Unreal Tournament | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Epic Games |
Publisher(s) | Epic Games |
Programmer(s) |
|
Series | Unreal |
Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
Platform(s) | |
Release | August 13, 2014 (pre-alpha) |
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Unreal Tournament was a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games. [3] It is the ninth game in the Unreal franchise, the fifth game in the Unreal Tournament series, and the first entry to be released since 2007's Unreal Tournament 3 . The game utilizes Epic's Unreal Engine 4 and was released for free on Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. [4] [5] The game was released as an alpha in 2014, but was never completed due to Epic Games' focus on Fortnite Battle Royale. [6]
Unreal Tournament's development was crowdsourced and open to contribution from anyone [7] [8] with Epic Games using forums for discussions and Twitch livestreams for updates. [9] The source code of the game was published on GitHub. [10] Development had ceased by July 2017 when the team transitioned over to Fortnite, though a formal announcement of the end of development was not made until December 2018. [11] The game remains available for free in its June 2017 configuration (version 0.1.12). [12] [13] The game's servers were shut down on January 24, 2023, rendering the game inaccessible. [14]
Gameplay remained largely unchanged from past iterations of the Unreal Tournament series. The gametypes were:
Other gametypes expected to return were: [15] [16]
Unreal Tournament was first teased on May 2, 2014, when Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games, tweeted about a possible reboot, saying that he loved it, resulting in a positive response from the gaming community, specifically the PC gaming demographic that largely grew up playing the previous games. [17] [18] [19] Paul Meegan, vice president of product development at Epic, followed Rein's tweet with information about the future of Unreal Tournament. [20] [21] The game was announced by Epic in a Twitch livestream on May 8. During the livestream, senior programmer and project lead Steve Polge said that there had been demand for a reboot of the Unreal Tournament and that the release of the Unreal Engine 4, made this the ideal time to do so.
From the very first line of code, the very first art created and design decision made, development will happen in the open, as a collaboration between Epic, UT fans and UE4 developers.
—Steve Polge, writing on the Unreal Engine blog [5]
The development of the game officially began on May 8, the same day of the announcement. [5] Unreal Tournament was developed using Unreal Engine 4 in the open in close collaboration between Epic Games and the community. [5] Although an Unreal Engine 4 subscription is required to fully contribute (all the code is accessible in a GitHub repository), Unreal Tournament fans are still able to comment and share ideas on the company's forum. [22]
During a Twitch livestream held on July 24 the same year, art director Chris Perna showed off a fully rendered but unfinished level in the Unreal Engine editor and talked about the overall look he wanted. [23] A video released five days later via Unreal Tournament's YouTube channel, shows early footage of the game, with the development team playing the first round of Team Deathmatch. It is also taken up by discussions of what the development team is working on. This includes adding in almost all of the weapons and more complex levels. [24]
On August 13, 2014, a playable pre-alpha build was released. Originally, the build was only available to UE4 subscribers but thanks to the way the game is being developed, an Unreal community member was able to compile Epic's prototypes and to release them to the public. [25] [26] [27] According to the development community on the download page, it would be getting weekly updates. [28] On September 5, Epic hosted an Unreal Tournament event, where several competitive players and enthusiasts from each generation of Unreal Tournament as well as some of the community contributors were invited to play the early prototype version of the game at Epic's headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. [29] The event was meant for providing feedback on the gameplay. [30]
As part of the announcement that Unreal Engine 4 would be free, [31] a new build of the game was showcased during the 2015 Game Developers Conference, offering its first high-textured map called Outpost 23, which is a new version of the level originally revealed in the game's first-in-engine flythrough in July 2014, a new customized Unreal Editor and new characters. [32] [33]
Two of the original composers of the 1999 Unreal Tournament , Michiel van den Bos and Alexander Brandon, both expressed interest in returning to compose the soundtrack. [34]
The final patch for the game was released on June 28, 2017. [35]
While the game was never completed, Epic Games made a number of statements outlining their proposed business model for the title. It was intended to be released for free, reflecting the fact that it was in part created by a community of volunteers, [36] [37] without microtransactions or gameplay-affecting items. [38] To pay for the game, Epic intended to create a marketplace where developers, modders, artists, and players can buy and sell mods and content. [39] Earnings from this marketplace would be split between the content creator and Epic. [40] This model is not dissimilar to the Unreal Engine Marketplace that ultimately emerged in September 2014 for general Unreal Engine projects.
When asked whether the decision to release the game for free was a reflection of a wider industry trend, Steve Polge told Edge : "It's certainly where we are placing our bets and it is our focus at Epic. We like the model because it's fundamentally generous. It allows us to succeed by doing the right thing for the community, and then the value naturally comes back. That's a lot more attractive to us than the old build, ship and pray model". [41]
In November 2014, the popular ChaosUT mod was announced to return in Unreal Tournament. ChaosUT was selected as one of three mods to be included on the "Game of the Year Edition" of the original Unreal Tournament . [42] The mod was officially cancelled in December 2018, after development of the base game ended. [43]
Unreal is a first-person shooter video game developed by Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows in May 1998. It was powered by Unreal Engine, an original game engine. The game reached sales of 1.5 million units by 2002.
