This was answered in the Stream: As long as the unique, wow-factor shines through, it doesn’t matter. It could be a prototype or ready for release, But as long as it’s got that “Oh my, What an awesome project!” vibe, then it should do just fine 
My current U4 project is all dandy with everything but programming. But Blue-prints are much easier for me than c++. Its a great idea to have this system EPIC! Kudos, only just found out about it.
I wish this was around when i went through 2 crowd funding campaigns and ended up making an entire game by myself in UDK. My current project in U4 is coming along awesome, but I am not lucky enough to get even 1 dollar towards my project. After using unreal 2 editor for years, then UDK for years with no - little help, Now into U4 with no help, I think I am destined release my games with blood and sweat 
But some funding would go a long way for polish and marketing
Now, that’s what I call a partnership!
One question though.
For submission is it acceptable to use Epic content or assets purchased on marketplace to make the prototype feel like a more complete product?
Cheers!
@Kitasus - Awesome, good to know! Thanks.
So I have a question about the Dev Grants: I would like to know if the 5.000 USD are the minimum or if it could be lower? Say I only apply for 500-1000 USD because this is what is needed, would this disqualify the project/idea/etc.?
Most grants will be in the $5000-$50,000 range, but we would definitely consider other amounts for efforts that were really cool but very small in scope.
That is good news for us as the we applied for our plugin we asked for between $2,500 to $5,000, though honestly $5,000 is probably a bit overkill and we only offered a range between the two prices in our proposal due to that very question asked above.
This is just awesome! Do you will post rough guidelines on the submission itself? For example, how should I submit a working prototype, is it ok to give you just access to a private FTP?
I guess less text and more cookies is quite more attractive 
Edit: Never mind.
Should be 100k… 'cause of reasons ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Hey , would you be able to let me know if you guys received my application? I sent it out today. I’ve had bad luck with Epic not receiving my messages before as I’m sure you are aware. =P Would give me peace of mind, and also any ETA on how long we should expect to hear back as well as more details? Thanks! =)
Same for me, no reception receipt for my mail. Not sure my submission have not been lost.
You won’ receive confirmation yet; I don’t think anyone has. I was lucky and got a confirmation from in this thread but have patience! - There’s a lot of submissions to go through and we should hear more at / just after GDC :>
I figured there may not be a confirmation, but I’ve had the worst luck imaginable with Epic not receiving my emails. I saw respond to you, so I figured I’d give it a shot. =P
I’ve got a confirmation mail with a support number code attached. But I’ve sent my submission in first 10 minutes after they’ve made that email .
The confirmation says that I would be contacted in 48 hours, but that is not the case;
I imagine they’ve got sooo many emails since then that the confirmation system stopped working and they simply are not planning to hit back on anyone at least before GDC ends.
No kidding, the whole internet was talking about this, there must be hundreds of thousands of submissions mainly from people that do not use Unreal Engine at all and are simply trying to hit jackpot. I’ve seen tons of Unity users stating that they submitted their Unity game, while having zero experience with UE4 as well as flash developers.
Yeah… Money talks.
I would imagine there would be a way to filter the messages by accounts associated with a UE4 account perhaps?
I know they might have received lot of mails. But a simple mail confirmation (or automatic message) would be appreciated. This might avoid wondering is any spam filter have trashed the mails.
I guess that is irrelevant for Epic’s plans. Their focus on doing this DevGrant program is to boost the ratio of projects being shipped. Thus they want to make sure that every potential success UE4 has under its belts won’t be buried because of lack of investment; if there’s not enough potential success titles already in development they could consider funding teams to port their projects from competing engines as well.
Why do that? well, that’s how publishers make their money. They make sure potential successes hit the market.
If a UE4 indie game, selling around $20USD, hits the 1 million mark copies sold, that is close to 1 million dollars Epic gets from that 5% deal. From the gigantic amount of games they are about to help funding, they need less than 10 annual successes to have all that granted money back and rise reputation of their indie program to the stars.
Hey All, chiming in to answer some questions
We’re still working through the response process - rest assured, we’re receiving’s applications
This should not be happening, Bruno. Can you shoot me over what this looks like, who it was from, and the support number? It could be possibly from something unrelated.
We haven’t been able to reach out to anyone quite yet and don’t have any plans to do so until post GDC. Rest assured though, the processes are being put in place to better communicate with
This isn’t really of a concern of ours, especially since people typically have more than one email address, and chasing down which is associated with their account isn’t aways the easiest thing. Also, the grants can even be for Unreal Engine related items like trainings, curriculum, or other non-digital products built in engine
We completely agree! It’s part of our plan post GDC. We we’re really excited about launching the program and didn’t want to make people wait to apply for some of those systems to be put in place.
Unreal Dev Grants is one of our ways to give back to the excellent Unreal development community, and helping those that may need just a little help in shipping is only part of the possibility. Many types of submissions that are eligible for grants wont ever be a shipped title, such as those non-game applications mentioned in the “WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR” section, as they’re not a product
Thanks for the answers.