Epic Citadel

Last updated
Epic Citadel
Developer(s) Epic Games
Initial releaseSeptember 1, 2010 (2010-09-01)
Stable release
1.02 / September 10, 2010;13 years ago (2010-09-10)
Operating system iOS 3.1.1 or later, Android, Flash, HTML5
Size 82.2 MB
Available inEnglish
Website www.unrealengine.com/showcase/epic-citadel

Epic Citadel is a tech demo developed by Epic Games to demonstrate the Unreal Engine 3 running on Apple iOS, within Adobe Flash Player Stage3D and using HTML5 WebGL technologies. It was also released for Android on January 29, 2013.

Contents

The application allows players to explore a medieval landscape without being able to interact with it otherwise. The application further has a built in benchmark mode and a "guided tour" mode. Nonetheless this demonstration garnered significant attention as it showcases a free SDK called Epic's Unreal Development Kit (UDK) [1]

The game uses dual zones with touchscreen control that are mapped as virtual joysticks. One controls the camera angle while the other controls the motion of the camera. The tech demo allows players to navigate through a fictional castle realm with various areas such as a circus bazaar, a river and a cathedral. [2] The artwork of this demo was created by Shane Caudle and the program itself was created in eight weeks by a small team of programmers at Epic Games using the UDK. [3]

History

Epic Citadel was a precursor to the video game Infinity Blade for iOS, which was released on December 9, 2010.

On March 7, 2012, Epic released Epic Citadel for Flash, to demonstrate Unreal Engine 3 running within Adobe Flash Player in a web browser environment. [4] [5] It was the first gaming 3D engine to be ported to run within Flash Player, using the CrossBridge cross-compiler (also known as Alchemy).

On January 29, 2013, the app was launched for Google Android (version 2.3+), [6] with exclusive benchmarking features, and was downloadedable from the Google Play store. [7] The iOS version was updated to version 1.1, adding support for the iPhone 5/iPod Touch (fifth generation) as well as optimized graphics for the iPad with Retina Display.

Using additional technologies such as the C/C++ to JavaScript cross-compiler Emscripten, the application was ported to HTML5 supporting run time environments such as the Firefox web browser. [8]

Following the 1.7 update version in 2015, development for the tech demo came to an end, and as of 2023 is unavailable in both App Store and Google Play Store marketplaces. However, this application is still obtainable via the Amazon store. [9]

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References

  1. ↑ "Free Game Engine for Indie Game Development: UDK Unreal Developer's Kit". Epic Games. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11.
  2. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (2010-09-01). "Play With The Unreal Engine On Your iPhone With Epic Citadel". Kotaku . Gawker Media. Archived from the original on 2016-08-24. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  3. ↑ Epic Games Staff. "Epic Citadel - Epic Games". Epic Games. Archived from the original on 2014-10-24. Retrieved 2013-04-07.
  4. ↑ Epic Games Releases 'Epic Citadel' in Flash Archived 2014-12-04 at the Wayback Machine , Epic Games
  5. ↑ Epic releases 'Epic Citadel' Unreal Engine demo in Flash Archived 2014-12-05 at the Wayback Machine , ShackNews
  6. ↑ Epic Games Releases “Epic Citadel” for Android Archived 2015-04-03 at the Wayback Machine , Epic Games
  7. ↑ Epic Citadel at Google Play Archived 2013-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "HTML5 FAQ at unreal engine web site". Archived from the original on February 10, 2014. Retrieved 2013-12-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. ↑ Faulkner, Cameron (2020-09-01). "Ten years ago, Epic helped to legitimize iOS as a gaming platform with a small demo". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
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