I’d like to clarify what ‘free’ means in case of UE4. I have hope to get an official confirmation on this. Facts:
-I’m a developer who make games on my own game engine
-I don’t want to pay any $ to Epic games (I really appreciate your work, but it’s not what I can change)
-I want to use UE4 for a bunch of reasons, theoretical examples:
-I’d like to prototype/create proof on concept of the shaders in UE4; later on I’ll reproduce them on my game engine
-I’d like to create “sketches” of the landscape in UE4 and export it later on to my game engine
-I’d like to block-out- place prefabs in UE4 and export (their positions) to my game engine
-I’d like to use ue4 to set promo scenes which will be captured as a 2d screenshot and used to promo my game
…and so on
Where is the edge, the border that using UE4 become illegal? Could you help me with it? I really would like to be legal, but at the same time I’d like to use UE4 for the production.
You probably won’t get an “official” answer here (I think there is an email adress for licensing questions), but as far as I know your use cases are not even close to requiring any payment to Epic no matter how much money your game makes.
If you aren’t selling a product made with UE4 then you don’t have any cost, you can definitely use it to test concepts.
Just note–the engine source and the free assets that Epic provides can’t be used outside of the engine.
The only thing I’m not sure about is if you use the geometry or landscape tools if it’s OK for you to export the geometry out of the engine and use it in your game, I don’t think that would be legal.
While it’s OK for you to create images and videos with UE4, I’m not sure the legality of making images in UE4 to promo your game that isn’t going to be made in UE4, at the very least that’s kind of shady since you would be representing the game improperly.