Questions to Epic Forum Staff, FAB Community and Pro Devs

[GeekManGames]

Hello everyone,

I couldn’t find any discussion that would be a good fit for the post, which is why I am posting it here in General.

After doing research for some time, I have decided to start making smaller games in my free time (taking baby steps) by buying game templates provided to us in FAB. I have no coding experience, but I have experience in blueprints (between beginner- and intermediate-level) and designing levels as a paid freelancer.

I want to start with 2D for now and eventually move to 3D games while primarily focusing on a single-player experience/linear game with some multiple paths for players to explore, giving players a false sense of freedom without them knowing about it . In the far future, I definitely want to make open-world games and multiplayer working with other cool devs that love similar games I love. I read the official details here and I still have question.

Now, that you know a little bit about what I want, here’s the questions to Epic:

1. Do I need to give credits to the product I buy and stuff I got free from Epic Games to us every month in FAB? (I couldn’t find anything about free FAB stuff in offical details)

2. What is the difference between a personal and professional license? (I am picking personal since I have not made more than 100k in 12 months but what happens if the game I made makes over 100k in 12 months via Steam or Itch, do I need to pay them for professional licence even though I bought Personal already?)

3. Let’s say I made 100k in the last 12 months from my previous game, and I decided to make another new game using a different template. Do I then have to pay the professional license payment for anything I buy from FAB onwards?

Here’s some picture examples, and as you can see, the prices are almost double compared to a personal license. I am not buying all these now (starting under 50 bucks for the first 2D game), but eventually I will have to invest more for 3D games and came up with these questions with no answers!

This part question is for all experienced devs who have worked making games alone or with others using game templates. You are welcome to DM me if you don’t want to answer here.

A. Is using a game template to make a game seen as lazy work from devs who make everything from ground up?

B. How do you migrate all necessary templates to your project in UE after buying the game template?

C. How much of the game template do you use? Do you use provided assets, characters, enemies, animation, and SFX that came with the template in the game?

D. How many FAB projects do you buy to make one 2D or 3D game that is single-player and not open-world?

E. How many team members helped to make this game, and if you made it alone, what are the things you would like to suggest and what things you needed help from a freelancer for?

F. Which document or guide video did you want when it was time to release the game on Steam?

G. What are 3 pieces of advice you can give to me?

H. Do you have any recommendations for a 2D game template for me? I want make something that is a mix of Zelda and Hollow Knight. I have a few template saved in my cart, but I would like to hear what you have to say.

Thank you for taking your time to read this post and any help you provided

[ClockworkOcean]

@GeekManGames

1. Do I need to give credits to the product I buy and stuff I got free from Epic Games to us every month in FAB? (I couldn’t find anything about free FAB stuff in offical details)

2. What is the difference between a personal and professional license? (I am picking personal since I have not made more than 100k in 12 months but what happens if the game I made makes over 100k in 12 months via Steam or Itch, do I need to pay them for professional licence even though I bought Personal already?)

3. Let’s say I made 100k in the last 12 months from my previous game, and I decided to make another new game using a different template. Do I then have to pay the professional license payment for anything I buy from FAB onwards?

1 No, you can, but you aren’t obliged to.

2 If you have made > 100k in the last 12 months from games you have developed, you need the prof license on new stuff you buy ( no need to retroactively do that ).

3 If you haven’t made > 100k in the last 12 months, then any new stuff you buy can be personal.

@GeekManGames

A. Is using a game template to make a game seen as lazy work from devs who make everything from ground up?

You can use any method you want. I think ‘Meccha Chameleon’ was a mismash of previous game parts and assets.

B. How do you migrate all necessary templates to your project in UE after buying the game template?

Just that, actually use the ‘migrate’ option in the content browser. You can end up in a mess though, with templates that have configured the game instance and game mode, because you can’t have conflicting configurations there. You might need to know what you’re doing.

C. How much of the game template do you use? Do you use provided assets, characters, enemies, animation, and SFX that came with the template in the game?

I don’t use templates, but I’d recommend mixing them, otherwise your game will just look like the template.

D. How many FAB projects do you buy to make one 2D or 3D game that is single-player and not open-world?

I just checked - about 80. ( That might be just one material or mesh from one asset etc )

E. How many team members helped to make this game, and if you made it alone, what are the things you would like to suggest and what things you needed help from a freelancer for?

None, just me. Buy books on creative thinking, thinking outside the box. Do courses on designing and making games ( learn about design concepts, whiteboxing, level design, game system code ). I used a voice actor also.

F. Which document or guide video did you want when it was time to release the game on Steam?

Go to the source: https://howtomarketagame.com/

Do this BEFORE you want to actually ship you game

G. What are 3 pieces of advice you can give to me?

1 Do what works, not what you’ve been told. ( bad programming excluded )

2 Keep going

3 Keep going

H. Do you have any recommendations for a 2D game template for me? I want make something that is a mix of Zelda and Hollow Knight. I have a few template saved in my cart, but I would like to hear what you have to say.

Not my area sorry. But I can tell you, making a 2D game is just as hard as making a 3D one.

Good luck!

[klinger232 (Klinger Andrade)]

I’ll just answer the part about getting free assets on FAB.

If you’re collecting freebies, I’d highly recommend claiming them under the Professional license right away.

I don’t know the intentions of the company or person who uploaded that asset to FAB, so just to keep yourself safe from future commercial issues, I recommend always redeeming free assets under the Professional option.

That way, you won’t run into problems or have to redo an end credits cutscene just to attribute a name and tool to someone who decided to give you a hard time for whatever reason.

And when you do buy an asset for your game under the Personal license, just give credit right away.

I’m telling you, it’s way better to put the credits in and have peace of mind that there won’t be issues down the line, rather than skipping it, living with that endless anxiety, and eventually getting your game taken down because some crazy guy decided to hit you with a DMCA/copyright strike for not crediting him

[spacegojira]

That makes no sense, a free asset is a free asset. The license has no meaning in this case.

Besides, nobody is checking if you suddenly earn more than 100k anyway and bought the right license. The two different licenses are more of a “honorary agreement”. Neither Epic nor the sellers have any means of actually verifying it.

[GeekManGames]

This post here will have all upcoming daily updates whenever I work in my project.