Free CryEngine 3 SDK

[Baron]

Crytek Releases Free CryEngine 3 SDK

Crysis series developer Crytek has released a free downloadable SDK for its proprietary CryEngine 3 engine, and has further outlined its revenue share model for commercial applications. The engine is free to use for non-commercial purposes. However, those wishing to use the engine for commercial products will have to enter into a royalty-only licensing agreement that sees Crytek receiving 20 percent of the game's revenues.

"This SDK contains more toys than we've ever released before -- it empowers people to create whole new games from scratch, not just mod Crytek’s own games, so we encourage all aspiring and indie developers to try it out," said Crytek's Carl Jones.

According to prior statements by CEO Cevat Yerli, this free SDK contains all of the features of its commercial version, saying that it is "the same engine we use internally, the same engine we give to our licensees, the same engine that powers Crysis 2."

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3665 ... _Model.php

http://www.crydev.net/

 

[Rufus_T_Firefly]

Now all that's needed is the years training it takes to be able to take advantage of such an engine.

 

[villain of the story]

It's not hardware friendly. Unreal SDK is still a better option for hardware compatibility, performance and possibly the learning curve.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

It's not hardware friendly. Unreal SDK is still a better option for hardware compatibility, performance and possibly the learning curve.

CryEngine 3 may have the edge in terms of graphics fidelity and features on consoles, but UE3 is still more popular among developers because of the better tool chain, especially the Kismet editor (graphical scripting interface).

 

[Einhander]

Ok so i just fired up crytek 3..I used to do alot of levels in ut2004 and are 10 year experienced 3ds max user..From outright if you know 3ds max crytek 3 is simple to use..mostly set up as max is with even the file system and layer views and object handling also.made a terrain fully textured and full vegatation in under 10 min with clouds and running around in it.Havnt tried importing max content such as models or textures yet..First impressions are that it is very simple to use and crytek state that a full game can be made from movie intro to menus and such.

 

[Baron]

Post a couple of pics of your handiwork, good bro, and can you include the approximate time it took you to create. Just curious. Want to go crazy and create some landscapes, and ease of use is equally weighted with eye candy as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

So when I started painting some material on the terrain, and then switched the layer, the friggin thing just crashed.

Well done, Crytek.

 

[Davaris]

So when I started painting some material on the terrain, and then switched the layer, the friggin thing just crashed.

Well done, Crytek.

Saw this in the C4 forums:

Having used CryEngine before I feel it's my duty to inform you that it is the most terrible over-hyped piece of junk available. The architecture (if you could call it that) is absolutely appalling. The engine is only suitable for creating graphically reskinned versions of Crysis. As soon as you want to do something unique or implement any functionality specific to your game you're in some serious trouble... and don't even get me started on the code quality!

I assume this was an earlier version, so things might have improved.

 

[villain of the story]

People did very cool things with the first CryEngine and then again with CryEngine 2, including an adventure game complete with dialogues, inventory etc.

 

[Kane]

not to forget mechwarrior: living legends!

http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/

 

[spectre]

Saw this in the C4 forums:

Having used CryEngine before I feel it's my duty to inform you that it is the most terrible over-hyped piece of junk available. The architecture (if you could call it that) is absolutely appalling. The engine is only suitable for creating graphically reskinned versions of Crysis. As soon as you want to do something unique or implement any functionality specific to your game you're in some serious trouble... and don't even get me started on the code quality!

I assume this was an earlier version, so things might have improved.

This is fricken ironic, because from my experience with UDK, it is only suitable for creating graphically reskinned versions of Unreal Tournament. As soon as you want to do something unique or implement any functionality specific to your game you're in some serious trouble.

 

[sea]

Now all that's needed is the years training it takes to be able to take advantage of such an engine.

Not really. CryEngine 2 is really easy to work with, and an experienced level designer could easily get the hang of it in a matter of days. I imagine CryEngine 3 is even easier to work with. That said, I can't speak from a programming perspective, but on the design front it's probably the best engine I've seen as far as just being able to jump in and get stuff done goes.

