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Epic seems to forget about beginners...

Community General Discussion
#1

Hello,
I was waiting for UE4 to begin working on my project and now when its finally out I am very disappointed.
I have an idea for game that I would like to build, but I don’t know anything about how to do it.
So the chances that I will actually do something more than box with light in it are very low.
All I want to do is to learn to use UE4 and try to build something when I will know enough.
It seems to me that people like me got abandoned by Epic.

My question is:
What someone like me should do?
What is the point for me to subscribe and pay 20$ per month if I won’t do anything with it?
I don’t work in the industry, I don’t have team or something, I just like the idea I can try to build a game.
I want to learn, but I won’t get anything back from the subscription I will pay, also if I will only pay once, my copy of the engine will get outdated very fast so I won’t have the latest tools.

I think your new terms will drive away people like me who can’t handle the payment.
Will the terms change later? to be like they was for UDK3? where I pay if I actually do something?

Thanks.

#2

What I would do if I were in your position is look at the Epic Games youtube channel, as it has 61 videos as of the time of writing this post, going through and teaching you how to use the engine. Also, if you’re not sure, you can just subscribe for one month, and you can keep that build of the editor to mess around in all you like, the subscription is only if you want to receive new builds, features, and bugfixes, and eventually to release the game. If you’re just learning the tools for the first time, you’re honestly better off learning the basics instead of focusing on the more advanced tools anyway, you’ll want those fundamentals, and the engine right now has all of the fundamentals you need to make a complete game.

Really though, the UE4’s workflow is very similar to how the UDK was, it’s just faster and easier to do things in. Blueprint is basically just a visual version of Unrealscript, and the art development side of things is mostly the same as well, aside from the textures being in PBR now. If you were able to work in the UDK, you’ll have no trouble transitioning to the UE4, and again, $20 is nothing when you consider the fact that you can cancel after the first month and keep the engine.

#3

If you come into any development environment without previous experience with these kinds of tools, there is going to be a steep learning curve no matter what engine you choose to work with.

All you would need to do is subscribe once and then cancel the monthly subscription. Learn the new editor and when you’ve reached the level where you could use any updates, pay for them. A year or more from now, I would imagine the workflow would remain similar to what it is so I don’t understand what is keeping you from learning UE4.

#4

Ok. First.
Compared to the old 70,000 dollar licensing to get the source to the new 19/mo plus 5% royalty.
I would take this any day, just because. It’s fiscally responsible to take a pinch over a gouge.

Second.
Feeling your pain. Trust me I DO.
2 years ago. I retired from the culinary business and picked up game development.
I started with hero engine, almost popped a coronary over that POS. Then cryenging. To bulk and resource intensive. Then a few others. And I landed on UDK.
At first I was like WTF this sux.

but I went to google. And I typed in HOW TO: (enter what you wnat to ask) And BAM… TUTORIAL CENTRAL.

You can not just jump into a lake head long with out testing the waters first. In short, you need to learn to swim before diving.
baby steps my dear friend. BABY STEPS.

So…
You want to know the first step?
Learn one of the 3D modelling software. The most commonly used one today is Maya or 3DS max, but you have modo and others.
You can learn everything you need to by using digitaltutors.com or asklynda.com. You can also use youtube.com if you are to cheap to pay for quality step by step tutorials.

Once you mastered everything in there, and build all your models, then you can start learning UDK, and how to import FBX files.

But bashing a company because you fail to understand it, well, that just makes your post gaseous and useless.

Good luck.
If you really just want something to mess around in.
Hero engine is more for your level of patience. Otherwise, stick around, play with the big boys, and learn a few things :slight_smile:

#5

On the topic of 3d modeling software, if $20 sounds like a lot, trust me when I say you don’t want to look at the prices of Maya or 3DS Max. You’re much better off giving Blender a try, I haven’t had the chance to test out importing from there myself yet, but there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work since it’s just using the standard fbx format.

Blender is completely free and open source, and if you use that for modeling, something like Paint.net or Gimp for textures (as well as something like xnormal to get normal maps, maybe dDo as well since that’s free now), and Visual Studio 2013 Basic, then you’ve eliminated the cost to make 90% of the game, all that’s left is the engine.

#6

He’s not lying about the cost. I must have sank almost 30k into all my programs from After Effects, Photoshop CS6l, Light room, Maya, Mudbox, and a few plugins. and a couple other programs like Poser9.
Making a game. IS NOT CHEAP!

