Unreal dev kit adding iOS support, Epic Citadel downloaded 1 million times

Well, that didn't take long. Less than a week after Apple announced that it would "relax" some of its iOS restrictions, allowing the use of third-party app creation tools, among other things, comes the following announcement from Epic Games, straight out of the Korea Games Conference: "We announced UDK will be able to generate iOS applications!"

To translate for you quickly: Independent iPhone developers will soon be able to use the freely available Unreal Development Kit – which Epic also announced has 350,000 installations to its name – to create graphically lush mobile apps. If you're looking for an example of that graphical potential, check out the Epic Citadel tech demo, first revealed at this month's Apple press conference. With over one million downloads (another figure shared today!), we wouldn't be surprised if you already have.

But you probably haven't seen Dungeon Defenders, a title whose developer has taken the jump from UDK novice to Unreal Engine 3 licensee, and all the commercial benefits that entails. You can see a video of the game running on both the iPhone and Android platforms after the break, but it's also in development for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

We're pretty excited to see the strength of Unreal Engine married to the diversity and quantity of the new breed of mobile gaming marketplaces, iOS and Android included.

Epic Citadel ('Project Sword' tech demo)

Show full PR text

UNREAL ENGINE 3 FOR iOS DEVICES

From Mark Rein, @MarkRein on Twitter: We announced a few things at the Korea Games Conference earlier today.

Over 1,000,000 people have downloaded and installed "Epic Citadel" from the iTunes App Store.
The Unreal Development Kit (UDK) now has more than 350,000 installations, which is pretty amazing for a game engine.
There are countless UDK applications from games to driving simulators to animated films. And soon we will be able to count mobile applications.
We announced UDK will be able to generate iOS applications!
We've demoed Unreal Engine 3 on Android w/ Tegra 2, and at KGC today we showed it on a Samsung Galaxy S device.

What this means is that UDK developers will soon be able to use the power of Unreal Engine 3 to create apps for iOS devices. If you check out the Apple Special Event from Sept. 1, you can see Mike Capps and Donald Mustard demoing "Project Sword," our first game for iOS, being created at Epic's Chair Entertainment. Just search for Apple Special Event Project Sword on YouTube.

"Dungeon Defenders" was one of our original showcase games used to demonstrate how to use the Unreal Development Kit. Trendy Entertainment, a small development shop in Florida, created several dev diaries and released the source code for the game so UDK developers could learn from their experiences. Recently, Trendy because a full Unreal Engine 3 licensee so they could develop "Dungeon Defenders" for Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network and mobile platforms. Last week, they posted shaky cam footage to YouTube of "Dungeon Defenders" running on iPhone and Android.

Watch the "Dungeon Defenders" iPhone/Android YouTube video at http://youtu.be/ASE5uScZolg.
Download the UDK version of "Dungeon Defenders," and try it for yourself, at http://www.udk.com/showcase-dungeon-defense.
Learn more about the game at http://www.udk.com/showcase-dungeon-defense.

We'll have more on UDK support for iOS devices coming soon. Check out Unreal Engine 3 on iOS devices for yourself by downloading Epic Citadel for FREE on the iTunes App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/app/epic-citadel/id388888815.

Epic Citadel supports the following iOS devices: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third-generation iPod touch, fourth-generation iPod touch and iPad.

Reader Comments (21)

@ben linus

New Hampshire is the 5th smallest state in the U.S.

Thank god. A game that doesn't use awful virtual sticks and buttons.

I would not mind having this on other mobile platforms.

@ben linus

Put the disc in upside down, I hear that fixes it.

fake sticks and buttons are so crappy :( makes me sad because i want to love iphone games since i pay 100 bucks a month for the privilege.

@ben linus

American car horns beep in the tone of F.

thats right, these devs along with Carmack showed Jobs just how much of an ass he was being with his rules on iOS.... but then again who knew the iPhone was capable of such graphics, i sure didn't.

@PR0F3TA

Agreed. Just last year I was sure the iPhone was only capable of PS1 (or slightly above) level graphics. But after trying out Epic Citadel I'd put it around PSP quality. Hell Rage even looks like it might surpass that.

Oh and this was on an iPhone 3G so I assume things are even smoother and look nicer on the iPhone 4.

And yet it irks me that we have such amazing looking games on a touchscreen only device. I know I'm beating a dead horse here but I would definitely buy more games if I at least had an iPhone case with button controls.

@NaeemTHM

I'm glad someone is being realistic graphic wise, i remember someone saying the graphics where on the PS3/360 level... HAHA i mean, c'mon it looks amazing but its an empty world with absolutely nothing going on on-screen. Add a sword, enemies and more levels and then try to keep the frame rate and grahics on par with the tech demo... i personally think the iPhone will emulate Wii and late PS2 type graphics but it will be a HUGE file. Myst on iPhone came at about 2 gigs and asked for more so that the game can run smooth.

@NaeemTHM
Yeah, but that's also keeping in mind something a lot of "iPhone as gaming device" proponents ALWAYS seem to forget: as far as gaming goes, the iPhone's/iPod touch's battery absolutely SUCKS. When the Epic Citadel demo was released, I decided to do a test: charged my 3rd gen iPod touch to 100% (and I've charged it < 500 times so my battery hasn't degraded to 50% by the way) and ran the EC demo for about 7 minutes. As lush as the graphics were, it knocked the battery down to about 88-90% in just 7 minutes. That's ridiculous. I have an iPod touch and have games on it but it's not a true handheld: just b/c it plays games doesn't make it a dedicated handheld like a PSP or DS.

@ben linus

My cat's breath smells like cat food

But it doesn't support Macs and am I the only one who really HATES iphone gaming? I like things designed for it, Puzzle games like Bejewelled but games that require controls SUCK. I hate the virtual buttons because my thumbs cover up half the screen and accelerometer based games are just stupid.

@malexandria

agreed, but its free. Its not like your wasting money on it if it sucks

@malexandria

yeah agreed aswell, i hate games with a virtual joystick and buttons covering half my screen which doesn't let me see what im playing... smh

the only exception to that is Street Fighter 4 for the iPhone, which is awesome! the button and joystick are not only movable but they are responsive

@ben linus

have you tried blowing on it?

Ummm, so i just downloaded it, and its shuts down after the seconed screen where it say "epic games" and has photos of all the games. Any reason why? (Its the ipad app)

@jph89

Delete and re-download. I ran into the same issue and that fixed it for me.

Be really nice if they released the UDK tools for Mac OS X now too.

@ben linus
Opaque is not a color!!

If the development of phones keep up they will surpass current-gen consoles in 2 years I reckon. Microsoft and Sony should really think of getting new consoles out soon....

So if udk can make iPhone apps can I develop apps for the iPhone on a pc

Unreal dev kit adding iOS support, Epic Citadel downloaded 1 million times

Epic Citadel ('Project Sword' tech demo)

Reader Comments (21)

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 12:37PM Chibi Chaingun said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 12:42PM MrGreen said

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Posted: Sep 14th 2010 1:42PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 2:06PM NaeemTHM said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 2:20PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 8:16PM C1ph3rDivyne said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 1:43PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 1:44PM malexandria said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 1:53PM jph89 said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 1:58PM PR0F3TA said

Posted: Sep 14th 2010 1:49PM jph89 said

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