 

[Davaris]

This is fricken ironic, because from my experience with UDK, it is only suitable for creating graphically reskinned versions of Unreal Tournament. As soon as you want to do something unique or implement any functionality specific to your game you're in some serious trouble.

I haven't looked at UDK beyond downloading it last year and having a look at their tools.

Personally I don't like script only engines, because they tie you in to using their engine forever, which I assume they think is clever business practice?

Script only is easier to get up and running, but the downside is you can't use libraries you have built up in C++, or use other libraries on the internet. So I want source code access, or I don't consider them.

 

[Zed]

make an isometric TB RPG!

 

[deuxhero]

Meh, wake me when the Interstate 76 and Mechwarrior mods are ported to this so I don't need to buy a virus infected tech demo to play them.

 

[eugene2k]

make an isometric TB RPG!

I second that. If UDK or crysdk is useful for anything more than creating fps clones, this challenge would prove it. Otherwise the engine is not very flexible and one is better off with unity.

 

[Baron]

make an isometric TB RPG!

But only a handful of gamers worldwide would play it, those being on the 'Dex. And of those, only two would pay for it, and all but one would assail it.

 

[sea]

make an isometric TB RPG!

I second that. If UDK or crysdk is useful for anything more than creating fps clones, this challenge would prove it. Otherwise the engine is not very flexible and one is better off with unity.

Considering you can make everything from shooters, to RPGs, to platform games, to strategy/tower defense games, to racing games on Unreal, it wouldn't surprise me if you could make an isometric game as well.

 

[eugene2k]

make an isometric TB RPG!

I second that. If UDK or crysdk is useful for anything more than creating fps clones, this challenge would prove it. Otherwise the engine is not very flexible and one is better off with unity.

Considering you can make everything from shooters, to RPGs, to platform games, to strategy/tower defense games, to racing games on Unreal, it wouldn't surprise me if you could make an isometric game as well.

Position of the camera is not important. The turn-based bit is.

 

[sea]

make an isometric TB RPG!

I second that. If UDK or crysdk is useful for anything more than creating fps clones, this challenge would prove it. Otherwise the engine is not very flexible and one is better off with unity.

Considering you can make everything from shooters, to RPGs, to platform games, to strategy/tower defense games, to racing games on Unreal, it wouldn't surprise me if you could make an isometric game as well.

Position of the camera is not important. The turn-based bit is.

And why is that so difficult to do? You can already specify just about every conceivable parameter for your enemy types, etc., I'm not sure why it'd be such an obstacle to carry out combat in a turn-based fashion. Sure, right out of the box you probably can't do that, but I don't see why it'd be any more difficult than with any other game engine.

 

[SCO]

Famous last words.

 

[sea]

Possibly, but I'm genuinely curious. I guess it just seems like the kind of thing that a full-size development team could implement without much issue... it's probably still a lot less work than building a competitive game engine and renderer from scratch.

 

[Davaris]

Possibly, but I'm genuinely curious. I guess it just seems like the kind of thing that a full-size development team could implement without much issue... it's probably still a lot less work than building a competitive game engine and renderer from scratch.

What you'd need to do is write a class that over looks all the characters, puts them all in order and can stop their AI thinking and responding, when it is not their turn.

There is also a list of effects that affect each creature, depending on potions they drink, items they use, or if spells are cast on them. These effects have to be timed, as well as stopped and started, depending on what is occurring in a TB combat. Then you need different timings for these effects when the game returns to real time.

You can do all of the above in almost any engine, but it is fiddly and error prone, if you are doing it for the first time. I'm sure most people look at it and see that real time is easier to do, and more people like it, so they just go with the flow. Real time with pause is also something they consider. There is very little difference between RTwP and real time combat, as far as the programmer is concerned. If you made a game that was TB in and out of combat, it wouldn't be so messy, but RT mixed with TB is a PITA.