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Considering submitting a blueprint system I am working on, and have a few questions.

Unreal Engine Marketplace
#1

I have been working on a blueprint which generates buildings. You can choose customize many aspects of the buildings, and while I am aware that there are a few like this already on the marketplace, what I believe sets this apart is its ability to have fully functional interiors. It is nearing completion and before I submit it I have a few questions about the marketplace.

  1. I have almost no artistic skills and can’t make textures/models myself. Are using textures/props/meshes provided by Epic allowed in a blueprint system?

  2. Is updating your project easy/encouraged? I’m sure I will continue this project for some time and would like to have the ability to release to versions periodically. Along with this, can prices be changed down the road?

Thanks.

#2

From my understanding:

  1. Nope
  2. Not easy, but encouraged. Might be made easier in the future.
#3

I’m really curious about the first question. I know this has been talked about and discussed before.

The general rule seems to be not to use any textures/props/meshes already provided by Epic. And yet if you look on the market place just about every single Blueprint system for sale has some basic art content from Epic in it. The Third Person skeletal mesh? Basic textures? The third person/first person template? The showcase hallway?

I can understand not allowing it for art content packs being sold. But I don’t think anybody is buying a blueprint system for the placeholder Epic content, they are buying it for the blueprints and functionality.

Can we get an official word on this?

#4

I would think that as long as it is part of a larger pack, or system it shouldn’t matter. As Tobbo mentioned, you aren’t only selling the placeholder content as a standalone asset pack. If you can use the assets provided with the engine in a commercial game, I don’t see why you can’t use it for marketplace content. Specifically scripted content that requires placeholder assets. That’s just my take on it from looking at what Epic says regarding the matter though.

#5

  1. I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t do that, all content released for free that is created by Epic can be used in a commercial game. If you are using them as placeholders I can’t see why that would be a problem. It would be great if someone from Epic could clarify that bit of info for us though.

  2. Yes it is encouraged, and pretty much required to remain on the marketplace. If a marketplace item is not kept up to date, it may eventually be removed from the marketplace as they want to allow all users to have access to the content. For Blueprint projects it is very simple to update, all you need to do is open your project in the new version, use the Open a Copy of the Project option (to make sure you don’t lose any data!), and then play the game to see if there are any issues. Blueprints for the most part will not have many major breaking changes, there might be the odd minor problem to fix, but it should be fairly simple.

Also Epic has been mentioning the possibility of semi-automatic versioning done through an online interface. I have not heard anything recently about this, but keep an eye out for any updates.

For more info on all of this, make sure to read through the Content Submission Guidelines.

#6

I’m afraid I had the same question and this is the reply I got from Epic’s Marketplace team:

Now I think that the Epic Skeletal mesh can be included as it appears in every BP sold in the marketplace, but this doesn’t seem to extend to other assets (i.e. Elemental Demo assets)

It would be great if Epic could address this and mention which assets can be included (3rd person blue guy) and which ones can’t.

#7

The line is very grey then. I am wondering LHutz if they perhaps misunderstood what you were asking? But like I said earlier, there is so much Epic placeholder content in many marketplace items and those approved on the Trello voting board.

Where is the line Epic? Where is the line?

#8

To chime in, when I submitted I was not allowed to use the block and table meshes from the Couch Knights demo, but I was allowed to use the default, basic character mesh from the starter content. I asked about the textures and meshes from the starter content, but haven’t gotten an answer yet.