UT2003 was seriously rushed.
I was suprised there were so few game types. Double Domination is incredible, but they didn't even include the original domination.
I think for the people with the money behind this game, it was not a game but a engine licensing cash cow that they had to get out right away.
Much like Quake3, UT2003 seems to be designed to show off the new engine more than anything else.
I think I read some time ago that during the first couple of years, Quake3 was a $1,000,000.00 engine lease.
Ummm:
Heavy Metal
Star Trek Voyager
Start Trek Voyager II (comming out later - still on the Q3 engine)
Soldier of Fortune
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Alice
Medal Of Honor
Hexen II (I think it was)
Star Wars Jedi Knight II
I think I'm missing something - but that's 9 engine leases. And I know the original Unreal engine had just as many leases.
How much of UT2003 was for the gamer, and how much of it was geared to the game maker ???
Why did they rush it out the door? They had 3 months until Christmas and nothing could compete with it unless Doom3 was released at the same time...
Is someone looking for a game engine right now and they wanted UT2003 out NOW ? Did UT2003's early release have anything to do with the release of the ATI 9700 (which just barely got up to a presense on retail shelves right before the UT2K3 release).
Ahh.. whatever
