Ever since Epic Games announced the Unreal Development Kit in November 2009, with UE3’s market penetration, a $99 starting price and comparably modest licensing terms (0% royalty on $5,000 and 25% above $5,000), the big step for aspiring mod teams to take in moving over to the commercial side of video game development has considerably shrunk.
In fact, there are already three promising Unreal Tournament 3 mods that have not only made the jump over to the UDK but also gone commercial, and curiously, UDK is not the only factor that binds all these three projects together. Each these teams also took part in the Make Something Unreal 2010 contest arranged by Intel and Epic Games. (In fact, two out of three of the above projects are included in the UDK showcase.)
More often than not, letting go is unfortunately the name of the game in the modding community. Most of us probably did just that in 2007, albeit begrudgingly, after Black Cat Games’ blog completely ceased to receive news updates on their forthcoming commercial game, Alien Swarm: Infested.
Though their previous project, the original Unreal Tournament 2004 mod version of the game (that you can still try out and play, by the way; its unrelenting difficulty level and gritty gameplay is something to behold), illustrated in the screenshots below, had laid down a steel-solid foundation for future games to build on, their PR unfortunately started mirroring Black Widow Games’ They Hunger: Lost Souls on the other side of the fence.
Together with EA and Epic Games, the Polish Painkiller developers People Can Fly are certainly doing their darndest to specifically target us connoisseurs with their latest Unreal Engine 3 game, Bulletstorm.
The team “dubs the close combat in Bulletstorm ‘creative mayhem'” 6)Gameinformer May 2010, p48
The company has also done away with the cover systems of today: “Bulletstorm … has no cover mechanism, and we’re turbo sliding 20 or so metres further than science’s popular ‘momentum’ would realistically take us.” 7)http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=245721
While Wolfire & co. have been shoving it to the mainstream in a slightly different manner, People Can Fly seem to be aiming to counter the current established shooter paradigm in ways that are reminiscent of the Death of Glam Metal!
The question remains, then – which side of the fence is glam metal on, exactly, and what about the Death of Grunge? According to Joystiq, EA have slated Bulletstorm for Q1 2011.
P.S. Ulysses?
The question remains, then – which side of the fence is glam metal on, exactly? And what about the Death of Grunge?
“Borderlands exudes style, character, and charm for a good half hour before dropping it. It’s regrettable since the game has so much going for it in this department: colorful characters, a vibrant but derelict landscape, and an alien society of corporations and vagrants. … After all, the most important characters in Borderlands are the ones players can never look away from: the guns. 1)http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/11/column_design_diversions_anato.php
Having beaten the game with people I’m great friends with, Borderlands became a frictionless experience as we decided to split up weapons and classes evenly from the get-go. My question to you is, then, how do you solve the sharing issues that the game, at its worst, can present? Let’s assume the worst-case scenario: Four players enter the game with the same class and weapon proficiencies.
Hopefully we can get a good enough tally of votes to draw some conclusions – please vote accordingly, and if you have any tasty stories, good ideas or general tips relating to the poll, do post those in the comments section! Finally, if you have any friends who you played with, please do forward the poll over to them as well. Thanks again, everybody!
I’ve just come across the most absolutely terrifying game concept in the long history of the gaming medium: Depth, an underwater, team- and class-based sharks versus divers multiplayer mod to be released on Epic’s Unreal Development Kit.
Okay, I admit, it’s probably just me and my fear of the final frontier: I was scared to death even with No One Lives Forever’s sharks. Luckily, there is a quantum of solace to be found in the game – I can always play as sharks only! That shouldn’t be so bad, right? …right?
That being said, the project looks fantastic and deviously simple. It is also being worked on by former Killing Floor lead, Alex Quick. Check out this new, awful, awful UDK game at Mod DB!
In fact, there are already three promising Unreal Tournament 3 mods that have not only made the jump over to the UDK but also gone commercial, and curiously, UDK is not the only factor that binds all these three projects together. Each these teams also took part in the Make Something Unreal 2010 contest arranged by Intel and Epic Games. (In fact, two out of three of the above projects are included in the UDK showcase.)
