for free, Epic? I mean really, you should be paying ME. But in the spirit of your program, I should be allowed to code for free. Open up Unreal Tournament 4's project on GitHub and we'll talk.

 

[slugg]

This pissed me off enough to register for their forums and rant on it. Link: https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?4474-The-Future-of-Unreal-Tournament!&p=31430&viewfull=1#post31430

 

[cmdrdredd]

My only problem with this is that I have to pay $20 a month to develop for a free game. How about you let me develop for free, Epic? I mean really, you should be paying ME. But in the spirit of your program, I should be allowed to code for free. Open up Unreal Tournament 4's project on GitHub and we'll talk.

Uh...as far as I know you are getting UE4 tools and all code and content will be available live. So, it seems they are basically giving you stuff worth quite a bit more than $20/mo. Plus you can sell it...maybe you're afraid your stuff won't sell?

Sounds to me like you just want to gripe about something. Your linked post isn't doing you any favors either. How can you say you support UT or the community if you say "I'll boycott this because even though I can make money I expect to get all the tools and code for free!"?

You can develop your own mods and extra content to sell. You aren't expected to build the game for them. There are already people going to be working on that part.

 

[ViRGE]

Since the announcement isn't clear about this, do we know if Epic is actually devoting a development team to this? I.E. coders, artists, designers, etc?

Because this description makes it sound like they're doing it completely ad-hoc. Which just strikes me as a terrible idea. No one in the history of mankind ever liked doing the "unfun" parts of development, and there's something to be said for having paid professionals working on thornier issues such as UIs, coherent art styles, and game balance. Least we end up with a UI done in Courier New by a development team that thinks Facing Worlds Instagib is the perfect model for all UT gameplay.

 

[BD2003]

Since the announcement isn't clear about this, do we know if Epic is actually devoting a development team to this? I.E. coders, artists, designers, etc?

Because this description makes it sound like they're doing it completely ad-hoc. Which just strikes me as a terrible idea. No one in the history of mankind ever liked doing the "unfun" parts of development, and there's something to be said for having paid professionals working on thornier issues such as UIs, coherent art styles, and game balance. Least we end up with a UI done in Courier New by a development team that thinks Facing Worlds Instagib is the perfect model for all UT gameplay.

From the sounds of it, yes, but its a very small team.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

From the sounds of it, yes, but its a very small team.

There isn't necessarily all that much to do. They just need to create the "core" of the game. Also, they are not developing a brand new game from scratch. They have the Unreal Engine 4 to work with and they are already intimately familiar with it. Creativity is not a huge need because they can draw off of prior games; they don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel. Also, if Epic creates the "core", then map makers can do the rest as far as game maps goes.

Here's a link to a video they put up on YouTube:

UE4 Dev Community + Epic = The Future of Unreal Tournament

 

[Paul98]

My only problem with this is that I have to pay $20 a month to develop for a free game. How about you let me develop for free, Epic? I mean really, you should be paying ME. But in the spirit of your program, I should be allowed to code for free. Open up Unreal Tournament 4's project on GitHub and we'll talk.

yeah 20 bucks a month is way to much for a brand new high quality game engine , the ability to develop for the new UT, and all the other assets you get. Especially since you can spend 20 bucks and then unsubscribe and still use the engine that you downloaded till you want an update or are ready to release. All that should be free

wow you're cheap

 

[Paul98]

I am excited, I hope to be able to use some of what I am developing right now for the new UT.

 

[_Rick_]

Seems like a fantastic idea and I hope they do really well

Has any other big game been made this way and how did it turn out?

Koing

I would say there are a number of parallels to Dota2.
At least in the way monetization is supposed to work, and how they've drawn on the developers of the original to get to work on the re-imagining.

That turned out pretty well, I'd say, it's turned into Valve's WoW, in a way.

Of course, by linking engine development with game development, as has been the case with UT for a while, where the Unreal engine has been showcased by the UT of its generation, they can go a bit wider, and that's where the development tie-in makes sense. By also offering a market for mods, many games might just get sold through that market as UT mods, even though they're really total conversions, depending on the publisher backing the developers have.

All in all, this is turning out as good as one could expect, let's hope they can also make a good game in that framework.

 

[evident]

im excited but skeptical. I just want an arena shooter that harkens to the glory days of UT99 or even 2k4! I want there to be a huge playerbase so that those bots arent showing up on every server.

 

[moonbogg]

I'm skeptical. I think they realize that UT is a very risky gamble in today's game market and they simply aren't willing to take the risk, since they will likely get hammered if they develop a full game and charge the usual $50-60. So, they figure, "If you guys want it, then you make it. While you're at it, you pay us to develop it yourself!"
That's the only way they can make money on a game like this. Arena games are dead, face it. UT is also dead unless they take a very low risk approach.

 

[Lil Frier]

im excited but skeptical. I just want an arena shooter that harkens to the glory days of UT99 or even 2k4! I want there to be a huge playerbase so that those bots arent showing up on every server.

I think the TF2-like route will help, though. They make it free for folks to do basically everything (expect use paid mods from third-party developers), so there is no cost that would be the roadblock for folks to try it. If it's a decent game, there's no reason players would ignore it, since they don't even have to buy it.

