Epic Games
Epic Games is a development and publishing studio better known for its franchises Unreal, Gears of War and Bulletstorm, as well as its most widespread technology, the Unreal Engine.
They've started in 1991 as Potomac Computer Systems, and their first game ever, ZZT, was developed using Turbo Pascal. The studio would latter be recognized as Epic Megagames, and shortly before the launch of the first Unreal Tournament, the company would rename itself as simply Epic Games.
Games:
Early and unknown games
- ZZT
- Super ZZT
- Palace of Deceit: The Dragon's Plight
- Castle of the Winds
- Jazz Jackrabbit
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2
- Jazz Jackrabbit Advance
- Jill of the Jungle
- Jill Goes Underground
- Jill Saves Prince
- Kens Labyrinth
- Zone66
- Jason Storm in Space Chase
- Xargon series
- Dare to Dream
- Traffic Department 2192
- Solar Winds
- Solar Winds 2
- Heartlight
- Silverball Plus 2
- The Adventures Of Robbo
- Epic Pinball
- Epic Connect
- Epic Checkers
- Epic Hoppers
- Extreme Pinball
- Fire Fight (developed along with Chaos Works)
- Age of Wonders
- Tyrian
- Electro Man
- One Must Fall 2097
- Shadow
Unreal franchise:
- [1998] Unreal I
- [2000] Unreal: Return To Na Pali
- [1999] Unreal Tournament (along with Digital Extremes)
- [2001] Unreal II the Awakening (along with Legend Entertainment)
- [2002] Unreal Championship
- [2002] Unreal Tournament 2003 (along with Digital Extremes)
- [2004] Unreal Tournament 2004 (along with Digital Extremes, Streamline Studios and Psyonix)
- [2005] Unreal Championship 2 The Liandri Conflict
- [2007] Unreal Tournament III
Gears of War series:
- [2006] Gears Of War
- [2008] Gears Of War II
- [2011] Gears Of War III
Newer games:
- [2011] Bulletstorm (published; developed by People Can Fly)
- [2011] Duty Calls (published; developed by People Can Fly)
- [2016] Paragon (cancelled)
- [2017] Fortnite
Epic Games provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ascended Fanfic / Promoted Fanboy: It became a constant since Unreal I that Epic may pick up members of their community, so they can work with them. There are some examples in the Unreal page, most notably Make Something Unreal contest winners.
- Epic Games Store
- Game Engine: The Unreal Engine series. Still quite popular to this day, at roughly version 3.5, and with a fourth version on the way.
- Obvious Beta: Their latest games would find their way as incomplete releases, with Epic themselves releasing A LOT of patches. As of now, the worst offender is Unreal Tournament III, which had many Game Breaking Bugs in the GUI before the Black Edition.
- Shout-Out / Author Appeal: They seem to be very big fans of The Fifth Element, a possible inspiration for the Gear armor, Gorgon Burst Pistol, and Peacemaker Carbine.