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.
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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.