Unreal Engine 4 has earned a new digit today. The 4.5 release of the game development suite should be of help to self-taught developers, as Epic says it includes "a huge number of usability and learning enhancements, an all new tutorial system, and new game templates for Advanced Vehicles and Twin Stick Shooters."

Other additions in 4.5 include animation retargeting, real-time ray traced soft shadows, screen-space subsurface scattering (pictured above, on the right), and Unreal Motion Graphics for creating user interfaces. All the details are in the release notes.

Use of Unreal Engine 4.5 and its source code comes with a $19/month subscription, plus a 5% royalty on gross revenue earned through games developed with the engine. It's strikingly powerful for its affordability, and along with Cryengine, Unity, and others, I'm happy to see professional tools further blurring the line between PC game consumer and PC game creator. For a sense of what it takes to develop with Unreal Engine, you can browse the tutorials on the official site.