Not sure if you guys caught this during the Build keynote this morning but when showing off a slide for partners who will be bringing software to the platform through UWP, one happened to say “Unreal Engine 4 w/ DX12”. This is awesome and I hope I’m not reading to far into it but with what they showed, it looks like Tim and Epic are now onboard. I’ll try to get a screenshot once the replay of the stream goes up. It seems like regardless even if Epic didn’t support it, running our finished app through their Desktop App Converter would output an app we could potentially use in UWP but more importantly, HoloLens. I do think we’d need a plugin to add the HoloLens specific API’s but if UE4 is adding UWP support, its on like Donkey Kong! All Microsoft needs to do now is get those purchase links out to all the Wave #1 devs
Awesome to see this and glad to see Tim is onboard with UWP (at least from what that slide showed)! Granted, they said there are still “some limitations” so I’m curious what those are. Probably security related, but this is at least a step forward for all the UE4 Devs that are getting onboard with HoloLens! Not too mention this will now give others who don’t have XB1 Dev Kits the ability to now move their application over to the platform from the PC (Preview Program Live Today).
Most definitely! However if UE4 is adding support for UWP, its quite literally the only thing holding Epic back from doing it officially. Heck, I’ll add the support for the API’s if our games eventually output to UWP if need be Tim did mention that Epic has interest in HoloLens but it was UWP at that time that was holding them back, not too mention at that time they had only been invited to Wave #3. If HoloLens isn’t officially planned now, it’s only a matter of time considering the tech is too awesome to pass up (as long as I’m not mistaken on what I saw)
If Tim has anything to do with it, I doubt it very much.
He seems to be on a crusade at the moment about anything that he doesn’t see as ‘open’, even though he supports plenty of ecosystems that most people would be considered ‘closed’.
This weeks rant was aimed at Occulus of all people, next week, who knows.
To be blunt, stuff like this and the fact that Unity supports UWP with open arms, just puts me off using Unreal in reality.
Both of which Epic support with open arms, so why do they get a free pass and Microsoft doesn’t? It was never written in stone that Microsoft Windows is part of the free market. They have as much a right to do this than anyone else has in the end.
The driving game thing is a really poor analogy, when there are clearly other equally good driving games already out there on the Xbox One. So do you mean to tell me that MS actually pays EA off to make sure that NFS is considerably worse than Forza on Windows and XB1? Just listen to yourself man!
Secondly, they have clearly stated in Build that other stores (Steam, Origin, etc.) can sell UWP apps and users can install and use them as normal UWP apps. Agreed, all it takes is turning of one setting from MS’s part to disable this, but long run, I don’t think it’ll make sense for them to do this. This is the ONLY way they can drive up the acceptance of UWP apps. Every other way they’ve tried, they’ve failed, miserably. And they know that.
Honestly, I had a lot of respect for Gabe and love my Steam library to its, but his arguments against Windows stink of nothing but hypocrisy to the high heavens. What is Steam/SteamOS if not a walled garden in itself? So people on the internet support SteamOS for pretty much the same reason they don’t support Windows: it is a walled garden where stuff “just works”
Exactly! It is a pretty poor argument. I get what he’s talking about. But come on consumers would completely bail on them if there was ever and hint of this going on. Also yeah the double standandard and wide latitude given to steam just blows my mind. I really wish it was so **** convenient!
The lack of clear future commitment is the only significant roadblock remaining. A commitment is especially important because Windows 10’s new forced-update policy enables Microsoft to change the rules at any time. It would be unreasonable for developers to invest in writing software for UWP on the expectation that it’s going to be open, and then suddenly find that a Windows forced-update has locked everyone into Microsoft’s store, services, or some yet-undisclosed certification requirements in the future.
In other words: Before we decide to play this game, we need to know what the rules are, and that the rules won’t change mid-game.
ehh I’m very in favor of Forced updates though I wish they were not so frequent. I wish they would hold them for a few days and do it like 2 a week. That being said I think that it is a good thing. If left to the consumer they don’t want to be inconvenienced and they don’t do it and that turns into a security which affects the reputation of Microsoft/Windows itself and affects the entire Windows ecosystem. like all the A-holes that stay on XP and never update and their computers are loaded full of **** and then they get all butt-hurt and whine Microsoft and Windows sucks. When it is they who are in fact the ones that are lazy and suck.
This is actually a super reasonable demand, considering the effort it would take to get the binaries up and running as UWPs. Secondly, I am pretty sure they’ll get more developers on board immediately, if they commit to a long term future of open distribution.
On a slightly controversial note here: I personally feel that app stores are a horrid concept in the long run; they become unwieldy and bloated and utterly meaningless. And getting attention on any one platform, much less on all the platforms, becomes a chore by itself for a small team. I mean don’t get me wrong; there’ve been some amazing success stories, but how many of those have happened in the recent past? Plus just getting our game/app to show up in the spotlight or top 5 ranked requires you to jump through a bunch of hoops, hoops which, ironically, these app stores should’ve not had in the first place!
I am all for a free and open market, but unfortunately, the “success” of the two Mobile App Stores have set a rather bad precedent for the industry as a whole.
Stuff like this is a pretty good reason not to want to support UWP, if Microsoft can’t even make a game run correctly with it why would anyone else want to use it? And it doesn’t seem like they even care to want to fix many of the issues.
Tim did mention that Epic has interest in HoloLens but it was UWP at that time that was holding them back, not too mention at that time they had only been invited to Wave 