CRYENGINE

One of the big problems with "as a service" software. I'd like to pull one of my old projects, that I put many hours into, back out and take a look at it. It seems as though that's a no go. Service is shut down. edit - 2.2 hours on record according to review stats, definitely broken. If I remember correctly I put more than 5,000 hours into the steam version of my project.

The engine (version 3 specifically) itself was pretty good. It's flowgraph tools were ahead of it's time, giving you the capability to build game mechanics without having to write any code. Although now the system is a bit stagnant in Cryengine V with Unreal surpassing and Unity with very good asset store options.

As for the company, Crytek has a habit of not paying their employees and suing other game developers...And breaking "as a service" software. Besides this old project that I can't get access to too show a couple people I don't intend on using Crytek software.

Cryengine is a good tool for game artists, especially in comparison with most modern engines. If you can get past the learnng curve, and agree to some of the engines more finicky demands and requirments, it's a massively rewardng piece of software.

A word to the wise to those thining of dabbling in the engine though. Be prepared to learn and think for yourself as the engine doesn't have the same kind of community and support network that Unreal/Unity provide. Most of the information you will need is contained within the extensive documentation, but it's up to the artist to make of it what they will. I see many people try it out and then publicly denounce the engine, threatening to jump ship to another, as if Crytek cared. The developers of this engine aren't about fostering an indie community around their engine, it's not homegrown. This is a piece of highend software that is only really used for high-end production.

Although using the Cryengine is not withouts it's challenges, it can bring the most out of your work it a relatively short space of time when the user grasps the fundamentals.

The software is brilliant, however, it is very difficult or prehaps next to impossible to implement game features. The visual scripting known as "flowgraph " doesn't measure up to nearly half the capacity of Unreal's visual scripting known as "blueprint" maybe in a future update, crytek make the development process more managable.
Cryengine allows the use of C++ and lua to implement game features. However, even as an experienced programmer in C++, Python and Actionscript 3.0, it is very difficult to pinpoint where or how to start coding for a specific actor or entity.

It's just mind bubbling aahhhh...

Really well developed engine. Shame it has to run through steam since the payment system is a nightmare. But a great engine nonetheless.

BEWARE:
If you cancel your subscription for CryEngine, it is a major pain to resubscribe and get it downloaded again. You have to jump through quite a few hoops, and it takes a couple days.

So yes, I reccomend the software, but no I don't recommend steam, really wish this ran standalone and had a payment system seperate from Steam.

zezeriskyrim: best engine
zezeriskyrim: great taste
zezeriskyrim: 8/8



Review as of 3.8.1

Pros
1. Optimized
2. The Code they ship with the engine is sufficient enough to make a perfectly working game.
3. New voxel based features including fog and an Experimental Global Illumination
4. The Devs are more open about their work on the forums now
5. The Documentations are updated daily , with some tutorials being written slowly by the devs.
6. VR Support
Cons
1. Still no Roadmap for things to come
2. No support for any kind of Video texture , need to get scaleform from autodesk for it...

Other than that I have not hit any roadblocks using the engine since the release of EaaS.
I r8 it 8/8 m8.

This is an amazing piece of software that, on Steam at least, is highly underrated. People complain about it being too complex, or needing 3rd-party programs to develop assets, but all of that is, in this case, trivial. This game engine comes stocked with hundreds of assets for you to use, and as long as you don't use the ones they tell you not to, (ie. some sound files as listed in the EULA), you can develop your game without having to pay royalty. The complaint that people don't want to pay thousands of dollars in external software is also a bit premature. If you want to develop a AAA quality game, guess what! You're going to have to pitch in some money!

CRYENGINE 3 is amazing, and Crytek still continues to update it regularly, making this one of the best options out there for a 3D game engine.

PROS:
- Great software
- Amazing things can be done.
- Great for experience and skills to be used later in the career.
- doesnt have to be used only for games!

