Other special licenses?

While I appreciate that not has excess money lying around I personally believe that what Epic are offering is an absolute steal.

You’re not tied to a year contract, you get a fully fledged engine for $19 and you can cancel at any time, all that you’re not getting is the updates.

You could decide that you want to only subscribe quarterly for updates or bimonthly etc.

I could understand there being a cost because of the source code being given at the same time, but what about those who just want to gain access to the UE4 editor alone?

To be specific, I’m just a game developer who wishes to try out the editor, and though I can’t recall where, somewhere it said a trial version was available…

If there’s a trial edition so I can play around and decide if I want to choose UE4 or UDK to start out with for an official game, it would be appreciated.

Without a trial , there is just no way that I’m going to jump straight into it, especially if I wind up regretting it. I’d rather play it safe than sorry, and as the warnings said, it’s still rough around the edges.

I personally just would like to see the differences between the latest UE4 and UDK releases are first to make my judgement.

I have no intentions of using the source code for one. If they could offer something that doesn’t include a source code in the package that reduces the prices or so, THAT I might be willing to subscribe to. But again, I do want to trial it out first if at all possible. I’m especially not going to get it now; rather I’ll wait six months when the program is much more fleshed out to try it.

Hi Major,

Currently there is no planned trial or free version of Unreal Engine 4. If you would like, you can make a one-time purchase for $19 and then cancel your subscription to give it a try. You do not have to pay the subscription to use the engine, just to get the initial download, updates and additional content.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with.

Cheers!

But perhaps later on down the road, there may be? I’m talking like six months time.

I think you can continue to play with the engine as long as you want after you cancel your subscription. If ever you want an update you can renew your subscription.

Nope. No plans for a free version. We think $19 is amazing value. It isn’t just a trial. You spent your $19 and you’re LICENSED to used that version forever - even if you download the engine, use it, and then cancel and never pay again. You’re welcome to keep using it. Also - you can resume your subscription at any time to get the latest updates, new features, new content, etc.

For that $19 it’s not a dumbed-down trial edition or feature limited in any way - it’s the full Unreal Engine 4 that we’re using to make our next big game - yet it has lots of cool friendly features, back by tons of tutorials and demos with lots & lots more to come! It’s priced similarly to popular MMOs but can deliver a lifetime of learning and development fun if you’re so inclined.

$19 is a steal. $19 now and $19 six month later is double steal. I don’t you getting a better deal with any other advanced engine/toolset.

Hi, I’ll just chime in by saying I don’t understand your reluctance to spend (potentially) a >one time fee< of $20 for full access to the current snapshot of the Unreal Engine 4 vs a “trial” that typically will have either watermarks when you run it, or times out after a certain number of (never enough) days and then you’re left with nothing?

Not to presume anything about your pocketbook, but for what’s typically the cost of a “Happy Meal” down at the corner fast food restaurant, you’d have the full engine and if you want, the complete source code as well (personally I prefer a “black box” for my game engine, hoping to never have to fiddle with the internal code, but I do demand excellent user documentation on the use of it.)

Epic stepped up with an absolutely unique offer to the games development community; a to tinker and dabble OR to become the next Gears of War hero all for the price of mowing someone’s grass or shoveling snow out of a neighbor’s driveway!

If you do actually sell something from your endeavors, then you’re obligated to pay 5% to Epic.

But in the mean time, you’re testing out your ideas, playing with the engine and learning the ins and outs of it, potentially making yourself valuable to the eventual hundreds of game development teams and companies that are adopting this engine (now having access to it as well), who will need talented folks that know how to produce quality work with it.

I can’t see this as being nothing but an absolute win for involved with this arrangement?

Admittedly I have questions about what about if I make a giga-million dollars off of some “Flappy Happy” game I come up with - Epic would get 5% of a giga-million which is a hella amount of money for a game engine license??

I’d sorta wonder about payments caps etc., at that point, but I’ll worry about that if I’m fortunate enough to cross that bridge!

I can however appreciate you wanting to perhaps wait until the engine is a bit more mature etc., but from my experience using and buying lots of software, (unfortunately), sometimes it’s good to get in at the beginning because for one, you actually have a to shape the software though suggestions on improvements while the software is still in its early development phase, and you also get a leg up on learning and testing features as they’re added in over time.

Personally say just go ahead and just jump in and enjoy playing around - that exactly what I’m doing, and I’m loving it!

Frankly I don’t mind giving Epic $200 or so for a year, just so show my appreciation for what they’ve done here. Typically my software upgrades are in the $600+ range, certainly not ~$200!

I applaud them for this wonderful gesture they’ve offered and if I don’t find myself using the software, or being happy with what I accomplish, I wouldn’t have broke my bank like I’ve done with all the other software in the past just to have access to using the packages.

-Will