Phoenix Fang
Banned
So can anyone explain to us non tech guys what's the catch and how good is the engine?
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Amazon releases new free game engine Lumberyard (based on CryEngine)
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
element
Member
It is pretty much what CryEngine was 6 months ago with better importer, netcode from DoubleHelix (used in Killer Instinct), and built in ties to Amazon Cloud Services and Twitch.
Technically from a rendering standpoint, it is just as good as anything out there.
Workflow, is TBD. CryEngine was very quirky at times.
It is a very welcome addition to technology and the price is right, if you build your game correctly.
bodyboarder
Member
But that's on on par with other providers I'd imagine?
Phoenix Fang
Banned
Thanks for the information.
funkystudent
Member
I guess this is what came of that deal between amazing on Crytek a while ago that reportedly saved Crytek.
I love the look of the CryEngine but the one thing you always hear is Crytek sucks at giving support so no one uses it.
A CryEngines base + Amazon support could be a real amazing combination.
I love the look of the CryEngine but the one thing you always hear is Crytek sucks at giving support so no one uses it.
A CryEngines base + Amazon support could be a real amazing combination.
LukasTaves
Member
What's the names of the pirate and the van helsing games? They looked really good.
And damn at this announcement. There's a shot which seems to be really easy to delegate a task to the cloud. I wonder how it will impact Ms' plans, as apparently Amazon is beating them to the punch in making the tech available.
And damn at this announcement. There's a shot which seems to be really easy to delegate a task to the cloud. I wonder how it will impact Ms' plans, as apparently Amazon is beating them to the punch in making the tech available.
AusRoachman
Member
This is pretty awesome for devs , crytek always had iffy support but under a giant like Amazon I think it could grow to be pretty huge . Locking to there network services would actually be a good thing for small hobby devs like me , no need for pun or any other network solutions .
Also not a huge twitch user but that integration could be an awesome way to build a following.ultimately for a non artist like me it will boil down to what models they support and will they have a dedicated store like unity (one of the big reasons I use unity atm)
Also not a huge twitch user but that integration could be an awesome way to build a following.ultimately for a non artist like me it will boil down to what models they support and will they have a dedicated store like unity (one of the big reasons I use unity atm)
Another thing is, currently if you want to play around with CE you either have to take the very old and oudated free version or get a subscription on Steam. This thing pretty much kills any reason to get that sub (not that I think that they really have that many subs anyway) for anyone that wants to dive into the engine and try it out.
Wow, this seems big, engine licensing is expensive so it could be very lucrative to devs who are cost conscious. Also, if they can provide push-button online infrastructure that's a huge plus too. Very sneaky, though I wonder if this confirms they are not working on their own games, or does it mean they are going to dog-food their own engine.
ashecitism
Member
This is not super important though. Unless you're running League of Legends or something that is so utterly massive and has a reliable player count you'll never get to that point. Your in house hosting will never have the same uptime, nor will it be easy to add servers for surge usage or remove them as things decline.
Forsaken82
Member
Lichdom came out a year or two ago.
Dictator93
Member
Pretty crazy, man. I want to see what comes out of this.
I wonder what CE features it currently has and what they added.
I wonder what CE features it currently has and what they added.
No Lumberyard game will release on XBone then.
Glitchesarecool
Member
Fascinating. I can't wait to see what comes out of this engine.
Brilliant move on their part too. They can make all that money back through the integration of their own services.
Brilliant move on their part too. They can make all that money back through the integration of their own services.
SEGAvangelist
Member
Why not?
Seems like all games on Bone would have to communicate with Azure for profile related things and cloud saves. Guess that stuff is probably given a pass though.
I'm pretty sure the screenshots in the OP are from some of their own games (both existing and canceled) plus the one Gunfire is making.
Like the Clash of Clans-esque one I'm assuming is the third person melee combat MOBA from Amazon Seattle.
More games use 3rd party cloud services than there are 1st parties which use Azure. Of course you'll be able to use the engine.
XBL API's. You don't talk directly in the engine, that's the point of the API.
In the FAQ they specifically mention that you'll be able to develop for Xbox One and PS4, though.
Phoenix Fang
Banned
Not every game has online features though and I'm sure that's something Amazon has probably worked out with Microsoft.
Carry on, lol.
Aws.
Seems like a pretty big investment in the hope that people will build some games to use their services but I guess Amazon is all about leveraging their services and playing the long game. Seems like it wasn't too long ago I was reading about the licensing deal so they turned that around pretty quickly.
SomedayTheFire
Member
Yeah I'm a programmer, but I've no idea about the workflow of creating a game.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Yeah, is this surprising? Servers aren't cheap, those prices are in line with most other cloud based server providers, and spinning up your own HW is not only expensive, but non-trivial (and would require full time server admins).
