Unreal Dev Grants Awarded to UT Contributors

[Mitch Mitchell]

LINK

Let me get this straight...the winners of the Mapcore competition top five just got an additional $5k each/$25K combined?

Just clarifying, because this is the first I heard about this and have not seen any notifications about this anywhere. It does seem a little odd they didn't give any $ to the people who created maps which were already included in the official deployment.

So, no $ for existing (official) contributors and no notifications about the intentions of Epic Games regarding contributors and payments. At least, I didn't hear about it, but as always stand to be corrected if I missed something...

[blackdog]

I posted about the grants awarded to mappers in the UE4 topic the other day after the stream.

I only very quickly double checked, because I wanted to compliment our mappers, but from what I saw the grants have been awarded to mappers of the community, not the Mapcore contest

[Mitch Mitchell]

8 minutes ago, blackdog said:

I posted about the grants awarded to mappers in the UE4 topic the other day after the stream.

I only very quickly double checked, because I wanted to compliment our mappers, but from what I saw the grants have been awarded to mappers of the community, not the Mapcore contest

DM-Unsaved - won the competition.

DM-Batrankus - one of the top five.

Nato_ChrisJM - last place, I believe, even though their awarded map was something else.

Payback - Don't think they had a map available in time, or didn't submit...not sure.

Scinbed - DM-Croft

So, I think Payback was the only one who didn't actually take part and Nato's comp map wasn't what won the grant.

[blackdog]

Yes, 2 maps weren't in the contest, so doesn't seem they picked just the competition ones to be awarded.

Also who knows they didn't give a grant-minus-prize value.

Even if was on top, what's the problem? These people have put a lot of work in it after the contest, working directly with Epic. And anyone can apply for grants, so if you have something looking good apply

[Mitch Mitchell]

I guess that's kinda the thing. You have to apply, yet they didn't apply and just got the $ handed to them.

It came from nowhere, and is really about Epic than the mappers - I suppose I am questioning the decision making process by Epic. They already had two mappers with maps included in their product, yet did not give them anything from the grant money. Why was this? They ignore them, yet, those who took part in a competition and were awarded $ they give more $ ?

[blackdog]

I haven't looked into the application since I'm not creating content… but maybe they haven't included maps until this point? From the talk on the stream, or just the concept of the grant, I would have expected them to look for games, not content for UT.

Also sure they are not reaching out to these other mappers that have had maps included? Maybe they proper bought the maps?

[Sprony]

On 18-11-2016 at 4:07 PM, Mitch Mitchell said:

I guess that's kinda the thing. You have to apply, yet they didn't apply and just got the $ handed to them.

It came from nowhere, and is really about Epic than the mappers - I suppose I am questioning the decision making process by Epic. They already had two mappers with maps included in their product, yet did not give them anything from the grant money. Why was this? They ignore them, yet, those who took part in a competition and were awarded $ they give more $ ?

I'm not speaking for Epic and I'm sure that @2d-chris can correct me if I'm wrong. But the two mappers who had their maps included were already working together with Epic for a long time. Epic has constantly reached out to the community to support anything they saw potential in. We also stated that in the UT contest rules:

Quote

Depending on the quality of entries, and work required to take the levels to release quality, Epic will evaluate the possibility of adding winning entries into the Marketplace or the game. Epic will work directly with the designers on any issues that need resolving (similar to dm­lea and ctf­pistola).

So, this to me, seems a natural progression from what's posted above.

[Mitch Mitchell]

I've asked them how you apply for a grant, just curious...because I'm not convinced anyone actually applied for a grant.

[blackdog]

There's a page on the website... i'm sure is very easy to find.

From the YT stream they sounded like Epic came forward to support the mappers, and I think is great news for everyone because it's a recognisement of merit beyond anything I've seen in hobbyst game development (other than when Valve bought mods or rewarding with the Operations). And they were incredibly encouraging in saying anyone who thinks who has something cool, should apply. And if they don't get the grant, they are welcome to apply again when they make progress.

