Unreal Engine – Ciaran Laval

Following on from yesterday’s good news for indie game developers that Unreal Engine is now free, with 5% royalties if you reach over$3,000 in sales per quarter, Unity have now announced that Unity 5 is out and the personal edition is free and there are no royalties. Although if your game or app reaches a sales figure of over $100,000 you are expected to upgrade to pro, and to be fair, you should be able to afford to do that if your sales are in that region!

Now for those who are thinking that there has long been a free version of Unity, that’s true, but with Unity 5 a lot of those old restrictions have been removed to make this the most powerful free release of Unity to date :

UNITY 5 PERSONAL EDITION: ALL ENGINE FEATURES & ALL PLATFORMS

Aspiring developers everywhere: Get ready for Unity 5 Personal Edition, the new free version of the best development platform for creating multiplatform 2D/3D games and interactive experiences.

Unity 5 Personal Edition includes all engine features: everything that’s new in Unity 5, all the top-tier features from previous releases that are loved by the pros, and deployment to all platforms (with the new Personal Edition splash screen).

The pro version, which still costs $75.00 a month (based on a 12 month contract) or $1,500 for a perpetual licence still has more features, but they are now with regards to cloud options, analytics, prioritised bug reporting etc. rather than extra game development features. I’m not suggesting the pro features aren’t worthwhile, but the free version is now a very powerful choice.

Continue reading “More Good News For Indie Game Devs – Unity 5 Personal Edition Is Free”

Second Life has in many ways been way ahead of the pack. Their free to play model was controversial when launched but has proven to be the right model and now many MMO’s follow this model. Second Life introduced user generated content to 3D worlds and whereas some of that content has definitely been controversial, Second Life trailblazed as a platform of creativity.

In terms of empowering content creators, Second Life has once again trailblazed, by allowing content creators a means to make real money from their creations, Second Life tapped into a massively underestimated market. Second Life has therefore been quite ground breaking in terms of bringing together these concepts, but now others are starting to take note, they are starting to see the potential and they are hoping to get their share of the pie. The people who make content creation tools are also seeing the massive opportunity that is knocking louder and louder, they are making their products more accessible by offering different payment options and making their tools free or cheaper.

The likes of EverQuest Next Landmark are already attracting attention and will allow content creators to build and have the opportunity to make real money from their creations. Others will be watching with interest to see how this pans out. There is without doubt fear about user generated content but the window of opportunity is wide open.

Then there are the tools, yesterday the Unreal Engine 4 was launched with a very affordable licensing model for pretty much anybody. The full engine and source is $19.95 a month and then 5% of any game sales, in games sales and advertising. The previous Unreal Engine was not an option for indie developers, in an article on Gamautra they quote Epic’s Tim Sweeney as saying:

it’s typically cost millions of dollars… negotiating has involved teams of lawyers, looking at the shape of the industry now we realize it’s an outdated model, looking at the possibilities for the engine, we started out from scratch. We came up with an entirely new business model for the Unreal Engine which we are announcing today.

Now, absolutely anybody can gain access to Unreal Engine 4 by subscribing to the engine for 19 dollars a month — and you get access to everything” .

Now it dangles there as an affordable option and it’s not just game developers being wooed, they are also chasing content creators:

To help you get started, we’re shipping lots of ready-made content, samples, and game templates. You’ll find it in the Marketplace in the Unreal Editor. Right now, it simply hosts free stuff from Epic, but its resemblance to the App Store is no coincidence: It will grow into a complete ecosystem for sharing community-created content, paid and free, and open for everyone’s participation!

These platforms, games, development engines etc. are stepping on Second Life’s toes and more of them will be stepping on their toes, will Second Life prosper?

Continue reading “How Will Second Life Fare In The Face Of The Rise Of The Sandbox MMO?”