Don’t EVEN think about using Torrent ****, because if your game becomes successful, you’re gonna need to account how you came across the software with the bean counters.

#7

It sounds like you’re giving up before you even get started and are blaming that on Epic. When not only are there countless tutorials online for everything imaginable, there are sample game templates on this very site.

#8

Can you handle one payment?
If so, subscribe for a month, then cancel.

You will then be able to take your time learning the Unreal Engine 4 toolset,
Blueprints and even C++, without further the monthly costs.

The only thing you won’t get is will lose is updates to the engine.

#9

Hi NoobCube,

The Unreal Editor is certainly a vastly powerful tool, and it requires sophisticated and occasionally complex workflows to meet the demands of the highly demanding AAA studios which have traditionally used it, but we have tried hard to make UE4 much more approachable to newcomers than UE3, and have striven to provide multiple educational resources available to all, including the Documentation, Tutorial Videos, a community-driven Wiki, Sample Projects, and an entire community of fellow game developers here on the forums and on the AnswerHub. And all of these resources will continue to grow over time along with the community.

With these resources, we believe that anyone can jump right into development, and soon be offering help to other new developers. We hope you’ll join in.

Cheers

#10

The biggest and most important thing about UE development is the community. There will be and already are so many tutorials, how to’s, and extremely helpful people who are willing to sit down with you and help you. I had issues building Android compiling into UE3 back when it was a half-made not yet implemented feature. Hopped in IRC, and me and someone else spent four hours together getting it running. It was awesome :slight_smile:

#11

Yes the people i’ve been with in Beta have been sharing a lot. Mostly blueprints and code. It will be good as soon as they transfer those from our old forums here.

#12

Ok, Im sorry for what I am about to say…But really if you dont want to fail and try again and again on anything in life then dont bother about living. I have failed countless times in my life and I just got back up and tried again. Dont expect to do learn anything without taking A LOT of time into what you have too do. Did you expect bill gates or steve jobs to give up before they even tried programming?

Along with this if anyone is making a game just for the money expect to fail and fail big time. Nothing done in a rush with no passion will make your a tiny sum and maybe even nothing, people love what you love, if you did not love making it and put every effort into making that game, recipe, program anything dont expect people too love it and/or buy it for that matter.

There are millions and millions of users who use UDK or Unity and I dont see millions of games that get huge or popular with just few hours work involved.

All I can say is do what you love, and if you love it so much you will keep trying too get to the end and make something of yourself.

#13

Thanks for the answers!

So if I will buy UE4 then cancel subscription, and then after half year or so I can resubscribe again download all the updates and then cancel again etc. etc.?

#14

WHat he said

AMEN You need to invest your time to make anything worth while

#15

Yes, you can.

#16

If you have no idea at all about how to do your game you have in your mind then it’s not EPIC’s fault.

#17

I’d like to imagine UE4 being the community swimming pool and Project Spark is the kiddie pool. If you’re in too deep you might want to go practice in the smaller one.

Both Project Spark and UDK are wonderful communities. Just explain clearly what your problem is when you have one…

#18

What I say is that I just want to take a look at UE4, I am sure that even 1 year from now I wont be able to create something more than simple house or something like that…
I don’t blame EPIC I am just saying that there probably more people like me who won’t see any profit from it, its ok to pay once and then cancel but then I will have outdated Engine…
People like me are not the source of income for such companies as EPIC. I am little…

For now I will focus on 3D and anims, and when I will feel that I am ready I will buy UE4…

You know how to teach someone to swim? just throw him into the water, he will have only 2 options…

#19

That a mere survival of the fittest attitude . Also $20 bucks a month is less than you will spend in a few trips to Starbucks. UDK will still be available so if you not comfortable paying you can use that. I will say though I am not a fan of 5% gross revenue including Crowdsourcing. I will of course study up on workflow of Unreal 4 , but I will have to think deeply about that point before proceeding with a commercial product.

#20

It is really silly people complaining about cost, $20 is less than most decent Lego sets and do you make any money off those? Im sure you’ll get enjoyment out of using the editor even if your end goal isnt to release anything on the market or one of the appstores. I know plenty of hobbies that cost alot more than this per year and even if Epics target audience is more serious developers it certainly doesnt show through with the pricing model since many of us spend thousands on PC parts, software, etc.