Is 2D a dead affair for Epic?
2D sprites are included as a plugin, instead of being core components of the engine.
The system is barebones.
There is no support for an Animation system, we have to improvise something.
There is no support for Depth rendering, we can’t add Depth of Field to sprites.
There is no support for 2D physics. We have to use 3D physics and add limits.
All sorts of rendering features have to be disabled for 2D to work.
Epic probably thinks all 2D always means pixel art… but not all 2D games need 100% sharp pixels.
And the 2D sidescroller project builds failed html5 builds with no image and wrong rez, since at least 4.18.
There are probably lots more bugs and issues that I can’t think of right now…
This 2D plugin is here just as an excuse to call Unreal 2D-frienly or mobile-friendly.
The reality probably is more like: a very small 2D team only existed for a short while, and nobody seems to work on 2D anymore, presuming wrongly that what’s there is working fine, and is enough…
And speaking of mobile, Unreal builds absolutely HUGE builds, even for Android or html. Nothing download or mobile-friendly. Completely unusable if size matters. My project might be just a few kilos, but Unreal will build a whopping 100-200MB folder just for its own engine. It’s like having an entire nuclear powerplant powering just one laptop…
Can we have a solid 2D implementation sometimes in the future? And if yes, since it’s been years since the 2D project has been abandoned, how many decades in the future?
Thanks Epic…