Love
My personal journey using Unreal Engine so far has been amazing. So much progress has been made in the last couple months, and I couldn’t be prouder of my team because of it.
One of the main reasons I love Unreal Engine is the ability to work as a team asynchronously. Having the ability to directly integrate version control into Unreal Engine without having to personally keep a session running has been a life saver. Using Perforce in conjunction with Unreal Engine was likely the best decision we made as a group. The initial setup was a headache, but now we have smooth sailing with no errors in site.
Another thing I liked about Unreal is how easy it is to make beautiful projects. Here is a snip of a forest on fire:
This is in the extremely early stages of project development, but I already feel like our game visually is coming together. This may all change later in development, but due to the ease of creating beautiful effects and so many amazing free assets on the Unreal Store, I don’t see that being an issue.
Hate (Dislike, Hate is a strong word)
Finding things I dislike about the Unreal Engine is honestly a difficult task but not impossible. One thing I personally dislike about the Unreal Engine is how resource intensive it is.
I often find my computer working harder running the Unreal Engine than playing most of the games I have in my library. Due to the resource intensiveness, I don’t see it being a widely accessible option which I personally don’t like.
To add onto resource intensiveness, it is also a HUGE engine. Huge meaning taking a lot of storage space. The engine alone is over 40GB. This does not include the game you are developing, assets you download, models, textures… you get the picture. Having such a large engine puts up a wall for some developers. Those who can’t afford fancy new drives may not be able to create the project they want.
P.S: My drives always somehow end up full.
What would I change?
If I were to change anything with the Unreal Engine, it would be accessibility. While the engine is free, it is clearly designed to run on high-end systems. If some of the unnecessary components could be removed to create a more accessible option for all people, I think it would be an amazing step towards unlimited game development for anyone. Afterall, who doesn’t like unlimited?