The Unreal Engine, a game-creation toolkit developed by Epic and used to develop a wide range of games from Clive Barker’s Undying in 2001 to the truly terrible Thief in 2014, is one of the standard game creation engines out there. You can see the list of all games created using the engine at the related Wikipedia page.

If you’ve ever wondered how games are made, or if you ever wanted to dabble in game creation, then today is your lucky day. The Unreal Engine 4 is now available for free download. You’ll have to register, but there are no costs associated with it, and it has a MASSIVE amount of features.

All games run on an engine, some on multiple engines, and there are many (the most popular alternative for the general public and small developers to use has so far been the Unity engine, and you can learn much more about its current feature set here). The engine controls how you interact with the world and how things appear, and it’s possible to have separate engines all controlling something different. For example, there can be a lighting engine, a physics engine, a sound engine, a particle engine, and many others. Here is an example of the Creation Engine, and advanced version of the Gamebryo Engine, used to develop The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, controlling the properties of thousands of cheese wheels rolling down a hill (really. Watch the video, you won’t be disappointed).

If you look at the about page of the new Unreal Engine, you can see everything it can do. Very advanced features, including everything from particle effects to compatibility with the latest Direct X capabilities, a landscaping system for creating outdoor areas and access to the source code (remember our discussion of open-source?). You can even beta test the latest version of Unreal Tournament.

Even with all that, the most important part of the engine in my opinion is what Epic refers to as the Blueprint System, which allows for actions and content scripting without the need for coding. You can use the engine to create small 2D mobile games or ultra-complex first-person experiences, and it can handle everything in between.

Blueprint scripting in Unreal Engine 4

IF you actually publish a game or app, you will have to share 5 percent of the profits after the first $3,000, but other than that you can dabble to your heart’s content. The cheese wheel video is compelling, but if you really want to see the incredible things, and effects, Unreal Engine 4 can do, here is a demo video that will knock you out. Note some of the subtle yet impressive effects like Level of Detail. Very impressive. Let us know what you create!