Unreal Tournament "Comeback" Reveal

**notorious bum** · 2014-05-04 16:35

New full-fledged UT game to showcase the new Unreal 4 Engine? Prepare thy anus.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/05/02/ep...ment-on-may-8/

Epic announces livestream to reveal "future of Unreal Tournament" on May 8

Be still, my heart. Epic Games vice president Mark Rein has posted the words on Twitter I've been waiting years for: Unreal Tournament is coming back. We don't know what form it will take, but Rein followed up his original tweet "I love Unreal Tournament, so excited for the comeback" with a confirmation—"Yes UT coming back!"—and a link to Epic's Unreal Engine Twitch account, where the future of Unreal Tournament will be revealed Thursday, May 8 at 2PM EST.

I love #UnrealTournament - So excited for the comeback! https://t.co/r6Off7DvcM More next week! pic.twitter.com/w4AvpiUkox

— Mark Rein (@MarkRein) May 2, 2014

Since Epic plans to unveil its plans for Unreal Tournament on the Unreal Engine Twitch channel, and not the Epic Games channel, we can make a few guesses about the game. It may be a showpiece for Unreal Engine 4 in the way Gears of War was for Unreal Engine 3. It may simply be a tech demo for Unreal Engine 4 and not a full game. Wouldn't that be a drag.

Another tweet from Epic's Paul Meegan makes us think this is more than a throwaway project. "UE4 Dev Community + Epic. The future of Unreal Tournament," he tweeted:

UE4 Dev Community + Epic. The future of Unreal Tournament. Tune in to http://t.co/hPLc5jcZSv Thursday at 2pm ET. #unrealdev#FirstBlood

— Paul Meegan (@PaulMeegan) May 2, 2014

The future of Unreal Tournament could be on consoles or—dare I say it—mobile. Don't make us play Unreal Tournament on iPhones, Epic. Don't you dare. Give us a new game on PC, whether it's a Quake Live-style update of classic UT or a Unreal Engine 4 juggernaut.

In the meantime, we'll be over here playing UT2004 at 4K. There are still busy servers out there, and the game looks pretty damn good a decade later.

**6souls** · 2014-05-04 18:41

gah! I thought for sure everyone had over-looked this so I could post it.

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls...vs6no1_400.gif

**Kaisha** · 2014-05-04 19:18

I hate being pessimistic, but twitchy arena shooters are dead, and they won't be releasing another one of those in a 'pure' form free of leveling/perks/loadouts/etc that is commonplace in any modern FPS.

God damn I put a lot of hours into UT2K4. Such a lively mod&map community.

**orinthia** · 2014-05-04 19:33

Some damn fun days, is it even possible to capture that feeling again with a modern game?

**Vandole** · 2014-05-04 21:33

I don't think this will end well. twitch shooters don't fucking work on consoles, and we all know it wont be pc exclusive.

**SephYuyX** · 2014-05-04 21:35

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BRING BACK BR

**notorious bum** · 2014-05-04 21:49

Originally Posted by Vandole

I don't think this will end well. twitch shooters don't fucking work on consoles, and we all know it wont be pc exclusive.

From what I've gathered in this last generation of casual FPS games: they don't put PC and console gamers on the same servers. There's no reason why they can't appease new and old school FPS players.

**Aevis** · 2014-05-05 00:58

Please please please don't try to reinvent it like EA/Sim City and just give us a twitchy shooter with purdy graphics. I want to load the smallest map possible with 16 players and rocket launcher only for ultimate mayhem or InstaGib on Morpheus for hilarious mid jump monsterkills. They also better allow mod support from the get go. I remember downloading 3gb+ of map packs @ work because of the faster connection and it still took multiple days.

**Qalbert** · 2014-05-08 11:49

reminder bump
http://www.twitch.tv/unrealengine
2pm ET - Unreal Tournament, UE4 Blueprint & VR – Live from Epic HQ

**Qalbert** · 2014-05-08 13:01

http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/8/5695...e-4-epic-games

Unreal Tournament is coming back.

Developer Epic Games revealed today that the multiplayer shooter's next incarnation — in development in Unreal Engine 4 for Linux, Mac and Windows PC and called simply Unreal Tournament — will be free, moddable and collaboratively developed with fans.

We spoke with senior programmer and project lead Steve Polge ahead of today's Twitch reveal to learn how Epic chose this path, what the developer thinks players want from a modern arena shooter and what "free" really means.

The next Unreal Tournament is a product of Epic's plans for Unreal Engine 4. In March 2014, the developer and software creator announced a new business model: Unreal Engine 4 is available to all for a $19 monthly subscription. Just this week, Epic released the software's development roadmap. A more affordable engine developed in public means more potential creators, a central focus of the upcoming game.
Must Read
Watch Epic's just-released Unreal Engine 4 in action

"For years, we’ve wanted to reboot Unreal Tournament, but we knew we had to do it in concert with developers and the mod community, and in an environment that sets them up with the proper tools to make it happen," Polge told Polygon. "Given the recent launch of UE4, we think this is the right time to move forward."

Epic's goal is to develop the game in public and in collaboration with players and development students who can begin their involvement with the game today in Epic's forums, where the company is ready to talk about design and more.

"Our first development goal is to get a basic version of Unreal Tournament deathmatch up and running to provide a basis for iteration and further development," Polge said.

"If you’re a member of the UE4 community, you can participate or just follow our progress on the live GitHub fork. You can also get started extending or modding the code as it becomes functional."

