
Unreal Engine 4.7 Released - Red_Tarsius
https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/unreal-engine-47-released
======
dysoco
I've never really considered Unreal Engine. I'm more of a hobbyist making
small 2D games, recently picked up Unity (been using SFML and LibGDX before)
to make some small games.

I guess UE doesn't really target small games? When I think of Unreal Engine I
think of AAA FPS Games with amazing graphics, but has anyone actually used it
for small indie games?

Also nice to see it's opensource, I guess I read the news a couple of months
ago but I forgot. I had no idea.

~~~
Athas
Point of correction: Unreal Engine is not open source, the source is merely
available for perusal. You still need a license for most uses.

~~~
evincarofautumn
So the source is open, it’s just not free.

(I don’t want to sound like I agree with Stallman. I’m just trying to clarify
definitions.)

~~~
scott_karana
Well, the source is only "open" to subscribers: it's in a private Github
repository. Stop paying, and you stop getting access to it, and it's illegal
to publish even for perusal.

~~~
rvkennedy
Exactly: the source is "open" to paying subscribers, just as the source to...
just about any closed source software anywhere, can be seen if you buy a
licence to see it. It fits NO definition of OS that I'm aware of.

------
azakai
Nice to see this:

> HTML5 platform + WebGL is ready to use -- run your game in a compatible
> browser with a single click!

~~~
rl3
More detail on browser limitations would be nice. I know the article states
you can ship builds in 32-bit browsers, but are there any significant
limitations involved? This would be problematic since, for example, Chrome
64-bit isn't yet the default release build.

I really wish there was more comprehensive documentation relating to UE4's
limitations in a WebGL context. For example, lighting, shading, post-process
effects, anti-aliasing, how they all behave relative to a full-featured
desktop environment. The same thing for mobile compile targets wouldn't be a
bad idea, either.

Also, it seems some otherwise popular third party plugins aren't supported in
UE4 WebGL projects:

[https://forums.coherent-
labs.com/index.php?topic=691.0](https://forums.coherent-
labs.com/index.php?topic=691.0)

I understand Coherent's reasoning, but I imagine developers who built their
UE4 projects with Coherent UI aren't very happy that their prospects of easily
compiling to WebGL are non-existent due to the total headache involved. Plus,
webkit.js for UE4 would be really cool, and that's essentially what CUI
running in a UE4 web-exported context would be.

Despite all this I'm really happy for this release, and ultimately it's a huge
step in the right direction.

~~~
desdiv
_This is problematic since, for example, Chrome 64-bit isn 't yet the default
release build._

Surprisingly enough, there isn't even an official supported build of Firefox
64-bit for Windows. Coupled with the Chrome issue you mentioned, I'll bet that
at least 80% of users out there aren't using a 64-bit browser.

~~~
Fr0styMatt4
This is insane in 2015. I understand the difficulties of porting, but at the
same time, I've had a 64-bit CPU since 2009 and I was late to the party :)

------
revisionzero
As a semi-recent Unity Developer, I find myself really wanting to jump ship to
Unreal, really great stuff all around.

~~~
Fr0styMatt4
I really, really, REALLY hope that Unity fixes their editor UI in version 5 (I
haven't tried the beta yet, so maybe it's the case already), but as it stands
right now I can't use Unity for long stretches (visual impairment). The font
rendering in the editor is terrible, even at 1920x1200 the text is too small
(froget about Retina even). This has been a problem with Unity for YEARS,
which is a shame because it's a great tool otherwise.

I'm still torn between the two tools, they're both fantastic for different
reasons, but if Unity 5 can't fix their editor then I think I'll have to jump
ship just out of necessity.

------
rdudek
Quick question, have there been any UE4 engine games released yet? I see tons
of Unity stuff. I really wanted to try Unity but just can't afford their
pricetag.

~~~
blister
What price tag? Unity is free. It doesn't start costing money until you need
to start doing slightly more complicated things or your revenue goes over 100k
annually. That's plenty of time to experiment.

~~~
rdudek
Not exactly free. I would like to learn from the pro version, but not at the
price tag they charge:

[http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses](http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses)

I can learn from crippled free version, but eventually I'll be running into
things stating "you need the pro version features for this, this, and that".

With UE4, $19 got me full engine to mess around with.

~~~
blister
What is crippled about it? The company I work for literally builds games and
we very rarely have to use any of the pro features.

The free version contains nearly everything you could ever realistically want
to do. And some of the "pro" features can easily be written into the engine
manually. The only hard and fast licensing requirement is the sub-100k revenue
requirement. Up until then, Unity is about as free as it gets.

~~~
warfangle
> The free version contains nearly everything you could ever realistically
> want to do.

Except publish to something other than desktop windows - or has that changed?

~~~
midnightclubbed
You can publish to OS X, iOS, Android and Windows Phone on the free license of
Unity.

Major restrictions are no render to texture and a Unity splash screen on the
app boot.

I suspect html5 will be supported in free Unity 5.0 (it is in the pro version
currently in beta).

~~~
warfangle
Good to know. Thanks!

This wasn't obvious from their site.

------
santaclaus
Will the UI render correctly on a retina display? One (I know I know) minor
quirk that always gets me about Unity is how crappy it looks on newer Macs.

~~~
tumult
Yes, the UI used by UE4 (Slate) is resolution independent. It can be scaled
freely.

~~~
alxhill
Unless it's a new feature, the UE4 UI does not render at retina resolution -
certainly looks pretty pixelated on my rMBP.

------
AndrewKemendo
Can this be used as a standalone 3d Engine without it being scene based for
iOS applications? That is the big issue with Unity - and most engines actually
- which keeps us from using it.

We can't find a robust (UE/Unity level) mobile 3D Engine that is not scene
based or just built for level based games.

~~~
philtar
Why is that an issue on iOS? Genuinely curious.

~~~
moron4hire
I believe the issue is that scenegraphs tend to make spatial partitioning more
difficult, which means culling objects that are out of view is more difficult.

------
fsiefken
How does the Unreal Engine compare to the CryEngine? I've the impression it's
more efficient, this is important to get the best performance out of VR games.

------
benihana
People who develop on Unity: How does Unity compare to Unreal performance-
wise? The only experience I have with Unity is playing Kerbal Space Program
which is often a performance nightmare and I'm wondering if it's Unity or the
game developers.

~~~
felipesoc
I don't know compared to Unreal but Unity has several hidden performance
issues. I am currently working on Bullet Boy [1] and we had several obscure
problems that you have to fix with a lot of trial and error. Specific
combinations of components and attributes can cause frame rate to drop because
of the internal organization of the engine (moving colliders without
rigidbodies comes to mind).

That being said, it is really easy to use. The asset pipeline is great and
artists learn to use it very fast. It works really well for small teams.

My recommendation is that you should consider it if you are not planning to
make a very performance intensive game.

[1] [http://bulletboygame.com](http://bulletboygame.com)

~~~
conover
Off Topic: For some reason on Chrome 40.0.2214.111 I can't click the play
button on the YouTube video of your bulletboygame.com site.

Edit: The cloud-right div covers the top three quarters of the video player.

