Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity development platform for 3D interactive content on the Web, PC, Mac, Wii, Xbox 360, and iPhone, today announced the release of Unity iPhone 1.7. With this release, Unity has extended its market-leading iPhone development and deployment platform to include support for the just-released Apple iPad. This is a free upgrade for all existing Unity iPhone customers.
Unity iPhone/iPad 1.7 adds the following new functionality:
iPad deployment for both Unity iPhone Basic and Unity iPhone Advanced
iPad Simulator support so developers can create iPad apps, even if they do not yet have iPad hardware
Universal application support so that apps can be designed to automatically work on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch
Unity Technologies also announced that there are more than 15 Unity authored iPad-specific games already in the iPad App Store, adding even more high-quality content to the more than 600 Unity authored games currently populating the App Store. Publishers of these new apps include notable names like Disney, Warner Bros., and Chillingo.
"We're really pleased to see so many Unity developers leap at the chance to bring new gaming experiences to future iPad owners," said David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies. "To have this volume of quality games at launch really underscores our commitment to developers, providing them with the best tools and platform to reach the most exciting devices."
Users of Unity iPhone who have launch titles on the iPad are already praising Unity's time-saving workflow: "Unity is a phenomenal platform and made moving to the iPad a snap," said Mike Rasmussen, El Presidente of Republic of Fun, creators of iPad launch title Slug Wars: To Shell and Back. "We were able to re-use our old game assets (this is a sequal to an existing game) and get something up and running quickly."
"Getting Monster Ball onto the iPad was literally just a matter of setting up a few player preference parameters in Unity and hitting build. The Unity GUI system already took care of aspect ratio changes, so the iPad port was simple, pain free-it just works. Once again the investment of using Unity has paid off," exclaimed Monster Ball Co-Creator Thomas Hentschel Lund.
Developer Infinite Dreams notably released three iPad launch titles: iQuarium HD, Sailboat Championship PRO HD, and Jelly Invaders HD, all of which were authored in Unity. "We were able to get our games submitted and accepted to the iPad App Store without ever seeing hardware," said Seweryn Panczyniak, Lead Programmer at Infinite Dreams. "Unity is a wonderful piece of software that let us do things fast and with minimum level of frustration and maximum level of creativity."
Current and prospective users of Unity iPhone who want to develop iPhone and iPad apps can download the latest version of Unity iPhone at http://unity3d.com/iPhone.