On January 17th of 2023, Unreal Engine Marketplace team decided unexpectedly to delete Questions and Review pages from all marketplace product pages. Reasons are stated on the linked UE forum thread.

A lot of sellers and customers alike are raising concerns and complaining about multiple implications of this sudden move. The lost of information that was poured on these pages during years is massive, and these resources were extremely useful for both customers and sellers to make better decisions about what to purchase or give support to buyers.

For the time being, I encourage all customers to visit Orbital Market. This site is an alternative front-end to the classic marketplace, and you'll be able to find Questions and Reviews page like before:

Note that I'm not in any way afiliated to this marketplace frontend, and additionally, they're suffering a sudden influx of new users in the search of the missing tabs, so you can expect some slow-downs, even downtimes. And well, Hugo: thank you so much for alleviate this situation with this excellent front-end!

This event is currently under development and we're expecting an answer very soon from UE Marketplace team. I'll update this page accordingly with the latest development.

And I'd suggest that if you're not agree with the latest change, let them know in this thread!

Update: 20/01/23

Questions and Reviews tabs have been restored!

Nice one!

Edit: This piece was planned to be published few weeks ago (Dec 2021), but unfortunatelly I couldn't make it in time. So here I go!

Can't complain about this year*. I've done a bunch of freelance jobs and I'm really looking forward to disclose all the stuff that I've been doing. I also had the enormous luck to work with excellent people that never failed me one single time. I hope they feel the same with my work :)

Meanwhile these NDA's comes to an end and they release their projects, I wanted to write a small piece about the crypto currencies, NFTs and how they are being entangled on the video games and creators industry

During the second half of this year*, I've been contacted by a lot of crypto currencies related projects. They all shared at least one, if not all of these set of features:

• The organization where created few months ago. Therefore, its social media exposure was very short in time and not related to common game development forums or 3d marketplaces, etc.
• The pace of art stuff they need is "fast". They are also able to fuel with money this pace if needed.
• They seem to have a very low, if any, prior experience in the game development ecosystem, yet they use terms and notions vaguely to set some ground. 
• They have its own crypto token running on a blockchain (namely ethereum.. erc20..), or simply, they're planning to resell the artwork as NFTs.

Now on the targets of these organizations, you can find a true plethora of mostly unrealizable ideas about time travel, universal currencies, visit mars, or just feed some random pet. (not that visit mars is unrealizable, but if it happens, will not be thanks to a token)

All of that, salted with intriguing terms like tokenomics, little papers, burning, minting..

As a result, I've stopped working with crypto-based organizations.

Good luck explaining that to a boomer.

Don´t get me wrong. 

I'm convinced about the relevant stage that cryptos will reach in the near future. These are perfect for an eventual upgrade from old fiat money to an universally accepted kind of currency not supported by physical elements like bank notes and coins (I'm deliberately setting appart other considerations like central banks suply control or tracking money laundering, so take it as a lightweight point of view)  The value of the crypto industry is in ATH and surely it will rise even more in the near future as aceptance is increased by people and goverments alike. But right now there are plenty of mines to be avoided and lots of "real" money is being thrown to these crazy experiments. Losses can be really damaging to small economies, and lots of young people with more passion than brain are dumping their savings on this complicated, furious and changing landscape.

Your mileage may vary, but just to note that they're playing with old, yet bulletproof  tactics inherited from gambling industries during years. Endless chains of memes with lambos, "to the moon".. A lot of laws to prevent gambling addiction (and protect our children from these tactics) has been released during years, but unfortunatelly, in the wild west and the frenzy gold rush that is taking place, there's no law yet.  Its impossible to surveil every crazy NFT based and token project to verify if they adhere to any code of conduct. Meanwhile, they're thriving to gather lots of followers and fuel the "meme" economy, to rug-pull (or crash in the most cases).

Now, tagging all of this as a giant scam is a gross simplification of the phenomenon. Ubisoft is about to pull the trigger, following the notes that EA and other players have been publishing about the support of NFTs in their gaming ecosystem. These players should lead a correct implementation of all this technology to create a safe and healthy ecosystem to creators and players alike.

But for the time being. I realize that it is merely wishful thinking. Let's see how christmas season soften my sharp corners.

That was exciting! By 30th April, afternoon at GMT+1 (some would say closed night, but I'm spaniard, right? I dinner very late. period) this came to my usual feeds:

https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/artstation-is-now-part-of-epic-games

My dream job: meme maker. Now you know why I'm not making a living from that.

original pic by Lothar Dieterich @ Pixabay

Epic opened up its wallet and purchased the most important platform for artist to promote its work. Kind of a linkedin for Artists. Rushed by a teenager flavoured excitement, I went to epic's forum to ask for new features like a stronger integration between stores (life of quality improvements for poor salesman like me).

Then I got an answer from a fellow seller covered with a dark tone that raised my eyebrows (at first). The most relevant quote was about "..Everybody (being) still upset by the acquisition of Substances by Adobe and what came after they did". and literally "The less things changes, the better". 

Merge, acquisition, and similar procedures are done on a daily basis. The ones that reach mass media are obviously the bigger ones (microsoft & linkedin & github, Facebook & Whatsapp.. to cite few). And they are really interesting movements because it points very clearly why the whale moves. Sometimes the whale wants to eat a competitor, or just to acquire some new technology that finds interesting for its grow strategy.. these movements are deeply scrutinized by institutions and governments alike to watch out for a possible damaging disruption in the market. I know that these lasts lines are wishful thinking, but for the purpose of this piece, lets pretend that and move on. 