CONS:
- Expensive as its a industry used software.
- takes long time to learn
-

Strange that it counts the Number of hours spent in the GameSDK rather than the Editor, but whatever. I have around 300+ hours in the editor.

The engine is really REALLY powerful, that being said its not for the faint of heart to develop on. If you have a solid programmer or two though you can make the most AMAZING looking game, and the animation system allows for extremely powerful and smooth gameplay animations.

Honestly, after using Cryengine for a while I would never be able to go back to Unreal 4, Cryengine is just so supperior to build things quickly, and make it look amazing with very little extra work. The gameplay building aspect of it could be easier, but thankfully they are working hard on the documentation and have make big strides recently. When 3.7 comes out there will be almost no reason at all to use UE4 or Unity anymore. This engine performs amazing as well, I have a full very filled scene at 3 million to 4 million polygons with 3500 drawcalls, and I am getting 89-110 FPS solid on a single 980. I have had upwards of 9 Million running smooth before.

There is just no comparison for power. Usability? Thats another story.

CryEngine is good. But the documentation has to be among the worst I have ever seen. There is barely any good official documentation and (this is my main problem) there are almost no good community tutorials.

I switched to UnrealEngine 4 which has straight up amazing tutorials and documentation. The official stuff for UE4 is good but the best part about it is the community. There are thousands of great youtube tutorials out there, you don't even have to learn how to code thanks to the blueprint system.

If you are a beginner I suggest you try UnrealEngine4. If you are a AAA company then this one might be for you. But for indie / hobby devs CryEngine is a bad choice.

This is a very powerful game engine with a great sandbox editor that comes loaded with good looking sample assets. Terrain editor is great and makes creating a custom topology for your level a breeze. However... object creation/editing is pretty much non-existent and object editing is cumbersome. The documentation is borderline useless if you are looking to do anything more advanced than just placing sample assets, running around shooting sample asset weapons at sample asset targets from sample asset vehicles... Starting to see the theme? What you get for a ridiculously low monthly subscription fee is the need to buy several thousand dollars worth of Autodesk software to be able to create and export any of your own original asset content - and even then its through a hoaky plugin. There is no support for any open tools like Blender, MakeHuman, Gimp, or any non-Autodesk commercial tools. And speaking of no support, the community is still incredibly small. Search through youtube, you'll find a guy that has some videos... If you want to write your own plugin to bridge the gap, good luck ... there is no documentation on the seven or so custom crytek file types, and the attempts to create export plugins (i.e. cryblend) are equally poorly documented and implemented. Don't get me wrong, I really really want to be a fan of this game engine. With the power and simplicity in so many of the important areas, it just comes up too short in the critical areas to be able to build something you've created. I even gave it one last shot by searching through the internet to find their development roadmap, thinking now that they are hurting for cash they might be looking at expanding their scope to include the community they are trying to serve... alas, the asset roadmap has a long romance with Autodesk ahead. For me, it's back to UDK which has an incredibly strong community, open asset support throughout the industry (open and commercial) and all that for just a little bit more a month with a small royalty fee. If you can't create your own content, what are you doing building games when you can just be playing them...

Plug and play gold - 10/10
CRYENGINE is the most technically advanced engine in game development, yet it is remarkably easy to manipulate. The objects and terrain have predictable properties, the advanced lighting effects are self contained and easy to toggle, and it supports both DX11 and Mantle.

As a disclaimer I have not used Unreal 4, but it would have to be very good indeed to warrant switching.

Best engine for indie developers, presently cheapest plan, small lack of documentation that is overshadowed by a sprawling community at the forums and ever growing online documentation with examples etc... I highly recommend this engine to any new developer with limited funds. Engine is shipped with already done FPS, those include animations, textures, meshes, sounds, GUI systems, and many more. From FPS to RPG to RTS.... there is a small jump for skilled programmer.

