Epic announces Make Something Unreal winner
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain gets Bleszinski's seal of approval.
Young UK start-up developer Commando Kiwi took the top prize at Epic Game's Make Something Unreal contest this weekend with its fantasy RPG effort The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters.
As detailed last month, four finalists were all tasked with making an iOS title based on the vintage Fighting Fantasy role-playing series. The resulting games were then shown off during the The Gadget Show Live event in Birmingham over the weekend.
Fighting Fantasy creators and contest judges Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson gave Commando Kiwi's third person adventure the nod for making the best use of the original property and showing the greatest commercial potential. It wins a full commercial license for Epic's Unreal Engine 3.
You can see Gears of War creator and guest mentor Cliff Bleszinski offering the winners some feedback below.
All four games on show are expected to arrive on the App Store over the coming weeks, via a publishing deal with AppyNation.
"Commando Kiwi really captured the essence of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain with great gameplay and visuals," commented Livingstone.
"Although only one of the teams has won this amazing prize, the experience students have gained is invaluable and I fully expect to see many of them working in the video games industry.
"We look forward to playing these games, and Steve and I are sure that Fighting Fantasy fans everywhere will really enjoy these new interactive experiences based on the books."