The History of Unreal Tournament (Part One)

Epic Games Inc. was founded in Rockville, Maryland in 1991. Then known as Epic MegaGames, Inc., the company was the brainchild of Programmer Tim Sweeney, who was soon joined by James Schmalz (programmer), Mark Rein (marketing / 'biz') and Cliff Bleszinski (designer). Early research for what would become Unreal began in mid-1994 and continued on until the complete development team was formed. By this time, James had left Epic to create Digital Extremes, based north of the border in Canada. However collaboration between Epic and DE continued and was instrumental in forming the Unreal brand.

Digital Extremes (Headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada) was founded in 1993. Early work resulted in the shareware phenomenon Epic Pinball, which was released 10 months after development began, was delivered exactly on time and soon became a huge success. Epic Pinball was one of the most successful shareware games ever made, trailing only behind such industry greats as Duke3D, Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. A sequel soon followed - Extreme Pinball -- and together they helped fund what would soon be one of the industry's blockbuster franchises, Unreal® and Unreal Tournament.

1996 Unreal is signed to GT Interactive as publisher, and full development begins.

1997 Jay Wilbur joins the team as "Imperial Advisor", working with Mark on the 'Biz' side of things and bringing his experience as a founder member of id software (Doom, Quake).

1997 Steven Polge joins the programming team with a specialty in AI. Steven came to Epic's attention through the creation of the famous "Reaper bot" for Quake.

1998 Unreal is published. It goes on to define the leading edge of 3D technology, introducing to the first person shooter (FPS) genre such new features as fully dynamic lighting, volumetric and atmospheric lighting, what-you-see-is-what-you-get development tools, a next-generation scripting language, and extraordinary customizability.

The gaming community was blown away by Unreal's look. Huge outdoor environments, stunning scenery and clever enemy AI set the standard for others to follow. Unreal also introduced the Skaarj to the world - a race of powerful alien warriors who would appear in future Unreal games and who are now in some ways the "poster-boys" for the Unreal brand (their wrist blades provided inspiration for the original Unreal logo).

1999 Unreal Tournament is published. UT was created specifically to quench the thirst of gamers hooked on the new phenomenon of "Deathmatch". At first, many are skeptical over the lack of a standard story line or linear single player experience - but UT soars in popularity both for LAN play and on the Internet.

The gaming community praised Unreal Tournament for its unnerving artificial intelligence (demonstrated by "bots" in single player mode), network code and challenging and fun gameplay modes - deathmatch, capture the flag, assault and domination. Awards were plentiful and Unreal Tournament became the most popular online first person shooter.

2002 Unreal Tournament 2003 hits the shelves. This time, most of the work was undertaken by DE, while Epic concentrated on advancing the Unreal Engine for future products. Again, the Unreal series sets the benchmark for graphics and the new Tournament adds innovative game play features such as combo moves and double-jump.

2003 The story will continue with the launch of Unreal Tournament 2004.

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[TeHHeavyWeaponSGuy]

they must remake unreal 1 its awesome game

[xan1242]

why they dont make unreal 3?

[boomerang2455]

4:39

I want this so bad..

[georgianpornostyle]

@boomerang2455

i mean they must make it free! i lack comma :D

[boomerang2455]

@georgianpornostyle

Free?

[georgianpornostyle]

2k4 is the best free UT2004 for everyone

[Izahdnb]

Assault mode was SO awesome!

[aithanjames]

@xan1242 i think cause unreal 2 didnt get good enough ratings

[UnrealSpeck]

I have set up online servers as well as a STEAM GROUP to set up matches for Unreal Tournament 1999, 2004, and 3. My User Name: BigSpeck - Steam Group Name: Speck's Unreal /V/idya. Add me on your friends list,So I can contact you when I set up a few matches. You don't need the steam version to play , but having steam makes it easier to know when a match is up.

Give this comment a thumbs up so that everyone can know and relive the glory days of UT!

Message me on youtube for a link to the group!

[willworrior]

This games rock!

[Queeg500RD]

@davidgahan217 Glad you got it :)