From all engines that are reasonably available for developer teams (or single dev - like me), this one is:
- cheapest option by far, for only 10 eur per month you get access to considerable C++ source, and ability to publish any game during that time with 0 royalties or hidden costs!
- greatly tuned to be usable with minimal change (out of the box look is matchless)
- access to C++ source code (to a level 95% programmers would ever need) (you can get whole source contacting them for a contract)
- Extremely powerful Sandbox software, where map and content creating (mannequin, flowgraphs...) is best in its class, all done with 0 need in programming. (People have made RPGs with flowgraphs alone)
- Streamlined communication between C++, lua scripting, xml, flash.
- Scaleform GUI (basically you can make a GUI -or whatever you want- in flash, and then -extremely easily- import it ingame)
- Flowgraphs, intuitive system of rapidly designing game logic (in a few min you can make a regular FPS on a empty map: spawning, enemy spawning, camera, sounds, notifications...etc)
- Engine is designed, for small to huge teams, just look at the dev teams that use this engine and are still in development, for instnance games like : Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Star Citizen, Ryse, Evolve and many many more..
- Most importantly. engine is regulary updated, its imbued with new technology (recent deal with AMD and MANTLET integration)...etc!

GREAT!!

I did allot of reading about this package, at first it was on reviews like this one here on Steam.... There are allot of un-greatful mis-guided brats running around posting up things like "CRAP!!!1!" when you read into it this would reflect their understanding of what they are purchasing. Whilst it is a powerfull state of the art robust development tool it is not a $2.50 everythings done for you, you just choose where the walls go and pick a splash screen, RPG Maker OMG MADE 5 GAMES THIS WEEKEND didnt-actually-make-a-game-game-maker.....sorry there's nothing wrong with people using those programs, they are great gateways to finding passion for Games Development, however time and time again people have given this bad reviews based on the fact it's difficult to use.

Its difficult to use compared to a toaster and easy compared other development suites, think about what you would like to get out of this. It will be time consuming, you will spend allot of time on the CryDev site flicking through the countless bits of documents surrounding the ins and outs of how too and how NOT too.

Another bum wrap I noted is just that, people complained that there isn't any documentation on how to use this thing.... in-correct there is plenty to read and plenty to help you through. I have found everything I have needed so far (extreme beginer user)

It has a powefull easy-to-use sandbox that from what I can see can be used my people like me who are very basic and down the line becomes very powerful and precise. The process to export and playtest a level you are working on is about 7 clicks or something. ALSO THERE IS ALLOT OF INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION ON THIS PRODUCT ITS JUST NOT STAPLED TO YOUR THICK HEAD FOR YOU.

In summary,

DO BUY THIS IF -

You are aware that you are purchasing access to tools and an engine which is quite amazing with a great level of support ( if you know how to type into a ♥♥♥♥ing google-esk search bar) and understand you will not knock out a unique AAA game over the weekend. It's really quite great I've learnt allot reading allot of documents and peicing bits and peices together.


DON'T BUY THIS IF -

a) You are upset by what you have read because I've personally offended you.
b) You lack the ability to accept / find that this package has multiple arms including the documentation which is on a website
f) You expect to launch it, wave a wand and laugh with GabeN next weekend about how easy the games industry is to master
u) You intend to spend 0.1 hrs using then trash it with a review
k) You are your mothers brother
u) You have the expectation that you will download the ability to code games at the same time you download this utility
h) You don't have spare time / patience to hone a skill or persue a career and or hobbie.

All seriousness its $9, try it out I've found it quite enjoyable so far.

I can recommend this engine if you want to create a first or third person shooter that heavily relies on features as seen in the Crysis Game Series.

Disclaimer: I am a programmer, so my view on the Engine is very code based.

Creating other things soon comes down to massive trial and error due to lack of documentation and not having the source code of the engine available.
There are just too many little hacks for fps games inside the engine you can't get rid of it without massive workarounds which would just not be needed with some minor changes in the core engine code.

