Epic Student Discount: Unreal Engine 3 Is Now Free…

Epic Games, Inc. have announced the launch of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), a free edition of Unreal Engine 3 that provides community access to the award-winning toolset, and it’s now available to anyone interested in using 3D game engine technology.  Yes that’s a whole lot of people including game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations, and digital filmmakers.

An unprecedented milestone in game development, the release of UDK awards free access to the same world-class tools and technology used by many of the world’s best video game developers and publishers. Unreal Engine 3 is best described in Epics own words as a constantly evolving game engine, and UDK contains all the most recently added features and technological enhancements, including many that have yet to be seen in an Unreal Engine game. Furthermore, Epic Games will release ongoing, upgraded builds of UDK for free.  We’re told there’s no charge for noncommercial or educational use of UDK. UDK is currently only for PC use only, although console support is under consideration. Developers approved to make games for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 can contact Epic directly for more information.

The benefits of using the Unreal Development Kit include:

• Immediate access to Unreal Engine 3, the critically acclaimed 3D game engine technology for cross-platform game development.

• Easy content creation with the Unreal Editor, a fully integrated suite of top-tier development tools, which comes complete with:

• Unreal Content Browser, a revolutionary tool for browsing, searching and organizing game assets with collaborative metadata tagging system.

• UnrealScript object-oriented programming language and Unreal Kismet, a visual scripting system that enables rapid prototyping on the fly.

• Unreal Matinee, a powerful tool with movie director-class controls for building in-game cinematics and gorgeous cut scenes.

• Unreal Cascade, an advanced particle physics and environmental effects editor that aids the creation of fire, fog, explosions and other visuals.

• NVIDIA® PhysX®-powered physics system with Unreal PhAT visual modeling tool for creating character and object physics rigs.

• Unreal Lightmass, a global illumination system that dramatically lights and shadows with minimal effort required by artists and designers.

• AnimSet Viewer and AnimTree Editor, which give animators precise control over every muscle and bone movement.

• Time saved thanks to technology integrations with leading game development middleware tools including SpeedTree®, Bink Video®, and FaceFX®.

Games created with UDK run entirely on their own with no additional software required. This means anyone can make UDK content and distribute it for free.

“I’m excited about the possibilities the Unreal Development Kit opens to those who are looking to get into the game business but don’t otherwise have the means to acquire world-class technology and tools like ours,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “UDK is Unreal Engine 3, which has been used to create games in a wide range of genres, as well as military simulations, 3D architectural walkthroughs, animated movies and more. Users are only limited by their imaginations. Go ahead make something Unreal!”

Support for UDK includes over 200 pages of newly unlocked documentation at the Unreal Developer Network, dedicated forums, as well as other resources available through the UDK website. 3D Buzz also hosts hundreds of free video tutorials for using Unreal Engine 3 technology at this link.

Furthermore, Sams Publishing and 3D Buzz recently published two definitive guides for learning the Unreal Engine toolset, “Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume I: Introduction to Level Design with Unreal Engine 3” and “Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume II: Advanced Level Design Concepts with Unreal Engine 3.” Both books are bundled with a free, downloadable copy of “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC.

So if like myself you’re a student in games development you have the opportunity to start working with the Unreal Engine 3 toolset by downloading UDK at the following link.

Unreal Development Kit [UDK]