Epic makes it more realistic Unreal Engine for small Devs

By Mark Raby
TechNewsWorld
02/25/10 11: 05 AM PT independent developers who want to make use of Epic Games ' popular Unreal Engine tools can now do so for free, as long as their income is below $ 50,000. EPIC's move could provide a springboard for small outfits, short-dev, including those whose sites are aimed at casual games Android and iPhone platforms.

Epic Games has created award-winning series as "Gears of War" and "Unreal Tournament", as well as a proprietary development platform. This platform, Unreal Engine, only non appears in the titles of epic, though. The company has allowed other developers license--for a fee.

Now is opening up the platform for independent developers with no upfront cost.

Unreal Engine has been used by some of the best developers in the industry, but Epic has been on a mission lately to expand its reach. Last year, has introduced a version of the engine called "Unreal Development Kit" and offered at a relatively low cost of licenses. In fact, for educational games or other non-commercial applications, developers don't need to pay anything.

And for those with commercial aspirations but not a lot of spare room in their budget, Epic Unreal Development Kit available for US $ 99, with no fees requested unless the game pulled in revenues of over 5,000 dollars.

Epic has now rejected the fee of $ 99 upfront and royalty requirement raised to $ 50,000.

According to the new rules, developers do not have to pay royalties on revenues earned by the use of the kit, until your income exceeds $ 50,000, according to Epic Vp Mark Rein.

Epic has not responded to requests for further comment.

This news may grab the attention of the developers of "casual" games, which has become an increasingly large part of the gaming industry in recent years. With platforms like the Nintendo WiiWare, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox Live Indie Games, and Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation Store, there are more ways than ever to win the tournament get their shot at glory.

This is a step in the right direction, Ted Hung, founder of the games of the time, told TechNewsWorld.

"Small developers have historically had a big disadvantage. Before the days of the Internet, was not that a little study could also be able to create a game. There are many ways to get noticed now, and with companies like Epic that offer such great tools for those who may not otherwise be able to afford them, nobody is always excluded anymore. It's a great time to be an independent developer, "said Hung.

Potentially bigger story here is with games for mobile phones. Unreal engine Epic made its available for Android and iPhone developers late last year, and that sets the stage for a 2011 rich mobile games that push the technology to its limit.

Soon we may see a cataclysmic change in the game environment, said Lee s. Barney, author of the book developing Hybrid applications for the iPhone.

"Mobile devices are going to give the standard game device a strong run for their money. The game is about what is new and fresh and last year is too old. "The winner in this space will be those who can create the most recent and most fastest, Barney told TechNewsWorld.

"Now that we're seeing that the move further away from the development of big houses that happened in the history of computing. Even at the beginning of the PC era were there so many independent developers and small, "said Barney.

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