To give some examples:

• Why do I need to load a player model into an Actor implementation if I want to use Actor physics entity? (And specify the capsule anyway?)
  Workaround: Load the default Player Model with all its Meshes and Textures and make it invisible, so you can use the Actor Physics Entity.
  
[*]The feet alignment system always expects the gravity on -z, when walking on a wall or on the ceiling the feet gets flipped 90 or 180 degrees...

We've used the CRYENGINE to create a first person puzzle game at our University, a quick impression can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omAnp2eHSwE

There are of course some great features in this engine (the renderer of course), but the engine was built from ground up with the intention to create first or third person shooters (on an open island) and without the ability to change this intention this is hardly any good general engine.

The other side is the absolutely amazing WYSIWYG Sandbox Editor. If you just want to create levels for the integrated shooter, or get a grip on Level Design this might be just the tool for you.

I personally do not want to work with this engine again as long as its so focused on one genre without the ability to change that.

I do not know why people here on steam are complaining about this game engine. CRYENGINE is an awesome engine with a learning curve that people will realize how powerful it can be. I highly recommend everyone to subscribe this engine, if you are really determined to create CRYENGINE games, before making any reaction how bad it is. There are plenty of tutorials available at crydev.net and video lessons like YouTube, etc. I understand the only drawback for using this game engine would be the lack of programming knowledge.

CRYENGINE supports C++, Lua, and Python programming languages. However with the improvement of CRYENGINE's flowgraph system, it actually makes gaming development more understandable and fun. I personally like how the documentation explains the new AI flowgraph behavior scripting system that allows AI characters to behave or interact. Because it generally uses the updated Modular Behavior Tree (MBT) system, it is considered a great learning experience to understand how AI behaviors work, along scripting with Lua and flowgraph.

The terrain generator tool is also awesome. Developing real-time terrain geometry has never been so much fun, unlike UDK's terrain generating system. The terrain generator is simple to use, painting terrain grounds, flora, and trees without any hesitation . UDK terrain generator system does not have those simple features as CRYENGINE does.

I had purchased all CRYENGINE's PacktPub books in eBook format and they are all great reference books for game developers who are interested in knowing more about the CRYENGINE.

I personally believe that CRYENGINE is the best engine for creating real-time open environments. UDK, on the other hand, is only good for creating closed-end environments. However, CRYENGINE can also develop closed-end environments, but renders beautifully with high level of detail.

Before subscribing to CRYENGINE, you must have a mid-to-high end GPU graphics card, like NVIDIA GeForce GTX or AMD Radeons to experience CRYENGINE'S real-time performance. It should work fine on PCs with intel i5/i7 or AMD FX processors with 8GB ram or above.

BIG TIP: SAVE OFTEN!

I've used CryEngine for a few years now. I also dabbled with Unreal, Unity and various other game engines.

For me CryEngine is truly the best 3D realtime rendering engine ever made. Yes Unreal 4 & Unity are simpler engines to learn but once you gain a decent amount of experience with CryEngine you will be blown away and impressed with the engines capabilities. The level of customisation and tweaks allowed are insane, The technology used in the engine is industry leading and docs.cryengine.com provides easy to follow documentation.

CryEngine is as simple as you make it, I could make a basic game in a weekend or I could spend the same time perfecting your particle systems or materials. From what I've seen CryEngine is setup for First-person, Third-person and Racing games but almost any genre of game could be created using it with the exception of voxel-based games.

If you want to make a game that stands out from the crowd, if you want to learn about how game engines work for school or college and if you just want to casually mess around with physics or lighting.. CryEngine is for you.

I highly recommended you try it for at least a month and if you don't like it just cancel your subscription... Easy. Also it's much cheaper than Unreal Engine 4.

CRYENGINE is a truly amazing piece of software. You can achieve anything once you get used to the workflow. I'm sure that there is some really AWESOME stuff coming such as an Asset Store, official FBX support from Crytek, more source code, video tutorials and ability to publish on Mac, Linux, IOS and Android. All those people with bad reviews have NO IDEA what they're talking about...

