Developing using Unreal Engine but not for Games?

Hi,

I am totally new to all this but i have a design concept for a certain piece of software in my industry which would literally be a game changer, and im looking for a 3D engine that can do the job, and so far this seems like the most advanced engine there is.

My question is (and im not a coder), albeit i done some coding when i was a youngster in C++ and C# its not my main job anymore so i have lost most of it (but kept the logic mindset)

The question is, how much of unreal engine is “game”, i.e is the gaming functionality more of a series of functions and modules that are used within the engine and how much of the gaming functionality could be stripped out without losing anything from the engine functionality as a 3D engine.

I’m not sure this is 100% making sense lol…

I want to develop an interactive artificial intelligence design visualization software but it has nothing to do with gaming, and am trying to see how viable it is before i begin investing in development.

Thanks

RT

#c++ #development-discussion

Unreal Engine is a game engine. Anything related to graphics especially related to 3d graphic, you can create in unreal engine. If you want to develop an interactive artificial intelligence design visualization software, I think it is possible but it’s seem very hard for you to find the related document or sample projects for your project.

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Oh im banking on it being hard, nothing gamebreaking was every easy. I just wanted to know how viable it is within this engine in particular, and if most of the “Game” functionality can be stripped out (i.e third/1st person characters, driving, all that stuff), I need a 3D engine that has all the technical bells & whistles but not limited to game functions, and more open to typical C++ developement as opposed to having to use the game specific code. (I know depending on what template you start with you get different header/includes etc and different modules/functions loaded in visual studio c++, so hoping you can basically strip all that out.

Sure you can use Unreal Engine for anything, including games.
If you are creating something which requires advanced and hyperrealistic rendering, go for UE.

This however, is very vague. I have also never ever before seen someone working on an AI unrelated to a game in UE. What are you trying to build? Every time I am working with AI (unrelated to games) I’m just using languages like Python with libraries like tensor / pytorch etc., in console applications.

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UE is one of the leading game engines that comes with source (UE is even the leading game engine atm, it all depends on who you ask). So in theory you can build anything given enough time and talent. In general Epic have been pushing UE into other industries for almost a decade now too. So UE is a kind of all things to all devs, or a ‘MICROSOFT OFFICE of Visualization’ which is capable of doing almost anything.

That said…

If you’re not an Epic Partner… If you don’t have UDN access… You may find support lacking. Epic kinda turned its back on this Community years ago. So you’re on your own, with support not as good as with other engines arguably.

Even finding sample projects for games is a bit of a chore sometimes. But if you can work within those limits UE could be the tool for you. The biggest issue for you arguably is that its hard to even reach enterprise support staff to inquire or ask questions seemingly, because they’re just so swamped. Whereas its possible if they agreed that your application was a game changer for your industry they might even help… :wink:

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It was vague kind of on purpose, the thing im looking to develop will be a game changer in my industry so obviously not sharing too many details :smiley:
Thank you for the response, its looking like Unreal is the way i’ll be going.

  • software in my industry which would literally be a game changer
  • so obviously not sharing too many details

Great! …

  • I am totally new to all this
  • im not a coder

…uhm, ok.

Anyway, fingers crossed.

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…uhm, ok

Know enough about it to know what is needed for others to develop it and be able to build a team around it, just wanted to see if the engine was as accessible as i need it to be or if it was restricted to only gaming.

Thank you for all your replies :slight_smile:

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If you don’t want to write a game, then you just … don’t write a game :smiley:

You’ll still be using some base Unreal classes like GameMode and PlayerController, but you definitely do not have to write a “game”.

To my knowledge they also use UE for movies and SFX.