Epic will discuss design questions in the forums and Twitch streams, and Polge said that the "decision process will be inclusive and transparent. Players will be able to make their voice heard, and participate meaningfully in setting the direction of development. We will release playable alpha versions and use those to get hands-on feedback from players as well."

The Unreal Tournament series made its debut in 1999, with Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal Tournament 2004 and 2007's Unreal Tournament 3 (pictured above) following. Epic employees began teasing the new game last week. The PC shooter ecosystem has changed since Unreal Tournament's last incarnation, but Polge believes that there's a "need" for the kind of competitive shooter that Epic can provide.

"Unreal Tournament still has a lot of passionate fans," he said. "We think there’s a real need in today’s PC FPS community for a modern competitive shooter that brings back the kind of pure, fast action, skill-based gameplay for which the series is known."

""Free means free.""

Epic's decision to build the game in public isn't the only change that reflects the passage of time. Unreal Tournament will be free — but not free-to-play, according to the developer.

"Free means free — no microtransactions," he said. "Just free."

When asked how Epic will earn income with a free game, Polge said that Unreal Tournament will "eventually" have a marketplace where modders can post and give away or sell their maps, mods and other content.

That is Epic's broad vision for the future of Unreal Tournament. Today's announcement constitutes the earliest stages of the upcoming game, which doesn't yet have a release date — though when it does, it'll be a product of Epic and a community of Unreal Tournament fans clamoring to play the game and completely free to anyone else who steps inside of the arena.

"While we’re in early development, all of the ongoing work will be available live to the Unreal Engine 4 development community in source code form" Polge said. "We expect it will take several months to get to a point where there’s a downloadable, playable alpha version available for gamers.

"From that point forward, it will be live, constantly updated and available to everyone."

**notorious bum** · 2014-05-08 14:53

Missed this shit, thanks for the updates! Sounds good to me, but I guess they aren't going to fuck with consoles anytime soon.

**Guyverarmor** · 2014-05-08 17:41

Totally getting this !

**Cantih** · 2014-05-08 21:54

As a non-shooter person, whatever.
As a crowdsourcing/marketization follower, FUCK YEAH!

**Aevis** · 2014-05-09 03:13

Wow, it looks like someone at Epic just woke up one morning and had one of the most brilliant marketing ideas ever. First they shook the dev scene by making UE affordable for everyone. Then create their new prestige UE demo aka UT and make it open source. On top of that add a marketplace to lure in the remaining devs/modders who still cling onto CryEngine/Unity/etc.

Best of it, we gamers sit on top of that candy mountain!

**Tajin** · 2014-05-10 12:50

Didntread.jpeg is this based on UT2K4? Onslaught plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Edit: Didread.jpeg oh they will be doing it all from scratch. well here is hoping they add onslaught

**Kelenae** · 2014-05-10 14:09

Originally Posted by Tajin

Didntread.jpeg is this based on UT2K4? Onslaught plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Edit: Didread.jpeg oh they will be doing it all from scratch. well here is hoping they add onslaught

If not, then hopefully someone mods that in.

Played so much UT back when i was in HS.. was pretty good. Now.. i dont know =p

**notorious bum** · 2014-05-14 00:29

Unreal Tournament's original composers could return to series

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/05/13/un...urn-to-series/

Last week, we were excited to learn that Epic Games is developing a new Unreal Tournament. If you’re nostalgic for the first-person arena shooter series there are a few audible cues that will immediately transport you back to 1999. The announcer yelling “M-M-M-M-MONSTER KILL,” for example, or maybe the music track for the iconic Facing Worlds map. The composers of the latter, it seems, might return to the new Unreal Tournament.

The original composers were Michiel van den Bos and Alexander Brandon. If they do end up working on the next game we’ll have to thank members of the Unreal Engine forums. Following Epic’s announcement last Thursday, the community reached out to van den Bos, telling him he should get involved.

Eventually, he appeared on the forums and asked if there was really that much interest. The fans responded with enthusiasm, but the important part is that Epic programmer and the lead on the new Unreal Tournament Steven Polge said he’d be “thrilled” to have van den Bos and Brandon could contribute to the project.

The last post by van den Bos says that it’s really a question of timing. Hopefully they can work out the details so we can get a new version of Foregone Destruction:

**6souls** · 2014-05-22 08:21

Epic desires eSports to pick up on this

Epic Games plans to created a balanced, deeper open-sourced shooter with Unreal Tournament, and the free, moddable, game developed in tangent with the players may eventually go the eSports route.

Speaking with PC Gamer, senior programmer Steve Polge said the particular development model being used will build a much better balanced and finely tuned game, which Epic feels is “vital to the long-term success of a competitive shooter.”

“It’s already evident that there are many players contributing to our design discussions that have a thorough understanding of game mechanics and balance issues,” he said. “Their contributions will help make Unreal Tournament’s gameplay deeper and more balanced than any past title.

“In addition, having a large audience of developers and fans continuously playtesting the game and providing feedback will have a massive impact on our ability to make sure all elements of the game are well-balanced for a wide range of skill levels.”

Epic are going to start with Deathmatch and team modes for the new UT, and once a polished, updated version of arena Deathmatch and team game modes are created, vehicle-based combat will be implemented.

Longer term, Polge said Epic would “love to support UT as an eSport game.”

“We’ll need the community’s help in designing and implementing many of the features that implies, like advanced match spectating, broadcasting and livestreaming,” he said.

http://www.vg247.com/2014/05/22/unre...pport-esports/
http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/05/21/un...ent-interview/