Of course the Project Sword you see in the video above eventually splintered into two different releases, the gorgeous tech demo Epic Citadel (Free) and the on-rails sword-fighting adventure Infinity Blade ($5.99). Unreal Engine was one of the most popular game engines in the console and PC world, and its entrance into the mobile device world brought a ton of promise. To those who weren’t involved in mobile gaming during this time, this was a huge freaking deal. Chair put Shadow Complex 2 on indefinite hold and their new mobile game, codenamed Project Sword, was unveiled to the public during the Apple keynote in September of 2010. Apple told Mustard that if his studio could make an iPhone-exclusive game in Unreal Engine that they’d feature it during the keynote announcing the iPhone 4. Chair’s parent company Epic Games was already in the process of porting their award-winning Unreal Engine to the iPhone. The iPhone 4 was on the horizon and it included powerful hardware capable of impressive 3D visuals. Then in mid-2010 Apple presented Mustard with a unique opportunity he just couldn’t pass up. Mustard contemplated how his company could shift and adapt to the coming mobile gaming storm, but with Shadow Complex 2 in progress the studio just didn’t have the bandwidth to take on a new project. Mustard shocked himself by choosing a mobile game over a console game, but it made him realize that there was a place for that “in-between" style of gaming, and that stuck with him. To his own surprise, Mustard instead opted for unlocking his iPhone and diving into Subatomic Studios’ classic tower defense game Fieldrunners ($2.99). It would have involved going upstairs, firing up his Xbox 360, and possibly committing more time than he had planned to, though. It was at this time that Mustard was sitting around watching football and got the urge to play Mass Effect 2, which had just released that month. With Shadow Complex’s critical and commercial success, Chair was already well underway with a sequel by January 2010. Chair Entertainment has been around for a decade, but it was their excellent platforming adventure Shadow Complex which really put them on the map when it arrived in the summer of 2009. There is a very interesting interview with Chair Entertainment’s co-founder Donald Mustard over at Polygon that is very much worth your time.
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