Epic Games Awards First Round Of Grants For Unreal Engine 4 Projects

Today at GDC, Epic Games announced the first recipients for the Unreal Dev Grants, a $5 million development fund to help finance innovative games and projects created with Unreal Engine 4.

Artists and developers will each receive a grant ranging between $5,000 to $50,000. Epic Games views the project as "a way to empower and foster creativity within a community of artists, programmers and designers." The selected projects for the first round of grants include Koola's architectural designs with the engine, Nuren: The New Resistance, and Dead Static Drive.

French artist Koola, who creates realistic architectural designs and outdoor scenes in Unreal Engine 4, received a grant for $18,000.

Audio engineer Jake Kaufman and artist/voice actress Jessie Seely were awarded $18,000 for their work on Nuren: The New Renaissance, a virtual reality demo.

Finally, developer Mike Blackney was given $15,000 to help fund his comic book-themed and 80's inspired horror game Dead Static Drive.

Find out more about Unreal Engine 4 and the developers using the engine in the video below.