I have this video game I want to make with my friend, and I want to use UDK 4. But I need it to be free, I will have no problem with paying 99 $ after I make the game. It’s not just 19.95 per month right? I don’t like that.
You can pay the $19, cancel your subscription and keep whichever version of the editor you had at the time you were subscribed, you’re not locked into the subscription.
But without the subscription you won’t have access to any of the future assets or updates until you resubscribe.
Also just in case you’re unaware, UE4 isn’t directly related to UDK and so it uses a different royalties license when releasing a game: you pay 5% of all gross revenue for the product, not a single payment of $99 after you’ve made it. You’ll probably want to give the FAQ and EULA a read before making a decision.
Ok, before I go do that, Let me get this straight, I can just pay $19 download it & then cancel & keep my UDK4? That would sound good, And I like the 5% thing instead of the $99 sounds safer, What do you personally think I should do? Will it be important to keep getting the updates, it looks fine to me? Let me go read it.
The updates are valuable, the 4.1 update today has quite a few improvements, not to mention access to the Elemental demo and console support. But you can wait until an update has something you want before resubscribing so it shouldn’t be a problem.
It really depends on how comfortable you feel working in the engine. It’s entirely possible to create and ship a game using the current engine, so if you feel it has all of the things you need right now then you could just stick with that version.
But considering the engine is so fresh from release and they’ve just released the 4.1, it seems like the next few months are going to be crucial to changes in the engine now that the community is involved, but that’s only important to you if you’re looking to keep cutting edge or if a certain feature you need isn’t implemented yet.
If you’re really strapped for cash I’d say subscribe now and get everything you can, then get familiar with the editor and how to use it and resubscribe every few months to make sure you’re not getting too far from the current version.
I think I’ll do that. But one more thing, What if for now, I use the UE3 which is free & work on that for a while & then go to UE4 could I move my world from 3 to 4?
And when I finish the whole world & market this, Can I sell it without people having to install UDK? Just me and it’s own little window, Like Minecraft I guess… Like most video games.
UDK to UE4:
It depends. I haven’t used much UE3/UDK so I can’t really comment on the process of importing map and asset files over from it. But be aware that certain systems drastically change from UDK to UE4. Primarily the fact that Kismet is stripped out and replaced with Blueprints, so if you get used to Kismet, you’ll need to change a bit of your workflow (for the better, when using Blueprints, as it offers much more control over each individual Actor rather than level-based control).
Also, if you’re using any scripting in your current UDK project, note that Unrealscript has been completely removed from UE4 and replaced with access to the entire C++ source code for the engine.
Selling it without UDK/UE4:
When publishing a game, you would run the packaging tools provided by the engine. These tools will package all of your games contents into an executable file to be ran on the specified operating system. You would then distribute that packaged set of files.
“What if for now, I use the UE3 …] then go to UE4”
Honestly I’d say start with UE4, because most of the technology or ideologies from UDK have most likely been replaced/improved in UE4 and when it comes time to actually get used to UE4 you may need to relearn a lot of things.
Also, if you’re more of a visual type of person but still want to have complete control over your level and game, then Blueprints will definitely be a great tool that you won’t have access to in UDK. For a teaser of the type of things you can do in Blueprints, you can check out the youtube playlist.
None of the files created in UDK/UE3 are compatible with UE4, you have to reimport all your assets and rebuild your code. So if you plan on making an UE4 game then work in UE4.
Thanks, I found this really informative. I have given it enough thought, Here is what I believe, I plan to make this amazing game with my 2 friends, who are now m worker associates, What we will do is. I will pay $10 & Worker #1 will pay another $10. Thus paying for the UE4 & all the stuff that comes along with it, I will then use up all of the time I have before it restarts & will then cancel the subscription. Now I have my video game story, UE4, and a licence to sell the game with only 5% going out of everything I sell which definitely beats the 25% & $99 fee version.
Me & my workers will make the game keeping all our notes on separate external hard drives.
This is where I get lost, What do I do with everything I have once I finish? I have always wanted to make my own company, But I am younger than 18. I can still do it right?
Then I guess I copy right it & then start publishing it? And then I pay my employees a portion based on a agreement we all sign before hand?
Is this what I do? And how do I do it?
Each person working on the project should have their own subscription.
*That is if they are using any UE4 tools, if they only use external programs and give you the assets to import you could get away with only one subscription.
Regarding publishing and making your own company, that is a pretty complicated topic that will require more than a forum post to explain.
Do your research, there is plenty of information to be found using google.
I would worry more about the game than the business at the stage you are in though.
say what?
could you point me to the area in the FAQ that detail this statement?
I find it hard to believe, that a whole game studio have to subscribe to ue 4, so i need to clear this up, and my indie studio has one subscription. IF your telling me i will need to license it for all the individuals in my studio… that is… anyway can you show me where you got this information from?
- License Grant
Epic grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable (except as described in this Agreement) license for a single User to use, reproduce, display, perform, and modify the Licensed Technology for any lawful purpose (the “License”). However, the rights that Epic grants you under the License are subject to the terms of this Agreement, and you may only make use of the License if you comply with all applicable terms.
Hope this helps…
Well, it’s a little hard to just do it that way, Me & my 2 co workers need a agreement that we all sign so to not cause any mistakes in money or anything among those lines.
Also I am the main programmer, The other 2 have never used UE4 in there life & they basically help with character design, Weapons, tools, UI, and story.
Then after we make the game I guess it would be smart to start a buisness and copyright all our work.
By the way, What is the difference between copyright & patent?
Well it’s in the EULA like CreativeOcclusion pointed out.
Sweeney put it this way here “The subscription is “per human being” and enables that person to use UE4 on any machine, whether personal or company.”
Why is that hard to believe? A lot of software is licenced per seat and the price is still ridiculously low. The three of you just need $19 each, subscribe, cancel, develop your game and try to sell it. If there is an engine update with a feature you really need jump back in for a month, if not $57 is the total cost from your studio for a current game engine, that’s not much.
The current license is for individual use with group or seat licensing still to come.
Individually you can jump on and off of subscription but if you do it to often it can get costly if you do so with in an update cycle. For example you will loss access to the Marketplace so you could not only miss out on free example files but you could miss out on any free assets Epic gives away each month as part of the subscription. A free goodie package like raw Materials or a cool animation package would be worth a lot more that the 19 dollar subscription.
Most of our team though is waiting out for the seat license with a few of use purchasing our own subscription but for us what will make the price worth it is the support that will be supplied behind such subscription.
The flip side of it all is Epic has been doing game engines for 25 or so years now so I’m going to assume they know what they are doing long term to make keeping the subscription worth the cost as it is now we are all first adopters. 
To me it’s worth the 19 bucks just to be around to see what happens next. 
I can download all sorts of textures & other stuff like swords, etc. that are not the defaults that the community makes? If so that would really help, That would take off at least 3 months off this project.
Sure a mesh is a mesh and a model is a model and there are tons of free resources available with in the Creative Commons free to make use of.
For example this is one of my favs
://tf3dm/
I’m willing to bet thought, given time, that a lot of resources for UE4 will start popping up
I will just add some more links 
:///?referral=fref&m=g&pos=1t1&k=turbosquid&c=e
://texturelib/#!/category/?path=/Textures/rock/stones
://www.cgtextures/
All those links were not from a UDK community, So as long as I have a subscription I can get them from anywhere, But if I don’t have the subscription I can’t get any add ons from anywhere else?
And why are they called Mesh, Not Textures, I call them Textures. Does it matter?