CryENGINE 3 Cookbook

Over 90 recipes written by Crytek developers for creating third-generation real-time games

Key Features

• Begin developing your AAA game or simulation by harnessing the power of the award winning CryENGINE3
• Create entire game worlds using the powerful CryENGINE 3 Sandbox.
• Create your very own customized content for use within the CryENGINE3 with the multiple creation recipes in this book
• Translate your design into CryENGINE by following the easy step by step recipes exploring flow graph, track view, and many of the other tools within CryENGINE

Book Description

With every successive console generation, the cost, time, and complexity of developing games has grown. Meet CryENGINE3, a middleware engine that is the perfect fit for most developers allowing users to exceed current generation quality standards while using less people and time than ever thought possible.The CryENGINE3 CookBook is packed full of recipes for junior and senior developers alike. It covers everything from creating photo realistic architectural visualizations to implementing advanced physics such as ragdoll and tornado effects. Topics covered include the sandbox, level layout, environment creation, AI, character creation, creating vehicles, and game logic. Every recipe is designed to add AAA quality to your games. The CryENGINE3 SDK has many tools immediately available to developers of all disciplines. For designers the book has recipes for building up your own levels and populating your levels with intelligent AI and photo realistic assets. For artists we have recipes for practical workflow tools and techniques used when working with the advanced CryENGINE shaders and materials. For animators we have recipes that will bring your creations to life using skinned characters and advanced animation systems like locomotion groups. Finally for programmers we have recipes that show how to employ the core mechanics behind entities such as vehicles and weapons while also utilizing the strengths of the physics engine to create a unique and exciting game.

What you will learn

• Navigate and interface within the CryENGINE Sandbox, the tool used to create AAA games like Crysis 2.
• Create your own levels and even entire worlds using recipes for sculpting and molding terrain.
• Model with the integrated tools available to designers and artists in the CryENGINE3 Sandbox.
• Use the cutting edge real time lighting technology of the CryENGINE to bring light to your worlds and explore the use of atmospherics and effects used for today‚Äôs newest games.
• Create and animate AAA characters and other objects for use with the CryENGINE Sandbox.
• Manipulate the advanced AI available to game designers in the CryENGINE3.
• Create your own cut scenes and videos using the power of the CryENGINE3 engine to maximize the output.
• Optimize your creations for optimal performance with maximum visual impact.
• Have fun following interesting game changing physical simulation recipes that can add unique game play opportunities to your levels.
• Use visual scripting to create amazingly complex events as seen in Crysis2.

Who this book is for

This book is written with the casual and professional developer in mind. Fundamental knowledge of some Digital Content Creation Tools, like Photoshop and 3d Studio Max is required. The Software Development Kit version of the CryENGINE is used for all examples, so the reader should have a version of the development kit to follow the recipes contained in this book.