Epic Games has announced it will be making a new Unreal Tournament game that will be free, and plans to involve fans in its development.

“Work on the future of Unreal Tournament begins today, and we’re happy to announce that we’re going to do this together, with you,” project lead Steve Polge said in a blog post, in part. “We know that fans of the game are as passionate about Unreal Tournament as we are. We know that you have great ideas and strong opinions about where the game should go and what it should be. So let’s do something radical and make this game together, in the open, and for all of us.”

Polge will be leading “a small team of UT veterans” who are starting work on the project today. “From the very first line of code, the very first art created and design decision made, development will happen in the open, as a collaboration between Epic, UT fans and UE4 developers,” he continued. The developer will use forums and Twitch streams for regular updates and discussions with fans.

Polge also noted that it will take “many months” till the game is playable by gamers, because this is development from scratch. But, when it is playable it will be free. “Not free to play, just free.” Epic will make its money through a marketplace that will eventually be added, which will allow players to buy, sell, and give away content, mods and assets for the game. Epic will take a split of each transaction made in the marketplace.

“A lot of this is brand new for Epic, and we don’t yet have everything figured out,” Polge added. Things will probably definitely go wrong from time to time, and when they do, we’ll have to work through them together. There will be a lot of tough decisions to make, and not every feature will make it into the game. But if you’re a fan of Unreal Tournament, a UE4 developer, or a future modder – or if you just want to learn how we make games – we hope you’ll join us. It’s going to be fun.”

(via GI International)