What can PCs do better than other platforms and what can UE4 do better than other engines?

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

I’m wondering about just what making a PC game using UE4 enables one to do better than if one were to develop for consoles/mobiles or to use another engine.

I’m not denying that there are advantages, I’m wondering what people here might have to say about what those strengths are and how to best leverage them.

2

PCs can do everything better than other platforms (and can do much more in general), except -which is debatable- , ease of use (plug n play, start n play bla bla). For me, unreal engine is the way to go in order to get a AA / AAA game on consoles and PCs. I have not made anything HTML related so I can’t have an opinion. I tend to pick unity for 2d games, especially on the mobile side (Paper 2D is kindof abandoned, also, the projects are too big and resource consuming). Also, on the console you need a good publisher and it’s hard to get a license.

3

PC got unrivaled power and flexibility.

The main advantages of UE4 are it being a AAA engine while still being easy enough for indies to use.

5

Pc, linux and mobiles is the worst plataform for develop minimun demanding games with crazy bazillion of diferents rig configs, direct x, shaders versions, screen monitors, complains because the game don’t work in her grandfather’s laptop, etc…
Consoles in the other hand have a fixed resolution and hardware, from day one you know for example the maximun memory, maximun polys, maximun drawcalls, and that shaders work.

6

For what types of mechanics/visuals/etc is the power and flexibility difference most acute?

Where would it be a 10 for PC gaming?

The particular game idea I have resembles a surreal psychedelic mix of the original Doom and Jaws by way of Joseph Campbell.

What are those gotchas?

I’ve noticed that UE games tend to go heavy on specular reflections and color saturation. Is that right?

I’m generally curious about how UE4 could be used to create surreal/psychedelic game mechanics, animations, visuals, lighting etc.

8

Big worlds, many players, heavy AI, high end realistic graphics, accurate physics and dynamic content. Support for lots of peripherals. Mods. VR.