Can the UDK be used for non-game projects?

Question

This is a pretty basic question. I am wondering if the Unreal Development Kit can be used for something other than games, specifically a light show simulator and editor. The site says:

Unreal Engine 3 has been used by game developers, researchers, television studios, machinima directors, artists and students. If you have an idea that needs to be brought to life in a game engine, UDK is for you.

But I have the feeling that it is more game oriented. For my hobby project, I would like to be able to create light show simulations with rotating/moving lasers/lights of changing color, synchronized to sound/music. I would also like to develop an GUI editor for this, preferably in C#, but if it's not possible to access the rendering functionality of the engine from C#, then C++/Qt should suffice. The editor would be used to design the simulation, which would then be rendered/played out in real time.

I guess my base, general question is: can the Unreal Development Kit be used for something like this, not necessarily game related? Or should I go with my original option of Ogre3D, which just focuses on rendering and 3D graphics as far as I know.

EDIT: Just saw this page which again mentions:

Can I create any kind of game with UDK?

Absolutely. UDK is the perfect solution for any kind of virtual world you wish to create, from racing games to simulations.

So my question is now simply: Would I be able to access the renderer or other functionality of my resulting code to integrate it into an editor for my simulator? I guess a simpler, more relatable analogy would be, if I wrote a game, would I be able to write my own level/character/etc. editor for it? And how would I do so? Yes, I know that the UDK comes with editors already, but I mean if I want to make my own.

Thanks! I appreciate any answers :)

Answer 1

The UDK only permits you to play with script (Unreal Script) and not with native code (c++). So more complicated projects or integrations are very difficult without the full c++ source code. But if you will re-use the editor (UnrealED) for your project and make you simulation based upon unreal you can do it.

Answer 2

I'm pretty well oriented in what Unreal Engine can do, and answer to your question is yes and no ;)

Yes, you can create your own actors that will be rotating/moving and emitting light. But won't be able to create your own custom editor around UE's rendered. Frankly I don't see why you would need one - Unreal Editor has all the tools needed to design and execute light show simulation (and much more) - all you need to do is to get familiar with those tools.

One thing you could do in external editor (except, of course, for textures, sounds, models, etc) is create some custom setup in saved to text files, and later read in those files in unreal script - it allows it.

Answer 3

"I guess a simpler, more relatable analogy would be, if I wrote a game, would I be able to write my own level/character/etc. editor for it?"

Yes, you can make your own characters and maps. You shouldn't have any need to make your own editor though, the given editor should be enough.

Although you might not have access to the C++ source code, there is a lot that can be done using Unrealscript. Check out all the entries to the Make Something Unreal contest, they were all done using tools available in the UDK.