Unreal Engine (UE) is a series of 3D computer graphics game engines developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter video game Unreal. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres of games and has seen adoption by other industries, most notably the film and television industry. Unreal Engine is written in C++ and features a high degree of portability, supporting a wide range of desktop, mobile, console, and virtual reality platforms.
Unreal Tournament is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the Unreal series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast by Infogrames in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Players compete in a series of matches of various types, with the general aim of out-killing opponents. The PC and Dreamcast versions support multiplayer online or over a local area network. Free expansion packs were released, some of which were bundled with a 2000 re-release: Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition.
Unreal Tournament 2003 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. The game is part of the Unreal franchise, and is a sequel to 1999's Unreal Tournament. Like its predecessor, the game is designed mainly for multiplayer gaming.
Unreal Tournament 2004 is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. Part of the Unreal franchise, it is the third game in the Unreal Tournament series and the sequel to Unreal Tournament 2003.
Unreal II: The Awakening is a first-person shooter video game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand for Microsoft Windows, the game was later ported to Microsoft's Xbox console by Tantalus. It is the sequel to the 1998 video game Unreal and part of the franchise of the same name. Cliff Bleszinski was an executive producer for the title.
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland. Following its first commercial video game release, ZZT (1991), the company became Epic MegaGames, Inc. in early 1992 and brought on Mark Rein, who has been its vice president since. After moving the headquarters to Cary in 1999, the studio changed its name to Epic Games.
Cliff Bleszinski, popularly known as CliffyB, is an American video game designer, known for his work in the development of the Unreal and Gears of War series. After working at Epic Games from 1992 to 2012, he co-founded Boss Key Productions in 2014.
Digital Extremes is a Canadian video game developer founded in 1993 by James Schmalz. They are best known for creating Warframe, a free-to-play cooperative online action game, and co-creating Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario. In 2014, 61% of the company was sold to Chinese holding company Multi Dynamic, now Leyou, for $73 million. President James Schmalz and two partners retained 39% of Digital Extremes, and will continue to manage it. On May 22, 2016 Leyou exercised a call option and increased their stake to 97% of Digital Extremes for a total consideration of $138.2 million US. On December 23, 2020, Tencent bought Leyou for 1.3 billion dollars, which included the majority stake in Digital Extremes that Leyou held.
Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is a first- and third-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Midway Games. It was released in April 2005 for Xbox. The game is part of the Unreal franchise, and is a direct sequel to 2002's Unreal Championship. Unreal Championship 2 was designed from the ground up to take full advantage of the Xbox Live gaming service.
Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, the sequel to Soldier of Fortune. It was developed using the id Tech 3 engine as opposed to the original's id Tech 2, and published in 2002. Once again, Raven hired John Mullins to act as a consultant on the game. Based on criticisms of the original game, Raven Software developed Soldier of Fortune II to be a more "realistic" game, with more modern tactical shooters like Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (2001) and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (1998) serving as inspirations, rather than Quake (1996).
Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Midway Games. Part of the Unreal franchise, it is the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series, and the eighth game overall; its name is in reflection of the game being the first in the franchise to use Unreal Engine 3. It was released on November 19, 2007, for Microsoft Windows, December 10 for the PlayStation 3, and on July 3, 2008, for the Xbox 360. OS X and Linux ports were planned, but they were eventually cancelled. A free-to-play version, entitled Unreal Tournament 3 X, will be self-published by Epic Games and released in 2023.
Gears of War is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is the first installment of the Gears of War series, and was initially released as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. A Microsoft Windows version, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released in November 2007. The game's main story, which can be played in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, the Locust, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.
Devastation is a first-person shooter video game by American developer Digitalo Studios, released in 2003.
Sega Studios San Francisco, formerly known as Secret Level, Inc., was an American video game developer based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in December 1999 by Jeremy Gordon, Otavio Good, and Josh Adams.
Alien Swarm is a multiplayer top-down shooter video game developed by Valve. It is a remake of a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, and it was developed by the original team, who were hired by Valve during the course of the development process.
Make Something Unreal, also known as $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest and Make Something Unreal Live, was a series of video game development competitions organised by Epic Games which began in 2004, with subsequent competitions in 2008, 2012, and 2013. The contests aimed to reward developers who created mods using the Unreal game engine. Make Something Unreal has not returned since the event in 2013. Epic Games has since launched Epic MegaGrants, a grant based scheme, in 2019.
Steven Polge is a game programmer, most noted for his work on Epic Games' Unreal series of games. Polge was hired by Epic in 1997 after creating the Reaper Bot, which is recognized by Guinness World Records as the first computer-controlled deathmatch opponent. In addition to programming on the franchise, he served as lead designer on Unreal Tournament 3, and has been credited on other Epic titles such as Gears of War, Shadow Complex and Fortnite.
Paragon was a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena game developed and published by Epic Games. Powered by their own Unreal Engine 4, the game started buy-to-play early access in March 2016, and free-to-play access to its open beta started in August 2016. Epic Games shut down its servers in April 2018.