Tim Sweeney

Not even knowing what problems we'd need to solve next because we were so immersed in the current ones.

We were always very financially stressed, so I was continually worried about that. I had total confidence that we'd work out all the technical and artistic problems, because we knew the pieces, and it was largely a matter of typing code in and solving some problems. We knew we could ship a version of it, and

We were always very financially stressed, so I was continually worried about that. I had total confidence that we'd work out all the technical and artistic problems, because we knew the pieces, and it was largely a matter of typing code in and solving some problems. We knew we could ship a version of it, and

We were always very financially stressed, so I was continually worried about that. I had total confidence that we'd work out all the technical and artistic problems, because we knew the pieces, and it was largely a matter of typing code in and solving some problems. We knew we could ship a version of it, and

The thing that was continually really interesting was the ongoing discovery of new techniques as we went. Because at the time, Quake had shipped, it had a little bit of dynamic lighting. Unreal really pushed dynamic lighting much harder than anybody else had done before. Then colored dynamic lights with some shadow casting capabilities statically, or moving lights without shadows.

The thing that was continually really interesting was the ongoing discovery of new techniques as we went. Because at the time, Quake had shipped, it had a little bit of dynamic lighting. Unreal really pushed dynamic lighting much harder than anybody else had done before. Then colored dynamic lights with some shadow casting capabilities statically, or moving lights without shadows.

The thing that was continually really interesting was the ongoing discovery of new techniques as we went. Because at the time, Quake had shipped, it had a little bit of dynamic lighting. Unreal really pushed dynamic lighting much harder than anybody else had done before. Then colored dynamic lights with some shadow casting capabilities statically, or moving lights without shadows.

figured out how to do volumetric fog, so you could have foggy areas that were full of lights, and you get the kind of glow of the lights standing out in the fog and affecting the appearance of the level. A whole lot of amazing techniques came together to build a game that made a number of leaps ahead of the state of the art at the time. Yeah, it was really crazy, but like...

figured out how to do volumetric fog, so you could have foggy areas that were full of lights, and you get the kind of glow of the lights standing out in the fog and affecting the appearance of the level. A whole lot of amazing techniques came together to build a game that made a number of leaps ahead of the state of the art at the time. Yeah, it was really crazy, but like...

figured out how to do volumetric fog, so you could have foggy areas that were full of lights, and you get the kind of glow of the lights standing out in the fog and affecting the appearance of the level. A whole lot of amazing techniques came together to build a game that made a number of leaps ahead of the state of the art at the time. Yeah, it was really crazy, but like...

I think most companies wouldn't have survived that, but the sheer talent of the people involved made it possible. Epic has often done things that most companies would have failed at, and we succeed not because of awesome management or awesome planning or awesome financing, but because of the sheer talent and willpower of the people involved to make it happen.

I think most companies wouldn't have survived that, but the sheer talent of the people involved made it possible. Epic has often done things that most companies would have failed at, and we succeed not because of awesome management or awesome planning or awesome financing, but because of the sheer talent and willpower of the people involved to make it happen.

I think most companies wouldn't have survived that, but the sheer talent of the people involved made it possible. Epic has often done things that most companies would have failed at, and we succeed not because of awesome management or awesome planning or awesome financing, but because of the sheer talent and willpower of the people involved to make it happen.

Yeah, that's one of the really unique things that exist in gaming. Not in normal big tech companies, which are just engineering and business driven, but gaming really does require all the best people across all the creative disciplines working together. And Epic had grown organically by recruiting people with awesome talent. We always had a limited budget.

Yeah, that's one of the really unique things that exist in gaming. Not in normal big tech companies, which are just engineering and business driven, but gaming really does require all the best people across all the creative disciplines working together. And Epic had grown organically by recruiting people with awesome talent. We always had a limited budget.

Yeah, that's one of the really unique things that exist in gaming. Not in normal big tech companies, which are just engineering and business driven, but gaming really does require all the best people across all the creative disciplines working together. And Epic had grown organically by recruiting people with awesome talent. We always had a limited budget.

We could never bid up people's salaries and hire them away by paying them more. We just had to find awesome people who were at the beginning of their career and put them together. So everybody was very new to this and didn't have any assumptions about how companies worked. And so you put all these people together and

We could never bid up people's salaries and hire them away by paying them more. We just had to find awesome people who were at the beginning of their career and put them together. So everybody was very new to this and didn't have any assumptions about how companies worked. And so you put all these people together and

We could never bid up people's salaries and hire them away by paying them more. We just had to find awesome people who were at the beginning of their career and put them together. So everybody was very new to this and didn't have any assumptions about how companies worked. And so you put all these people together and

It was really a constant interplay of talent as people were learning how to work together as a team. Nobody had management experience. Most people hadn't shipped a game before they worked with Epic. And we were figuring out as we went. But it was a constant iterative cycle. We'd make several new versions of the game every day.