Epic's iPhone Demo Racks up a Million Downloads

[Logan Westbrook]

Epic's iPhone Demo Racks up a Million Downloads

It might just be a tech demo, but Epic's first outing on the iPhone has piqued a lot of people's interest.

Epic Citadel, a tech demo designed to show off Epic's Unreal Engine running on Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, has been downloaded more than a million times since its release earlier this month.

Epic Citadel allows gamers to take a tour round a virtual fantasy town and castle. It also gives a glimpse into what we can expect from Project Sword, an action RPG being developed for Apple's platforms by Chair Entertainment - the studio that created Shadow Complex [http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Complex-Online-Game-Xbox-360/dp/B002LIT3F2/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1284499989&sr=1-1] - and published by Epic. According to the Epic website, almost all of the content in the demo was created by principle artist Shane Caudle, who spent eight weeks finding the right balance of looks and performance.

The demo is gorgeous, especially when you consider it's designed to run on a cell phone, and it's hardly surprising that it's garnered so much attention. Epic Citadel isn't the first 3D application for Apple's products, but with so many developers already using the Unreal engine, it opens up a lot of avenues for game development for the iPhone and iPad in the future.

Epic Citadel is available for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, iPad, and 4th generation iPod Touches via iTunes [http://itunes.apple.com/app/epic-citadel/id388888815#].

Source: Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/35845/Epic-Citadel-App-Store-downloads-hit-1m]


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[Eri]

Looks gorgeous on my iphone 4. Can't wait for full games on this.

 

[Virgil]

Epic Citadel, a tech demo designed to show off Epic's Unreal Engine running on Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, has been downloaded more than a million times since its release earlier this month.

Just as interesting, I think, is that Epic also announced today that the iPhone-specific platform code will be available in the free Unreal Development Kit.

 

[Mike Capps]

It's Shane Caudle, not Shaun Caudle. He worked pretty hard

 

[Simalacrum]

i downloaded it to my dad's iPhone (I only have a 3rd generation iPod Touch... for now), and it looks like a freakin' console game! No question of Apple's handheld gaming superiority if everybody produced games looking like that... so long as the controls worked, of course

Unfortunately moving around did prove a little difficult with the demo, but it nonetheless looks GORGEOUS, console level graphics really.

 

[JeanLuc761]

It's Shane Caudle, not Shaun Caudle. He worked pretty hard

He did a fantastic job. I may not be the biggest fan of the iPhone, but this tech demo is astounding. I never would have expected Unreal Engine to work on a phone (yet), let alone one that appears to have faux global illumination, normal maps and dynamic lighting. Trust Epic to surprise me

 

[OceanRunner]

I'm suprised to hear about a publicly available tech demo being so popular. If this upcoming game looks anywhere near as good, I'm sure it will enjoy great success.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

It's Shane Caudle, not Shaun Caudle. He worked pretty hard

Judging from the screenshot, if that runs at more than 2 FPS the man is genius. It looks amazing.

Now I just have to find my iPod...

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Low resolution, tiny screen, tightly controlled camera angles = the beer goggles of the computing world.

I do like the desperation, though. Carmack puts RAGE on iphone, epic matches, kinda. Its like they think they're in the same league or something :3

 

[Cryo84R]

You really have to see it for yourself to believe it.

 

[Jared]

It does look really, really good...especilly for iPhone. Goes to prove what it an do

 

[Darktau]

It's Shane Caudle, not Shaun Caudle. He worked pretty hard

Aww, I want a red name...

OT: A really *sunglasses* epic job on doing this tech demo , now I wish I had an iphone , love the way the unreal engine can be optimized so much. (UT3 runs on my laptop )

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I would give my two cents if it could play on my iPod.

Aww, come on, the few of the apps to require a certain iThing happens to be one I want!

 

[Gasaraki]

i downloaded it to my dad's iPhone (I only have a 3rd generation iPod Touch... for now), and it looks like a freakin' console game! No question of Apple's handheld gaming superiority if everybody produced games looking like that... so long as the controls worked, of course

Unfortunately moving around did prove a little difficult with the demo, but it nonetheless looks GORGEOUS, console level graphics really.

It works great on my 32gb 3rd gen Ipod Touch so you don't need to use your dad's Iphone, unless it's an 8gb Ipod touch, since those are basically just 2nd gen.

 

[SMOKEMNHALO2001]

Now lets see how long the full game will run before the iPhone craps itself and crashes the app. I downloaded the demo and even I was amazed.

 

[rockywp]

Wow this is really something. I am highly considering buying an Iphone.