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#467 – Tim Sweeney: Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and the Future of Gaming

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#467 – Tim Sweeney: Fortnite, Unreal Engine, and the Future of Gaming

Lex Fridman Podcast

Apr 30
Lex Fridman Podcast

Lex Fridman Podcast

Apr 30
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Tim Sweeney is a legendary video game programmer, founder and CEO of Epic Games that created the Unreal Engine, Fortnite, Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, and many other groundbreaking and influential video games. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep467-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/tim-sweeney-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Tim's X: https://x.com/timsweeneyepic Epic Games: https://epicgames.com/ SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Notion: Note-taking and team collaboration. Go to https://notion.com/lex MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts. Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drink. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (08:25) - 10,000 hours programming (11:42) - Advice for young programmers (19:54) - Video games in the 80s and 90s (22:02) - Epic Games origin story (34:40) - Indie game development (40:34) - Unreal Engine (1:06:30) - Technical details of Unreal Engine (1:11:23) - Constructive solid geometry (1:17:21) - Dynamic lighting (1:21:51) - Volumetric fog (1:25:19) - John Carmack (1:27:05) - Evolution of Unreal Engine (1:33:21) - Unreal Engine 5 (1:44:32) - Creating realistic humans (1:53:41) - Lumen global illumination (1:58:11) - Movies (2:12:53) - Simulating reality (2:25:08) - Metaverse (2:27:44) - Fortnite (2:31:40) - Scaling (2:47:04) - Game economies (2:48:33) - Standardizing the Metaverse (2:56:46) - Verse programming language (3:18:19) - Concurrency (3:25:56) - Unreal Engine 6 (3:30:34) - Indie game developers (3:33:32) - Apple (3:48:12) - Epic Games Store (4:11:03) - Future of gaming (4:17:03) - Greatest games ever made (4:22:39) - GTA 6 and Rockstar Games (4:25:58) - Hope for the future PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips SOCIAL LINKS: - X: https://x.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://instagram.com/lexfridman - TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://facebook.com/lexfridman - Patreon: https://patreon.com/lexfridman - Telegram: https://t.me/lexfridman - Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman

Highlights

This podcast features a deep dive into the world of video game development with Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games. Known for creating groundbreaking games like Fortnite and the Unreal Engine, Sweeney shares insights on his journey in programming, the evolution of gaming technology, and the future of digital worlds.
06:41
Neurobiology forms the basis of thought through ion flow in neurons.
10:59
Spent 10,000-15,000 hours coding before shipping a program
14:48
Do not fear new things; continuously learn and combine knowledge from different fields.
19:54
Playing games inspired programming and learning game-building techniques.
24:26
Digital creations can lead to unexpected success and global reach.
34:41
Epic focused on making something different and satisfying a small audience.
1:01:35
Rendering billions of polygons efficiently remains a key challenge in computer graphics.
1:06:31
Unreal Engine is used in industries ranging from gaming to architecture.
1:14:18
Constructive solid geometry implementation was a major challenge requiring complex edge case handling.
1:17:23
John Carmack's lighting algorithms solved performance issues in graphics.
1:21:51
Volumetric fog math relates to line integrals and inverse-square law
1:25:19
Carmack's willingness to discard old code is crucial for finding the best solutions.
1:30:37
Transitioning from single-threaded to multi-threaded is a major challenge for Unreal Engine 6.
1:42:57
Fire and smoke demo showcases realistic light occlusion and interaction
1:47:50
Rendering hair and human faces requires approximations and capturing subsurface scattering.
1:53:41
Lumen makes it easier to light scenes with dynamic indoor and outdoor effects.
2:07:47
AI is a tool for artists, not a replacement.
2:21:52
Hard questions about humanity's operation in virtual spaces need addressing.
2:25:13
Games with large socially-playing player bases are at the core of the metaverse aspiration.
2:27:44
Fortnite was initially a prototype built in one week by Epic employees.
2:46:07
Only Up game mode correlates with lower spending on outfits.
2:47:08
Large-scale multiplayer social gaming in the metaverse has 600-800 million monthly players.
2:48:46
Existing successful low-level file format standards mentioned but no programming language for the metaverse yet.
3:11:55
AI-written code could benefit from provable correctness using typed languages.
3:21:24
Transactions could scale code automatically, allowing ordinary code without concurrency worries.
3:28:54
Fortnite will be used to test Verse before full UE6 release.
3:33:16
Modularizing content enables creators to build games faster using pre-made bits.
3:39:50
Epic fights Apple due to Fortnite's popularity while others fear retaliation.
3:57:21
Epic offers incentives rather than forcing exclusivity
4:13:55
Players prefer large-scale multiplayer games following Metcalfe's Law.
4:17:03
The best game genre is yet to be invented.
4:22:44
High-quality game development is hard as new problems emerge when improving quality.
4:25:58
Contrasting social media negativity with positive online gaming experiences.

Chapters

Introduction
00:00
10,000 hours programming
08:25
Advice for young programmers
11:42
Video games in the 80s and 90s
19:54
Epic Games origin story
22:02
Indie game development
34:40
Unreal Engine
40:34
Technical details of Unreal Engine
1:06:30
Constructive solid geometry
1:11:23
Dynamic lighting
1:17:21
Volumetric fog
1:21:51
John Carmack
1:25:19
Evolution of Unreal Engine
1:27:05
Unreal Engine 5
1:33:21
Creating realistic humans
1:44:32
Lumen global illumination
1:53:41
Movies
1:58:11
Simulating reality
2:12:53
Metaverse
2:25:08
Fortnite
2:27:44
Scaling
2:31:40
Game economies
2:47:04
Standardizing the Metaverse
2:48:33
Verse programming language
2:56:46
Concurrency
3:18:19
Unreal Engine 6
3:25:56
Indie game developers
3:30:34
Apple
3:33:32
Epic Games Store
3:48:12
Future of gaming
4:11:03
Greatest games ever made
4:17:03
GTA 6 and Rockstar Games
4:22:39
Hope for the future
4:25:58

Transcript

Lex Fridman: The following is a conversation with Tim Sweeney, a legendary video game programmer, founder and CEO of Epic Games. That created many incredible games and technologies, including the Unreal Engine and Fortnite, which both revolutionized the vi...