[=;140695]
Seriously are you still debating about $19? Even e beggar can save less than a dollar per day and get the engine end of the month…
People willing to learn will pay way more than that.
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I agree. Anyone that can afford a computer that runs UE4 can afford a one time payment of $19 to test it. I see no reason to have a free trial, it’s already extremely cheap and accessible.
[=;140695]
Seriously are you still debating about $19? Even e beggar can save less than a dollar per day and get the engine end of the month…
People willing to learn will pay way more than that.
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Please stop misrepresenting what I say. I have not argued that $19 is not a good or fair price. Let me clarify. $19.95 is an amazing deal. It’s more than fair and people should be willing to pay that. I don’t disagree with you on any of that.
It’s not about the $19, or whether it’s a fair price, or whether people should be willing to pay it. It’s about the fact that people looking to learn game development have choices. Unreal is not the only game engine out there. It may be the best and the best value (I think it is on both counts by far), but a new person isn’t going to be in a position to judge that. Right now, they’ve got a choice between trying Unity for free, trying Unreal for $19.99, trying CryEngine for $9.99, etc. Realistically, most people are going to pick one engine and learn it. They’re not going to try them all.
Why did Epic make Unreal free for academic use? Seems to me that it’s because they want to increase adoption. They want more future game developers comfortable with Unreal. I guarantee you that those most of those people in college game programming classes can afford $19.99 a month. They’re certainly paying a lot more than that to take the class in the first place.
Why do most high-end programs (Maya, Photoshop, etc), have free time-limited trials. Why do most of those same programs have academic programs allowing students to get free versions?
They don’t do out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to increase the number of people who understand and use their programs. They do it to create future license sales. They do it because when faced with a free option and a pay option, a great many people will take the free option even if they can afford the pay one unless they have some first-hand reason to think the pay option is better.
I’m suggesting simply that it isn’t a bad idea to steer new game programmers toward UE4 and away from competitors, and one way to do that would be to give people a risk-free, cost-free way to try UE4 out first hand.
I would argue that future game developers have never had it easier, they have access to 3 big name engines as well as all of the others at a more than reasonable prices. There has never been a better time to be an upcoming game developer.
Even as a teenager, 20 bucks is not an, if they are serious about learning, plus they can get a free student licence now, so there shouldn’t be any barrier there as high schools can get an academic licence now
[=;140701]
Doesn’t iOS development to day require a $99/year subscription? And if you’re not working in something like UE4’s blueprints, a machine running OS X as well? That’s a much higher barrier to entry for most people.
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Actually, no. The $99/year is only required to run on the device, or put it on the app store but you can download Xcode and run in the simulator for free. I wrote the book based on the simulator. I had a chapter at the end about running on the device, but Apple asked me to remove it before publication.
[=;140715]
I would argue that future game developers have never had it easier, they have access to 3 big name engines as well as all of the others at a more than reasonable price. There has never been a better time to be an upcoming game developer.
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I absolutely agree with . Did not mean to imply otherwise.
[=;140715]
Even as a teenager, 20 bucks is not an, if they are serious about learning, plus they can get a free student licence now, so there shouldn’t be any barrier there.
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Isn’t the student license only if you’re in a class where the instructor has requested academic licenses? Maybe I read it wrong.
[=;140719]
Isn’t the student license only if you’re in a class where the instructor has requested academic licenses? Maybe I read it wrong.
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True, but also as a student there is a form you can take to the school and have them fill it out, once approved they will have the licence.
[=;140723]
True, but also as a student there is a form you can take to the school and have them fill it out, once approved they will have the licence.
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Ah, that’s good. I guess I missed that part.
text is not relevant anymore as the subscription model is gone and unreal engine is free to download for anyone.
“But, I wouldn’t mind seeing something like a 60-day trial with no source access and no support.” Bam! Perfect. If you can’t get up for engine in a month or two, you’re in the wrong biz or hobby or it’s just not for you.
“Why do most high-end programs (Maya, Photoshop, etc), have free time-limited trials.” Yes! Right on. What I was thinking. Eventually Epic will do , Right. How can they not. “Hey. try us out for a month for free. If you like it, 19 bucks to have and to hold, or 19 monthly if you want to get long term.” It’s casual, open, confident.
[=breese45;140847]
Yes! Right on. What I was thinking. Eventually Epic will do , Right. How can they not. “Hey. try us out for a month for free. If you like it, 19 bucks to have and to hold, or 19 monthly if you want to get long term.” It’s casual, open, confident.
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Well, to play devil’s advocate (even though I’m the who made the original argument), “how can they not” is pretty easy to answer. 
In all likelihood, the $19.95 a month doesn’t even come close to covering dtheir evelopment costs. Every additional $19.95 licensee (or free licensee) is a drain on support and engineering resources. It’s altogether possible that Epic doesn’t want to grow too fast in the indie and small company space knowing it might be at the expense of their AAA clients with negotiated license deals.
But, that’s just a guess. I have absolutely no inside information or insight into what or why Epic does stuff. My guess is that whatever they do, it will be well thought out. They’re a pretty bright group of people.