Imho such statements are simply unfair, unnecessary and unprofessional. Epic marked the release clearly as ALPHA. This means it is far from completion. They stated that this is no build for productiin use but only for testing purposes. Most people who now complain that there is no ready release either don’t know how complex it is to build features like nanite, lumen or engines at all or they simply ignore what Epic told us.
They also never gave us a date and as long as they don’t do this it is silly to think about productive ue5 game releases.
The people who are switching now to ue5 simply ignore the facts, that it may take some time (like a year or two) until a real release.
Furthermore everyone who says that he needs lumen for the game is simply not correct. 99% can be achieved with baked light or current lighting features and often looks better. It is simply more afford needed. Same is with nanite. You can generate LODs in ue4 with a simple click on a button for skeletal and static meshes and in most cases you don’t need it on runtime. It is simply more afford needed.
You also have to use non nanite and non lumen features in ue5 when you want to support low end systems, this will not be changed by ue5. Ue5 will not ve a magic box which solves all your problems with a click.
I like ue5, too but in most cases it is not needed but nice to have.
I agree on most. They where pretty open about what Nanite and Lumen can and cant do after releasing the demo last year. When we where switching to UE5 we where aware that it wont be perfect or feature complete. But… In our case we do need Lumen and Nanite. And a new stable EA3 version after half a year would have been nice. Its not a magical solution for all problems but if your 99% estimation is correct then why is it such a big deal for people?
Its lowering the production time for small studios/teams (working on certain types of projects) significantly.
Epic said UE5 will be released early 2022 btw.
To be fair, Epic kinda bring it on themselves at times for hyping features before they’re truly ready. Had quite a few people seem surprised when they ask about UE5 and all the new features, and I tell them all the current caveats and “yes buts”.
That said, I and I think most people do understand deep down how complex and challenging this kind of engine is to build and maintain. Its not exactly pixel art we’re dealing with, it really is cutting edge “is this even possible/feasible” type stuff at times.
It would just be nice if they communicated sincerely a bit more, and marketed a touch less, in my opinion. At least until the stuff they want to market really is ready to rock anyway.
I gotta disagree with you on Nanite and Lumen though. They are/will be fantastic tools to have in the arsenal from an artistic standpoint - a lot of things become possible that kind of aren’t in 4, not comprehensively/quickly anyway. Which to me, those two words are a big part of an even more important word: feasibility, which most of us have had to think about constantly for every project we have ever worked on, personal or professional.
I think a lot of people are worried Nanite and Lumen might be UE4’s SVOGI, something that never materialized into an actual usable feature. But I don’t believe Epic over hyped or over sold the features. They got them into developer’s hands at least 8 months before release, there’s been 3 tech demos pushing the features further into real game like projects. The first demo did seem very marketing and proof of concept focused, but since then it’s been pretty clear with their communication on what the features are and their limitations currently. At this point any lack of communication is probably not to over promise and under deliver and focusing on wrapping things up.
Personally I think it’s great Epic got Lumen and Nanite into people’s hands very early, and we don’t really need an update on them until the full UE5 release, unless you’re planning on shipping something within a year of UE5 releasing. They are usable enough, the biggest pain points are broken existing systems or them not being as fleshed out as other features.
All engine are not for everyone … that the beauty of today abundance of tech.
There is obviously one who will be compatible with all your personal need and talents.
Also the competition are not only the engine and how it is amazing, there are a lot of other additional values in each company can influence the final choice.
But any big engine came with strong learning curve price to pass true, before feeling if yes or not we have chosen the good one …
I personally love UE5, even with its current shortcomings.
It is FREE for me to use, I can modify the engines source code to do what I like
and in between the minor crashes that I posted about earlier in this thread, it is getting more solid by the day.
To be more on the original topic of this post.
I definitely do not think they will output a new Early Access version EA3.
Maybe they will do the more traditional Preview short cycle before the real release, like they was doing in the UE4x … but who know.
