The Unreal Engine is modular. Epic rewrites different parts of it, but it is still the same engine. As such, there are no concrete versions, only numbered "builds" which may or may not contain certain features. Licensees eventually stop merging builds from Epic, but often continue incrementing the build number on their own (instead of the specific "Licensee Version" number), so occasionally disparities arise, as you'll see with Unreal Tournament 2003. Also, with the exception of America's Army, Epic's release of a game marks the first game of that generation engine. AA was the first licensee product to ship before Epic's product of that generation engine.
The Unreal Engine is often incorrectly referred to as the "UT2003 Engine", "U2 Engine", "Unreal Warfare Engine" or similar. These names usually originate from the first game released by Epic on the new engine.
The engine itself is named Unreal Engine N for Nth-generation Unreal Engine.
The "Unreal Warfare" name the original origins of this name are both vague and confusing. At one point, "Unreal Warfare" was a code name for a project Epic was working on - whether this project was a game or a build of the engine itself is still unclear. Theories vary: some think that this was merely the codename for the Onslaught gametype implemented in UT2004, while others believe it's the original code name for Gears of War. On a related note, Epic is adding a gametype to UT3 that has been referred to as both "Unreal Warfare" and "Conquest," though Epic representatives have been quick to note that the final gametype name is not set in stone.
Builds versions of the Unreal Engine
- Builds 1~613 = First Generation Unreal Engine
- Builds 633~3369 = Second Generation Unreal Engine
- Builds 3376~developing = Third Generation Unreal Engine
Generation of the Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine 1
also known as: First Generation Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine 2
also known as: Second Generation Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine 3
also known as: Third Generation Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine 4
also known as: Fourth Generation Unreal Engine
Related Topics
- Unreal Engine
- UnrealEd Versions
- Powered by Unreal Technology - The offical page for the Unreal Engine.
- Epic's list of Announced and Released projects using the Unreal Engine.
- Unreal Development Network – The official support site for Unreal Engine real-time technology.