Oh, this is an Epic fail. Seriously, there is nothing open or interoperable about this decision. This is a walled-garden mentality and frankly an innovation killer. Not being able to integrate functionality that exists outside the Fortnite fortress walls means that Fortnite will not give creators the ability to use the most important interactive innovations - generative AI. Look at services like inworld - that is a critical piece for more engaging experiences.
Furthermore, it has a negative knock-on effect on the economy. With creators not able to bring in functionality that exists outside the Fortnite system, Epic then owns the “means of production”. Epic can build whatever features suit themselves, Creators just have to live with the functionality they are given.
Look around at all the advances in LLM’s being used as coding assistants (Codex, Copilot) the need to “eliminate runtime errors” and the “security” bogeyman are antiquated ideas. Then look at what Rust has to offer. Do you really need to invent a new language? If @Tim_Sweeney is going to look back to Pascal for syntax examples, why not look back to Anders Hejlsberg who made Pascal usable with Delphi and then went on to design C#.
Please, please reconsider. Make the system smarter. Make the system easier. Make the system approachable.
Please DO NOT force a new language with a unique, perhaps innovative structure on people. Millions and millions of people have spent a tremendous amount of time and effort learning procedural languages. They make sense to people who are not about “math”. I understand the challenges that dynamic languages pose at an analysis level, I would happily give up dynamic features.
On the syntax level, if you want to do something that is accessible and easy to learn, you should look back to SmallTalk. If you are going to build a virtual world, you really should have syntax that models the real world.
Honestly, the whole world is being turned upside-down by LLM’s. Writing code is being revolutionized - and the revolution is not functional syntax. The future of coding is natural language based. Put your effort into getting things at the compiler level, don’t push the hard work on the creators.
Here is another example. Look at the success of Visual Studio Code. Would it have been successful if you could not bring in functionality from the outside. A world without Codex (from OpenAI) and there would be no competition for Copilot (from GitHub). You need to have competition for functionality/capability.
At the end of the day, it is all about the INTEROP. Without Interoperability, you will never, ever build an ecosystem that will thrive. Without Interoperability you are, by definition, creating a walled garden.
I look forward to continuing this conversation here on the forums and out in the open.
Sincerely yours from a real believer in the rest of the Epic metaverse vision - and a massive fan or Unreal Engine (full version) as one of the most empowering creative force in the world today.