Unreal Engine is a [proprietary](https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/eula/unreal) [source-code-available](https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/ue-on-github) 3D game engine written in [[C++]]. - [Website](https://www.unrealengine.com) - [GitHub](https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine) - [AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/unreal-engine/about/) - [Documentation](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.3/en-US/) > QUOTE # Notability One of the most common game engines used in AAA games since the turn of the century. Also very common in indie and smaller studios, but less dominating. It is one of only 2 two major proprietary engines which is easily and freely available for small developers. It is also heavily used for film industry work from tiny indie crews up to the biggest budget films and most powerful studios. Virtual sets, The Volume, set extensions, visualization, etc. Unreal Tournament's modding scene was beyond anything else out there, besting even [[Source Engine]] in many ways. Particularly for the inventiveness and diversion from the FPS formula. I was involved in one such project early on in my music making. While I was brought on for music, I did make some textures and did a lot of research into the engine as it existed around 2004. I even printed out the scripting reference and read it. This was pretty helpful and informative about how the whole game development thing worked at least at the indie level. # Philosophy The install package on Linux is over 20GB compressed and nearly 60GB uncompressed. The mind boggles. ## Business Model > Unreal Engine 5 will retain the current royalty model, with developers returning 5% of gross revenues to Epic Games, though this fee is waived for those that release their games on the Epic Games Store. Further, Epic announced alongside Unreal Engine 5 that they will not take any fee from games using any version of Unreal Engine for the first US$1 million in gross revenue, retroactive to January 1, 2020. The Epic Games Store takes a 12% cut of revenue. ## Development Glancing at the source code, there seems to be a lot of `.cs` files which would seem to be [[3. Reference/Software/Programming Languages/C Sharp|C#]] but they are heavily mixed in with the C++. Myself, not knowing that much about the C++ and C# ecosystems I am not clear on how this works. # OS Support ## Editor - Linux - No [Unreal Frontend](https://docs.unrealengine.com/5.3/en-US/using-the-unreal-frontend-tool/) Support? - Mac - Windows ## Export - Linux - Mac - Windows ## Architectures UE supports [[AMD64]] as well as mobile and ARM/M1 platforms. ## Cross-Compilation Cross compilation [may not be feasible](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/cross-compiling-for-windows-on-linux-and-os-x/409003) [with a Linux host](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/building-for-windows-on-linux/358294) and Windows target so a Windows system will be needed to build for it. Though there have been [some](https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine/pull/10406) efforts to fix this, it is not clear if it is ready. # Features Unreal has a lot of cool branded names for rendering technologies. - [[Nanite]]: A frustrum culling system which runs on the GPU which mutates geometry on the fly, so that in theory higher performance can be reached without manual LODs. Mostly works with static objects like rocks, foliage, buildings, and landscapes. - [[3. Reference/Creative/Development/Gamedev/Engines/Unreal Engine Reference/Lumen|Lumen]]: Dynamic lighting, global illumination, and dynamic reflections. Resource intensive using ray tracing with signed distance fields in software or using hardware accelerated ray tracing where available. - RTRT: Real-time raytracing (predated Lumen). # History # References - [OS support](https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/Basics/RecommendedSpecifications/) # Resources ## Tutorials - https://unrealscoops.com/ ```cardlink url: https://github.com/mikeroyal/Unreal-Engine-Guide#linux-development title: "GitHub - mikeroyal/Unreal-Engine-Guide: Unreal Engine 5 Guide. Learn to develop games for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch." description: "Unreal Engine 5 Guide. Learn to develop games for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch. - GitHub - mikeroyal/Unreal-Engine-Guide: Unreal Engine 5 Gu..." host: github.com favicon: https://github.githubassets.com/favicons/favicon.svg image: https://repository-images.githubusercontent.com/439977823/e8d8e554-6ed4-44e0-8c29-7fee9b5665ea ``` ## Updates ```cardlink url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POwTaVZ_CA0 title: "Why Unreal Engine 5.3 is a BIG Deal" description: "Unreal Engine 5.3 launched and finally we get Nanite Landscapes!Create Your First Game in Unreal:https://youtu.be/1XjgLKrb4_MWant to learn Unreal Engine 5 - ..." host: www.youtube.com favicon: https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/223e107e/img/favicon_32x32.png image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/POwTaVZ_CA0/maxresdefault.jpg ``` ## 2D - 2D Setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g31NTpq9p-o - Overcoming 2D Limitations: https://youtu.be/ievsoIfpj0k - 2D Chain Combos & Fixing Issues with Frame Notify: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIs2V5eqOg ## Plugins - Rain and Weather Effects: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/sky-creator - Military Vehicle & Weapon Sound System and Samples: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/military-vehicle-1-sound-system ## RTRT - https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/RenderingAndGraphics/RayTracing/ - https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/explainers/ray-tracing ## Verse Unreal discontinued UnrealScript in 2014ish. It was very similar to Java and at one point I had read the entire handbook on. The engine officially only supported C++ after that, but also introduced Blueprint - a visual flow scripting environment. Sometime around 2021 a team began working on a Haskell-like scripting language "for the metaverse" based on calculus and [functional logic programming](https://simon.peytonjones.org/assets/pdfs/verse-March23.pdf). It is currently only available as part of the Fortnight editor but is planned to be integrated with the full Unreal Engine by 2025. It is an odd looking language. - https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/uefn/learn-programming-with-verse-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite