Unreal Engine

First demonstrated in the Unreal game on May 22, 1998, Unreal Engine is a now free-to-use game development engine owned by Epic Games. It can create a large variety of 3D, 2D, and VR (Virtual Reality) game styles. The platform is known for its impressive graphical and lighting capabilities. It includes a library of materials, objects, and characters. In addition to supported coding languages, Unreal Engine offers a visual editor, called Blueprints, for creating the rules of the game, which requires no coding experience.

While the Unreal Engine is free to use (since version 4), if your game makes over $3,000 per quarter in revenue, you must pay Epic Games a 5% royalty.

Unreal Engine versions

Since its introduction in 1995, there have been many versions of Unreal Engine. Below is a listing of each version of Unreal Engine and the years they were introduced.

• UE1 (Unreal Engine 1) is introduced in 1995 and was demonstrated in the game called Unreal on May 22, 1998.
• UE2 (Unreal Engine 2) was introduced in 2002.
• UE3 (Unreal Engine 3) was introduced in 2006.
• UE4 (Unreal Engine 4) was introduced in 2014.
• UE5 (Unreal Engine 5) was announced in May 2020 and released in 2022.

Supported platforms

Games created in Unreal Engine 4 and above can be published on the following platforms:

• Windows, macOS, Linux, and SteamOS computers.
• iOS and Android smartphones.
• HTML5 for use in browsers.
• PlayStation 4 and Xbox One video game consoles.
• Virtual Reality and augmented reality platforms.

Games created in Unreal Engine

The first game to be created in Unreal Engine was Unreal, released in 1998. Other popular games created using the Unreal Engine include the following:

• Deus Ex
• BioShock
• Rainbow Six
• Batman Arkham
• Borderlands
• Gears of War
• Mortal Kombat
• Rocket League
• Fortnite

Computer acronyms, Engine, Game terms, Programming terms, Software terms, Unity