Unreal Engine and games such as Gears of War and Fortnite want to become major distributors on PC; but is their approach fair for consumers?
Epic’s new storefront has garnered criticism for lacking features gamers have come to expect from Steam, so Epic is now offering Game Polls that ask players to rate games they have experienced.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is a real-time 3D game development software toolkit designed for use by game developers to create real 3D game experiences in real-time, providing them with access to a suite of integrated tools and the C++ source code of its entire engine. Suitable for everything from design visualizations and cinematic experiences, through creating high-quality games across PC, mobile devices, VR/AR environments etc.
This program gives users everything they need to create lifelike graphics with its built-in features, such as cinematic editing, visual scripting, particle system animation network lighting mapping performance tracking tools for optimization lightmapping lightmapping performance tracking tools for performance tracking performance tracking tools for memory tracking optimization light-mapping lightmapping performance tracking tools for memory tracking optimisation performance tracking tools for optimization performance tracking tools for optimisation as well as an artist marketplace where developers and artists can share work and assets.
Epic Games’ Unreal Engine provides a complete solution for game creation. Its advanced rendering capabilities and physics engine create lifelike environments, as well as handling large environments and scalable multiplayer systems efficiently. Furthermore, physical simulations of materials and objects can take place real time on screen.
Graphic power and ease of use make Unity a top choice among game creators. The program can handle large amounts of data easily while its powerful physics engine simulates soft body physics, particle effects and more.
UE5’s latest version boasts new features that will enhance both game and non-game developer capabilities, such as its Procedural Content Generation framework, Substrate material authoring system and support for simulation caching within its Niagara effects toolset. Furthermore, it includes a path tracer and real-time lighting solution.
Unreal Engine 5 marks a breakthrough by offering an integrated user interface and workflow, featuring an artist-friendly Blueprint visual scripting system which enables developers to make gameplay changes without touching a line of code, as well as support for industry standards like FBX and Alembic.
UE5 offers an innovative scalable multiplayer framework which enables up to 100 players to interact simultaneously within the same virtual world, making UE5 ideal for creating action, adventure and strategy games as well as interactive enterprise applications.
Fortnite
Fortnite has quickly become one of the world’s most beloved free-to-play games since its release. Offering three distinct game modes – Battle Royale being its most well-known option with 100 players competing against each other to become the last survivor – there is also Save the World, where four player teams form to protect home base shelters against zombie-like creatures; and Fortnite Creative which allows complete freedom to build worlds and battle arenas.
Fortnite features a cartoonish aesthetic that appeals to younger gamers, making it more accessible. Furthermore, Fortnite is designed as a social experience: players can join duos and trios and talk over headsets while they compete. YouTube influencers and social media celebrities play the game too and provide tutorials on how to improve score while its immersive nature may make it hard for kids to put down and may increase screen time significantly.
Fortnite may be free, but in-game purchases can quickly add up over time. Therefore, it’s essential that parents discuss how their child manages his or her spending in-game in order to avoid becoming distracted by in-game ads and advertisements. Should your child decide to spend money within the game, ideally with money from his own pocket rather than credit or debit cards.
Epic Games caused considerable consternation when they announced a method for gamers to purchase in-game currency without going through Apple App Store or Google Play. Both services charge fees per in-game purchase, so Epic’s method threatened both revenue streams as well as violated App Store guidelines.
As a result of this controversy, Apple banned Fortnite from its App Store and removed it from their list of compatible apps. You can still play the game on Android devices by downloading from either Epic Games’ website or the Samsung Galaxy Store; however, you will no longer have access to new seasons or features such as cross-play and Battle Passes.