I totally understand what happened can seem dodgy or unfair, but I think we should look at the bright side!

Edited November 22, 2016 by blackdog

[Mitch Mitchell]

Oh, if you can apply for a grant with Epic Games to get $5K to design an Unreal Tournament Map, then I completely agree with you: it is great news and a great day for mappers the world over. Gamers, too.

If you can't apply for a grant to design an Unreal Tournament map, yet Epic Games will hand out money to whomever they see fit, and only did this to get more people playing UT4alpha because numbers are low...then it's not great news.

Anyway, I've got the question of how to apply for creating an Unreal Tournament 4 map out there, so we'll see how they respond to that. Appreciate your answer on the grant application process, but this specifically was not covered in the streams or documentation I've seen.

Apologies for the run-on sentences and split infinitives.

[blackdog]

Understand what you mean… dunno as I'm not looking into the application process, I assumed there was an option as I  think to understand they gave some money to community members working on weapons and items that are being used in the game. Not sure if that's happening, if is result of application or is arbitrary.

 whatever it is I think is incredibly positive and very nice of Epic to support community.

If you're planning to contribute to UT only for money reasons, than I'd say you're in for the wrong reason and you should look elsewhere, because even if you could apply for a grant, that entails a selection process so no guarantees of getting any return.

[Mitch Mitchell]

5 hours ago, blackdog said:

Understand what you mean… dunno as I'm not looking into the application process, I assumed there was an option as I  think to understand they gave some money to community members working on weapons and items that are being used in the game. Not sure if that's happening, if is result of application or is arbitrary.

 whatever it is I think is incredibly positive and very nice of Epic to support community.

If you're planning to contribute to UT only for money reasons, than I'd say you're in for the wrong reason and you should look elsewhere, because even if you could apply for a grant, that entails a selection process so no guarantees of getting any return.

Always need a selection process, always.

That is one of the things I am asking: what were/are the conditions for handing over a cut of $25K? How did/does Epic Games make such a determination? Who was involved? Who nearly got a cut, but didn't? And why? What is it they could have done to be part of the cut? This way, there is no confusion or misunderstanding regarding any remuneration, earnt or given; awarded or won.

See the problem?

If it's a clearly defined set of rules, which are not guidelines, recommendations or muddy provisos; then people willing to contribute will do so, regardless of remuneration. Mandatory not advisory. A red sign, not a blue one. They are not giving out money for no reason, surely? To do so would undermine the intention of having content created, and draw more people. So...what are the reasons? What is the criteria? If the reasons are wholly and indeterminate, then the community contributors, involved in all manner of contribution from coding to logos (the current contributor for the main logo, didn't get a cut) and then there are bug hunters, testers, music and sound-FX composers, server admins etc, would not know what they are meant to provide. Yet, all of these talented and passionate people didn't get a dime?

The only people who did get a cut were (awesome) mappers. There are people who have contributed, who were not selected for this cut, who have submitted maps, which Epic games have included as part of their game - so...reasons? If it was clear, this would not be an eyebrow-raiser for me. It's not, though. It's out-of-the-blue, unadvertised injection without any premedication.

If you are going to hand money over to your community (no pressure for any company to do this) then you absolutely-positively need a selection process, independently verified and checked prior to handing over $. To not do so, alienates your target audience. This forum is full of very intelligent and insightful people, I do not need to explain the negativity of alienating your audience through reverse passive-aggressive behaviour.

Also, as a side-note, I am very interested in whether one can apply for a grant, as this is something which would be great to see on these forums, no? Maybe some colab, involving Skype/discord - wouldn't that be cool? Get a Mapcore team together? Sweet-Jesus, it would be Epic. Pun in-ten-ded. I would also believe (as I'm sure many do) that if Epic Games start handing over $ to teams of people in a grant manner, then other games (the new Quake immediately springs to mind) could start something in the minds of developers. Am I just singing from the rooftops, with my voice being drowned in a chorus of cats? Or did level design paradigms and maxims suddenly turn into a study of office-based Lotka–Volterra?

Always need a selection process 'sir, always.