Unreal Benefits?

[PythonBlue]

First of all, since this is my first post, just wanted to say I'm honored to be a part of this community, even if not the development team at this time.

I've had considerations pursuing game development. That being said, the last I heard was that you're using the Unreal Engine, version 4 of which I just heard being free for everyone. What exactly made you decide to use this engine over others?

One additional reason why I ask: I looked at Cyan's official realMYST Masterpiece Edition and discovered that it was made with Unity. Call me biased as a Mac user, as Unreal didn't offer development support for Macs until very recently. XD

[Daikun]

That being said, the last I heard was that you're using the Unreal Engine, version 4 of which I just heard being free for everyone. What exactly made you decide to use this engine over others?

Cyan is using it for their new game, Obduction, and Starry Expanse followed suit.

Edit: Also, even before UE4 went free, they had the better subscription price than Unity. ($20 vs. $70 - Which sounds better?) Heck, their price is STILL better than Unity now. $75/mo. (or a one-time payment of $1,500) vs...free.

Call me biased as a Mac user, as Unreal didn't offer development support for Macs until very recently. XD

They've been supporting Macs since the beginning.

[zib_redlektab]

We had been using Unity 3.x for a long time, and the decision to switch to Unreal was a tough one. There were a number of factors that went into the switch, but in the end it boiled down to Unreal being able to do everything Unity could do and far more, while being far cheaper. In order for us to move to Unity 4.x, we would've had to pay thousands of dollars to upgrade our licenses from 3.x Pro, whereas Unreal 4 was $20/mo (at the time). We felt that as long as Unreal was that inexpensive, we couldn't really justify paying to stay with Unity.

TL;DR - Unreal beat Unity in virtually every category, and was vastly cheaper.

[Daikun]

Hey, I just discovered this excerpt from the blog post:

In going free, we’ll be issuing a pro-rated refund to current subscribers for their most recent month’s payment. And, everyone who has ever paid for a UE4 subscription will receive a $30 credit that can be spent in the Unreal Engine Marketplace.

Take advantage, you guys! You've earned it.