Returning to the specifics of Artstation being acquired by Epic, I cann't stop thinking how much relevant is this movement. Let's process this: they purchased the most important portfolio and promotion platform for artists. Now Epic can get UP TO DATE, MASSIVE DATA regarding to creative industry, the most relevant artistic genres and styles.. and much more. They're ready to know almost in beforehand what will be the next art style to be on the spot.

Nice one Epic!, that was a smart move. About the consequences, I'm not ready to make predictions, but there are a lot of people that directly foresee this change as potentially dangerous or damaging on a diffuse way. Adobe case was even more passionate with lots of strong discussions going back and forth..

Let me say that I'm a substance painter user from the beginning. I love the workflow, and the good apples outweighs by large the bad ones. so not everyone is still upset. I'm not upset at all, just the opposite. If Adobe knocks my door with a hefty sum, I can sell my bussiness any day. because the most important word is bussiness. We're competing on a bussiness environment, that doesn't care a dime about your passion, preferences, old grievances against Adobe or whatever. Adobe wants to take seat on the 3d content creation teatre. The best they can pay. Meanwhile I can see that old substance subscription model is going out, and they're introducing the expensive adobe way. But make no mistake. There are strong competitors willing to fish all they can of substance users that cann't afford a expensive subscription model. And I'm ready to check em all to select my next texturing tool if my current substance painter perpetual licensed version is not competitive anymore. But I'm not upset, I'm just trying to move along the flow, and why not, improve my skills at the same time.

This Epic purchase is neither the last, nor the first on a long road that will surprise us with big movements. But "the less things changes, the better." attitude is very worriesome. Brain is our best allied, and a strong enemy sometimes. He likes to keep things as they are because he's on a seeking comfort routine almost 24/7. Don't fall on that. You're a small fish, swim along the whale, not on a wrong way. Embrace the change as an oportunity, not as a threat. 

I can only say that this acquisition makes the most of senses to me, and I'm very ready to try improve my position, as a member of both platforms. Did I said I'm running a bussiness? yeah, I'm a 3d content creator that wants to maximize its profit and purchase the tools that makes me competitive and gives me an edge over my pals. Now change the bold text with your occupation. If you're a giant videogames and media company, I guess the quote is still relevant. 

My take away is not exempt of side effects, take a look at this piece from Alex Tardif about in-house game engines vs UE, Unity..  It's a bit technical, but suffice to understand that it's equally damaging to the landscape to have everyone upset, that just the opposite, to have everyone in the same boat.

Whales also don't want things to change, they want to keep feeding themselves just opening the mouth.

But for now, I'll stay along the whale.

From time to time, I find people that throws very passionate opinions about the lack of original content and a general feeling of "cheapness" if someone uses pre-made assets that everyone can potentially own on their projects.

Meanwhile I cann't agree most of times (well, I'm a creator, and seller of these kind of assets), sometimes it touches very legit bases. And I do know how frustrating, time consuming, and lots of emotional energy are invested on creating a project (big or small, videogames, prototypes.. you name it)

Maybe you, as the project manager or lone indie dev, are also compeled to build all of it from scratch! even the engine!. And these kind of journeys are statistically very brave to put it softly.

To all of you, I can only say: much respect, and wish you the best of outcomes. 

Now, if you have a more "pragmatic" aproach to this field, then, using premade assets (being 3d assets, frameworks, whatever tool to help you on that).. is a must!, specially if you're having budget constraints, tight deadlines and a very small team (99% of the real gamedev world, hello!).

Because videogames needs to be funny, first and foremost, and later, you can add visuals, mechanics, sfxs. And using custom assets or premade ones will not make the difference on that first checkbox. I bet that PUBG is so funny that having pre-made trees, tables, etc.. doesn't make a mark on the big success of this game. Sure that would be better to have custom trees and so.. maybe. But we're not dealing with UBISOFT, EA.. that have virtually unlimited resources and a small army of 3d artists focused to create all the stuff. They're playing on another league, don't try it if you don't have tens of millions in a bank and willing to spend.

So, my answer on this is rather simple: do it! purchase content to help you to archieve your goals!, but on a good measure.. 

let me explain:

• Don't abuse, try to avoid to fill your project with pre-made assets, find a good balance between custom stuff and pre-made assets. If you fill your project with too much pre-made content, then, you're essentially making a showcase of other's work. 
• Find areas of low interest (like trees, stones, tables.. not hero assets!) and leverage your pre-made stuff there.
• Try to add some customization to textures and so, that will make wonders and definitively add a custom look to the prefabs.

Other use cases that I find particulary interesting to use pre-made assets:

• You're developing an internal prototype, so you're not publishing that stuff. Then, go ahead and use some exciting stuff rather than included classic meshes
• You're tired to see the same assets (hey Epic Mannequin, you rocks but after thousand of hours, I'm a bit tired to see you there), and you can use another placeholder character, until you develop your custom. bad ass character. This also can help you to be more "character" agnostic meanwhile develop your game mechanics.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to go ahead and purchase some pre-made stuff. I can only backup my words being one of the most cost effective sellers on the marketplaces. Not because I don't think these are cheap assets (some of then have would cost $2.000 or more if were a custom exclusive character),  but because I know how bloody difficult is to develop a project, and I'm commited to make my stuff totallty afordable to not be a source of finantial stress. "Many are called but few are the choosen" unfortunatelly, so lets make the bag lighter, shall we?