At the 2023 edition of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Epic Games held a State of Unreal event to showcase some of its new technological capabilities.
Here’s a breakdown of everything announced by the creators of Fortnite, and more:
Unreal Editor for Fortnite out now in Public Beta
The company’s biggest announcement revolves around its most popular title, Fortnite. For the past five years, players have been able to create their own Islands for a variety of game modes and experiences.
Epic Games has now taken that concept to the next level with the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). It enables players on the popular Battle Royale title to create content for the game by using “Unreal Editor’s development workflows and proven PC-based toolset.” The editor uses a new programming language called Verse, which is being designed for the metaverse.
Players can now expand their horizons with UEFN to create more immersive Islands with experiences that are unparalleled. UEFN is currently available in Public Beta.
Beyond has been working in #UEFN for the past few months and @kurmay3d and Paulo Corona have prepared two impressive demos that showcase the power of UEFN! This is just the beginning, and we’re excited to unveil more of what we’ve been working on in the upcoming months. pic.twitter.com/EudKokuPsZ
— BeyondCreative (@BeyondFN) March 22, 2023
New ways to earn money with Creator Economy 2.0
At GDC, Epic Games also announced Creator Economy 2.0, With it, Island developers can find monetary success with their UEFN creations.
The new system will now allow for distribution 40% of the net revenue from Fortnite Item Shop and purchases to developers, who create Islands with new experiences for players.
Introduction of Fab – A new 3D marketplace
Epic Games has also announced that it will unify its various assets marketplace into one unified experience called Fab. The new 3D marketplace will see the unification of platforms like Unreal Engine Marketplace, Sketchfab, Quixel Bridge, and the ArtStation Marketplace.
The new marketplace will allow creators to earn an 88% revenue share for their creations. Fab will feature assets such as 3D models, materials, sound, VFX, digital humans, and more. An Alpha version of Fab is currently in the works with Epic Games, they are planning to launch the full experience later this year.
If you can dream it, you can build it. https://t.co/VUuICbC3z6 pic.twitter.com/NJ5y2Pf4BI
— Fab (@fab) March 22, 2023
Epic Games teases new additions for Unreal Engine 5.2
Unreal Engine 5 has been a huge success for Epic Games, with the company claiming that 77% of users have moved to the latest edition of the popular game engine.
The company further teased what to expect from the new Unreal 5.2 version. This includes the arrival of a new experimental feature called Substrate. It is a new shading system, which allows users to “achieve levels of fidelity and quality not possible before in real time.”
Another experimental feature making its way with UE 5.2 is a new in-editor and run-time Procedural Content Generation (PCG) tool. This will help users to add rules and parameters to “quickly populate expansive, highly detailed spaces that are art-directable in manner.”
Check out this demo highlighting the new features of Unreal Engine 5.2:
This Jungle Drive tech demo for Unreal Engine 5.2 is absolutely gorgeous. pic.twitter.com/tJzlmHVAIg
— IGN (@IGN) March 23, 2023
Unveiling of MetaHuman Animator
Epic Games has also announced the arrival of MetaHuman Animator, which will allow users to use facial capture to recreate high-fidelity animation on MetaHuman characters.
With this feature, users can mount an iPhone to capture footage of a human’s performance, which can later be translated into facial animation that can be used by developers in AAA titles, filmmakers, or even small indie studios as well.
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