I definitely recommend this to anyone from a hobbyist to the more serious indie developers! The CRYENGINE hasn't been explored to its full potential by indies yet. I'm sure that this engine will become the unrivalled indie engine once Crytek comes out with more stuff, which should be soon!

People are quick to dismiss this engine are missing out. Sure it's got a a huge learning curve no doubt. But even Unreal Engine 4 came with huge changes from UDK 3 and nobody complained. You won't master it in 3 hours, not even 3 months. If you've used Crytek tools in the past you should be used to these upgrades.

I recommend this to people who have used the SDK in the past. If you haven't touched it however you might want to wait for better documentation. For this cheap of a cost, I think it's worth the lack of polish. If they follow through with their promises, this will only get better in time. They already promised more access to source code it's only a matter of time.

If you take a look at all of the engines, CryEngine has it's place and it's known for having the most robust and expandable feature set. Every engine has its strong points and its weak points.

Also let me highlight this, IF you are actually developing a game and want to test out capabilities use the free SDK. If you see a feature missing from the commercial version you want, ask about it. If it's not available move on to another engine unless you want to take the time to code around that issue.

CRYENGINE has been a strong platform in impressive titles for years. It contains some amazing visual technologies, and the post-processing effect defaults out of the box are great. It comes with things like the incredibly powerful RENDERDOC utility for profiling your draw calls and timings, which is always useful in game development. In general it is good engine for major projects and for workflows that involve multiple people/teams. Unfortunately that's not what their new Engine-as-a-Service paradigm is targeting with a Steam release and $10 single-seat subscription licensing.

I'm going to have to rate this down on Steam, due to a serious disconnect between what they're marketing and the experience you are likely to have with it. It is on Steam specifically to appeal to independent developers with its new subscription based structure that costs less than many MMOs. The editing tool (which is what you're exposed to right at the start) has a lot of presets, behaviors, and objects for first-person shooters, but not for much of anything else. Furthermore, CRYENGINE (without serious tweaks) makes some problematic assumptions about the games you'll want to make with it; the concept of health, gravity, characters, the way it handles player controls, etc. From a quick look around the features in the tools and the demos, you will quickly realize that the package is targeted for gamers who what to try making their own shooter. Again, there are tons of GREAT features in CRYENGINE and it is, at its core, a pretty good engine for the cost.

In closing, CRYENGINE is great for those who are steeped in the workflow and methodologies involved with developing in it. But those people will already know this and won't need to read these reviews. To those interested in just trying out a "triple-A" engine: be warned. There is a significant learning curve (like all engines), but the package you are given with CRYENGINE is prohibitively unintuitive, especially to the uninitiated. I have to vote this down for the simple fact that those reading this review would be better served with any of the other popular engines. The community and resources you have available to you for learning CRYENGINE as a newbie simply pale in comparison to some of the direct competitors, and I'm afraid that's a vitally important aspect when you're targeting this kind of audience.

[EDIT]
Originally I did not recommend this software due to lack of flexibility and lack of documentation. However I did not give up and entered into the LUA Scripting and C++ Programming section of the engine and it surpised me on how flexible the engine suddenly became. So I edit this review with the mindset that if you have previous programming experience and stick through it along the learning curve this engine might really surprise you. As for lack of documentation, there are some sites on the Internet which although obscure, are very informative. I made this custom google search for those who have queries regarding the API, so just enter the terms here (example "entity sound") : https://www.google.com.mt/cse/publicurl?cx=017013921599352745160:llms9o4nwxu

[ORIGINAL]
It's a good engine but still hugely lacks documentation and support for newcomers. The process is not at all streamlined and you are going to have a hard time trying to create anything other than an FPS. Also, import pipelines for popular 3d model types are still non-existent and trying to import custom models requires substantial effort and work.