14 DAY TRIAL // Epic Games is making good on its promise to release the latest beta of the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) for free. The UDK provides access to the Unreal Engine 3 fully integrated suite of tools for making iOS games and apps, such as Epic’s free “Epic Citadel” App.
The power of Unreal Engine 3 was first shown off in “Epic Citadel”, a demonstration app which introduces the setting for “Infinity Blade,” a new action adventure sword-fighting game for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
Developed by Epic’s ChAIR Entertainment studio, the app is immediately available as a free download from the iTunes App Store for whoever wants to give it a spin.
Epic explains in a press release issued today that only select Unreal Engine 3 commercial licensees had access to the engine’s world-class mobile game development tools, prior to today’s announcement.
The award-winning development studio claims that “The release of UDK with iOS support marks a major breakthrough because now anyone can work with the same toolset used to create Epic’s blockbuster ‘Gears of War’ series of games as well as the graphically stunning iOS releases ‘Epic Citadel’ and ‘Infinity Blade’.
The company includes the following feature set for UDK iOS development:
· The full source and content for “Epic Citadel,” plus an additional castle demo map; · Support for major Unreal Engine 3 desktop features, including the award-winning Unreal Editor and its fully integrated suite of tools including Unreal Kismet, Unreal Cascade and Unreal Matinee; · Superior rendering systems, including Unreal Lightmass global illumination supported by Unreal Swarm distributed computing; · Content streaming functionality: Build huge, seamless environments; · Advanced lighting and shadowing such as per-pixel lighting and real-time shadows; · Console-quality capabilities: Make games with animations, particle effects and player collision; · Full Unreal Kismet visual scripting functionality: Create games without having to modify program code; · Convenient mobile previewer makes it possible to emulate games at native resolution for quick iteration; · UDK Remote enables iOS devices to serve as wireless controllers with full touch and tilt functionality for testing games on the computer; · New Unreal Frontend system compiles scripts and deploys builds for multiple platforms with the simple click of a button.
“With the tremendous success of Infinity Blade, we couldn’t be happier to put our free tools into the hands of iOS developers all over the world,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games.
“We’ve proven what Unreal Engine 3 can accomplish on mobile, and we’re ready to usher in a new wave of amazing handheld games and applications,” Rein added.
Visit this page to download the UDK.
To be noted that use of the UDK is free only for noncommercial and educational purposes. Epic dishes out the details about commercial licensing terms over at this web site.