Epic has released a Flappy Bird clone

Epic –  yes, the ones behind Gears of War and Unreal Tournament – has just released a clone of the frankly awful Flappy Bird. No they haven’t lost their minds, nor have they become the sort to clone apps for profit. It’s an exercise to show how easy it is to make something in Unreal Engine 4. Yes, it’s an Unreal Engine 4 powered Flappy Bird clone.

It’s called Tappy Chicken. The whole thing was made by a single Epic employee; an artist with absolutely no coding skills.

“Tappy Chicken is the perfect showcase for the ease of use and flexibility of Unreal Engine 4,” says Epic.

“While it may not flex the full graphical muscle of the engine, it shows how almost anyone can make a fun and pretty game fit for mobile devices and web browsers.”

It joins the million or so other Flappy bird clones available on Apple’s iTunes App store and Google Play, and is available for you download right now.

Those of you who have been playing with Unreal Engine 4 will know that Tappy Chicken is included in the engine’s suit of demoes, and is something the company’s been showing off since GDC. Epic’s taken an interesting route with its new engine, offering it for a 19$/month subscription, and taking a slice off of commercial profits.

It’ll be doing something similar with its new Unreal Tournament, which will be free to play, but allow mod creators to sell their wares, once again taking their cut of sales.

Last Updated: May 22, 2014