I don't see how this is a tradeoff. A small company won't ever acrue those kinds of server costs and a company with a game popular enough to would presumably have calculated the cost benefit of not having to use their own HW
Evolution of Metal
Member
A plug-in for Maya/Max is probably just as good as exporting in FBX technically, but that surely leaves a ton of practical problems.
Question: what happens if you want to work with Blender/Modo/Cinema4D/Houdini instead of Maya?
Say what you will about Amazon, but I appreciate it when a successful company re-invests its money in a variety of ventures rather than sitting on it.
In short, you're fucked (thats why I already said the asset pipeline sucks if you're an Indie). CE simply is an engine tailored towards AAA development with Autodesk products. I admit I have not kept up with every detail in the last 1-2 years, I remember they wanted to improve on this but I am not sure how far they have ever gotten).
There are some efforts like https://github.com/travnick/CryBlend/releases from the community but in general CE has always fallen off my list due to this. UE4/Unity is much better (not perfect) in this regard.
Yay for Modo
.thomasmahler
Moon Studios
Unity still has the best documentation out there. I recently tried to dabble with UE4, but the documentation is horrible and if you're stuck on something, you're basically on your own.
CryEngine was even worse. The fact that almost nobody other than Crytek ever used CryEngine for anything also worries me as a developer.
I'd guess it'll take years and years before this thing becomes a tool that can challenge Unity. Just being able to produce sexy graphics isn't enough, it needs to be super easy to use, the documentation needs to be great, it needs to be super extensible and it needs to run on any and all systems for this thing to become viable.
CryEngine was even worse. The fact that almost nobody other than Crytek ever used CryEngine for anything also worries me as a developer.
I'd guess it'll take years and years before this thing becomes a tool that can challenge Unity. Just being able to produce sexy graphics isn't enough, it needs to be super easy to use, the documentation needs to be great, it needs to be super extensible and it needs to run on any and all systems for this thing to become viable.
Twitch ads built into the games. (Not for the person playing the game but the viewers, make them want to interact with the gamers more then have them deal with ads as they wait to get back to the interacting.)
None of these are Open Source.
hobblygobbly
Member
I'll definitely be tinkering with it this weekend and I think I'll make it a goal to use it for my next Ludum Dare game jam as a challenge coming up in the next few months.
However it seems pretty close to the stock CryEngine, just with a lot of AWS features and a lot of other third party tools. Interesting enough. Uses lua as the scripting layer, can also use C++ natively.
However the issue of only being allowed to use AWS infrastructure for reading/writing any data can hamper commercial adoption when they don't want to rely or use AWS infrastructure, so i.e you can't use Microsoft's Azure for your game or even your own infrastructure it seems. I get that's the caveat but I don't feel that's a caveat large productions will accept, seems suited for smaller productions and indies. A lot of projects won't be comfortable with only being allowed to use AWS for server infrastructure of any kind that their game may require, whether it's as small as posting high scores to a web page to game servers, it'll need to be done via AWS.
Edit: Nevermind it seems you can use your own hardware/network infrastructure, just not a competitor's like Microsoft's Azure. If you use a third party, it has to be AWS. If you run your own, it's fine. That's cool.
From the FAQ, (wasn't loading for me earlier).
So basically if you use a web service it HAS to be AWS, but you don't have to if you have your own infrastructure. They just basically don't want people using stuff like Microsoft's Azure which is totally reasonable.
However it seems pretty close to the stock CryEngine, just with a lot of AWS features and a lot of other third party tools. Interesting enough. Uses lua as the scripting layer, can also use C++ natively.
However the issue of only being allowed to use AWS infrastructure for reading/writing any data can hamper commercial adoption when they don't want to rely or use AWS infrastructure, so i.e you can't use Microsoft's Azure for your game or even your own infrastructure it seems. I get that's the caveat but I don't feel that's a caveat large productions will accept, seems suited for smaller productions and indies. A lot of projects won't be comfortable with only being allowed to use AWS for server infrastructure of any kind that their game may require, whether it's as small as posting high scores to a web page to game servers, it'll need to be done via AWS.
Edit: Nevermind it seems you can use your own hardware/network infrastructure, just not a competitor's like Microsoft's Azure. If you use a third party, it has to be AWS. If you run your own, it's fine. That's cool.
From the FAQ, (wasn't loading for me earlier).
So basically if you use a web service it HAS to be AWS, but you don't have to if you have your own infrastructure. They just basically don't want people using stuff like Microsoft's Azure which is totally reasonable.
KiefbladeMaster
Member
What? I wanted to play HUNT so bad though.
Both Amazon Seattle and Double Helix seem to be working on online competitive games.
Amazon Seattle's is rumored to be some kind of third person melee action take on MOBAs.
For Double Helix, it isn't clear exactly what they're doing, though I suspect there's some hints in at least one of the OP screenshots. Which of them would be hard to say.
They also have another California studio, but it's unclear if they make core oriented games.
GuitarAtomik
Member
]: That blows. I was looking forward to that one. Tragic can't catch a damn break.