A lot of excellent points. I’m relatively new to the engine (I actually started using it a little before the first UE5 early access came out), I didn’t realize there was a risk of people only supporting the last three versions. Given how quickly Epic is pushing out new versions, I hope that they stick to more of a 4.27 + UE5.x mentality.
But the way Epic seems to be policing plugins vs the engine versions doesn’t seem to be efficient for plugin makers.
+1 absolutely. 
There are big implications for lots of devs here. Maybe there’s a complete list floating around somewhere, but for now here’s 3 key differences between UE4.27 & UE5.x:
FYI, probably my last post in this thread. I think its time I moved forward with the next steps on the road to my dream game! Thank you to everyone in this thread for keeping me motivated!
Next project:
Is lack of engagement on this channel / thread maybe part of this decision? It doesn’t seem there’s a whole lot of activity on these forums anymore except for fortnite related stuff. 
Found this thread very useful for getting an overview of marketplace assets, and also for generating ideas about how they could be used. So thanks for that dude. 
You’d think beginners would find it useful too for learning about how things are assembled or put together (instead of just getting frustrated with YouTube or whatever). This thread also helped expose some of the lazier secrets of Marketplace creators. Such as packs sold as Modular that are really just modular plants - NOT buildings. Plus bad Collision… Plus bad Outliner structure (think packs with 10,000 mixed up pieces, not even organized into groups or folders). 
Anyway, good luck on your next adventure. 
The scope / ideas / goals all sound interesting and worthy. Opting for / against Open World is always tricky. But what does that term even mean anymore? Its definitely possible to make levels feel more open (less of a rinse / repeat claustrophobic arena feel), without having to resort to 1000’s of km’s. Many devs get stuck on landscape creation and never progress because of the pitfalls. But there are ways around that.
Having all interaction in-world with 3D widgets helps prevent breaking immersion. Instead of just reloading being a point of weakness, how about players having to shoot and run for cover while also solving puzzles… There’s lots of discussions about keeping UI elements part of active gameplay (FC2 often gets cited here). UE offers the WIC which lets you do amazing things. Level-up on live sub-screens / sub-games while running / shooting / jumping / flying.
Not really, I always wanted to find somewhere to cut off the series and start focusing on my ideas. I think the 1 year mark was a good time and didn’t feel that I was learning that much new stuff from the series anymore. So it seemed like I needed to start focusing my study deeper into relevant engine concepts.
No, thank you! I appreciate everyone commenting and helping me stick to my goals! 
Thanks again! At first I didn’t want to “spam” this thread with something unrelated, but I felt I should at least explain what’s going on so people don’t feel like I just quit. Hopefully, that also helps to inspire people to keep moving forward (and up).
Yeah, I felt it was important to mention the scope and what the game is/isn’t because a lot of the time projects (looking at you kickstarter) are just extremely nebulous and only promises or ideas and backers/fans end up disappointed or angry.
Actually, I’ve been watching a lot of Tim Cain’s youtube channel that he started awhile back (https://www.youtube.com/@CainOnGames) and he made some really good points about keeping people (devs AND fans) on the right track by knowing what doesn’t fit in the game and being able to point to a reason why.
Sure, this or that feature may be cool, but “does that fit into THIS game?” is a different matter entirely. There may be “no bad ideas” but there are definitely “inconsistent ideas”.
I LOVE “diegetic UI”, FC2 still holds the crown for best map system in a game IMO. A game from 2008… 