Daggerfall Workshop Forums

https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1295434558112960519

Epic says that included in the tools that Apple will revoke is the Unreal Engine that hundreds of third party developers use. "Apple’s actions will irreparably damage Epic’s reputation among Fortnite users and be catastrophic for the future of the separate Unreal Engine business"

Going forward, this will make the Unreal Engine unviable for developers that intend to release software on Apple platforms.

For several years now, people have asked why DFU was made in Unity and not Unreal.

We sure got lucky on that one, didn't we? (I'm aware this could still go either way, but we're lucky to not be affected by this)

Yikes, that's messy all around. I'm guessing this will end in a compromise somewhere, they both have too much to lose if it keeps escalating.

I just feel sad for the everyday people who will be damaged by this. Game devs and non-game devs alike using Unreal in the Apple ecology could lose their livelihoods because a job or income is dependent on these two giant businesses getting along. Lots of vulnerable people right now already struggling and this could hurt them more.

For my part, I made the choice for Unity based on key criteria like C# and free download, and Unreal had neither in early 2015 (Unreal required a monthly sub back then, and still no C# today). But one key factor had nothing to do with the engine itself, rather the huge development community already surrounding it. At the time, Unity had a developer pool over 5 million strong (even more now). I was betting that if just .01% of that population were Daggerfall fans then I'm more likely to find contributors who knew the engine or could learn it quickly. I wanted a network effect and nothing else came close. Any engine can put pixels on the screen, but only one of them had real community to build from. I think even today, nothing comes close in terms of features and global adoption.

Even if Unity fails someday, enough of DFU's code is just straight C# with little to no touch on Unity engine. It could be ported to something like Godot with generally minor frustrations. There would be struggles of course, but certainly less than what was required to bring the game into existence in the first place. Anyone that ports DFU to another engine - and I think that will happen someday - are starting from a highly elevated position with all the really hard work done. Which engine is putting pixels on the screen at the end of the day is boring and unimportant. It's the people who really matter.

Yes, a bit short-sighted of me to say "we" won't be affected by this. It's going to be an ugly battle, with a lot of losers, unfortunately.

Ah yes, closed platform problems. I wish we lived in a normal world, where manufacturer sells a piece of hardware and after that it is none of manufacturer's business who uses it and how.