14 DAY TRIAL // The developers from Epic Games have already expressed their interest in the Linux platform for the upcoming Unreal Engine 4, but now they've gone out of their way to explain just how important Linux is for them.
Epic Games is a company that is all too familiar with Linux and its community. The studio released Unreal Tournament 2004 for Linux at a time when no one was really giving a damn about open source as an entertainment platform. Also, the devs have always had some sort of Linux dedicated servers in place for their titles.
The reaction from the Linux community to the Unreal Engine 4 for Linux announcement has been tremendous, so Epic Games made a short list of development goals that need to be taken care of in the new engine: robust, secure, and CPU-effective Linux game servers, full-featured Linux client support, feature-rich, native Linux development tools, and tools for Windows and Mac OS improved for Linux deployment.
“When hearing about Unreal Engine 4 supporting Linux, it is easy to only think about the first three. However, if we want Linux to take off in the game development industry at large, we need a seamless integration with existing workflows of game companies, so that costs of shipping a Linux version of the game are minimized.”
“We need robust Windows and Mac OS tools that would allow anyone to target Linux by just recompiling and repackaging the project. This is also why we started out with cross-compilation and are planning to continue to support it, while also working to make native development easier,” said Dmitry Rekman in a post on the official blog.
Epic Games is the first studio that says, without any worry for the PR backlash, that they need to have powerful tools on the Windows platform so that Linux becomes a gaming powerhouse. The devs will be working with SteamOS in mind, but they will not shirk the Linux gamers who use other distributions.
The Linux community has proven itself to be very valuable and users have managed to port some of the tools before Epic Games had a chance to. The work done by the Linux devs will be implemented along the way, but what's interesting is the fact that the programmers who did the work are actually employed in other companies as well, much bigger than Epic Games.
The first game with Linux support, based on the new engine, might be Unreal Tournament, but the community could always beat Epic Games to that goal as well.