 

[Artista]

UT99 was the best for its time. (Quake 3 rocked as well) UT99 and Unreal took me away to this wonderful place and world(s) to explore.

The thing that really set UT and more so UT99 apart were the maps, particularly the giant maps in my humble opinion, that were developed and put on servers by players, programers, etc that simply loved the game.

I say they use the UT4 engine. Use the original maps from Unreal, UT99, and maps that were/are found out in the wild (give credit no money), plus a contest to develop and incorporate other maps (with credit given but no monetary comp).

Then release it as a digital PC download.

Port it or co-develop a console version later.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'm skeptical. I think they realize that UT is a very risky gamble in today's game market and they simply aren't willing to take the risk, since they will likely get hammered if they develop a full game and charge the usual $50-60. So, they figure, "If you guys want it, then you make it. While you're at it, you pay us to develop it yourself!"
That's the only way they can make money on a game like this. Arena games are dead, face it. UT is also dead unless they take a very low risk approach.

That isn't how it is at all. They have a team, a dedicated but small dev team working on the core game. The people working on extra things are paying for UE4 assets, all the code and data in real time as it is released, and are allowed to sell their content they create for $20/mo.

That is hardly the statement you made about forcing the community to pay them to make the game. NO! That's incorrect...the game is being made anyway. They are just wanting the community to contribute what they can to make the game better and maybe make some cash for themselves by selling their mods, maps, models, etc.

Arena style shooter games are only dead if you want them to be. I personally think there is a real untapped market right now for a competitive shooter using the latest engine technology (sorry decade old CoD and Titanfall engines) with no loadouts and level ups but includes all the things the gaming community wants in the game. Instead of telling players "this is what the game looks and plays like" they are allowing the community to have a voice and get their hands dirty in the code so that things people really want in a shooter can actually be done.

 

[smackababy]

The best news about this is when it fails, because I believe it will (the market for twitch shooters just isn't there anymore), they can't blame it on piracy and have to face the music that their game just wasn't good enough for the majority of people who buy games these days. Although, I'm sure we will hear another excuse somewhere.

 

[Udgnim]

The best news about this is when it fails, because I believe it will (the market for twitch shooters just isn't there anymore), they can't blame it on piracy and have to face the music that their game just wasn't good enough for the majority of people who buy games these days. Although, I'm sure we will hear another excuse somewhere.

not sure why you have such a bitter tone

whether it succeeds or not doesn't matter

it's going to be free

although I agree it's likely not going to have a long term following

there isn't much demand from the present-day player base for games with mechanics that allow a skill gap of one player being able to 100-0 another player. only the competitive types will remain and if there isn't some kind of ranked play to keep them interested, then they won't stick around too long either.

the game being free also invites hacks galore

 

[Artorias]

If only Valve got the rights to do an actual UT or Quake type multiplayer game, that would be a glorious sight to behold. Minus the hats and skins of course.

 

[moonbogg]

That isn't how it is at all. They have a team, a dedicated but small dev team working on the core game. The people working on extra things are paying for UE4 assets, all the code and data in real time as it is released, and are allowed to sell their content they create for $20/mo.

That is hardly the statement you made about forcing the community to pay them to make the game. NO! That's incorrect...the game is being made anyway. They are just wanting the community to contribute what they can to make the game better and maybe make some cash for themselves by selling their mods, maps, models, etc.

Arena style shooter games are only dead if you want them to be. I personally think there is a real untapped market right now for a competitive shooter using the latest engine technology (sorry decade old CoD and Titanfall engines) with no loadouts and level ups but includes all the things the gaming community wants in the game. Instead of telling players "this is what the game looks and plays like" they are allowing the community to have a voice and get their hands dirty in the code so that things people really want in a shooter can actually be done.

I stand corrected. I hope its fun. We'll see I guess, in...how many years until its released? Probably like 3 years right? It takes like 3 years to make a game from scratch like they are doesn't it?

 

[Aikouka]

I stand corrected. I hope its fun. We'll see I guess, in...how many years until its released? Probably like 3 years right? It takes like 3 years to make a game from scratch like they are doesn't it?

Maybe if they had to do all of the engine work too. Arena shooters aren't terribly complicated games... especially if they put off implementing the AI to last. In that case, the most drawn-out process is probably all of the menu work and modeling. That's also one of the benefits of their model, they can put out minimal amounts of character models and rely on the community to bolster it. It reminds me of how I had Sonic the Hedgehog back in Quake III. A friend and I went "Hedgehog Hunting" for a while on Q3DM17. :awe:

 

[cmdrdredd]

The best news about this is when it fails, because I believe it will (the market for twitch shooters just isn't there anymore), they can't blame it on piracy and have to face the music that their game just wasn't good enough for the majority of people who buy games these days. Although, I'm sure we will hear another excuse somewhere.

How can the market for twitch shooters be dead when CoD keeps selling? It is a twitch shooter...

What you said makes no sense when they keep selling

 

[slugg]

How can the market for twitch shooters be dead when CoD keeps selling? It is a twitch shooter...

What you said makes no sense when they keep selling

CoD isn't too twitchy, in my opinion. Cover is more valuable than movement. Something like Quake - that's real twitch. And those games are dead, sadly. But who knows; times change!