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CryENGINE 3 Game Development: Beginner's Guide
CryENGINE 3 Game Development: Beginner's Guide

CryENGINE 3 Game Development: Beginner's Guide: Discover how to use the CryENGINE 3 free SDK, the next-generation, real-time game development tool with this book and ebook.

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CryENGINE 3 Game Development: Beginner's Guide

Chapter 2. Breaking Ground with Sandbox

You may now be asking yourself, "I've downloaded the CryENGINE 3 SDK. Now how do I start making games with it?" Such a question has far-reaching implications and is awfully difficult to answer! So in my attempt to answer this question, let's create our own game together, in a short amount of time, using some of the functions and entities that the CryENGINE 3 SDK gives to us straight out of the box.

In this chapter, we will be:

  • Beginning with our first example using out of the box features of the engine

  • Creating and sculpting terrain for a new level, from scratch

  • Creating and using terrain texture layers

  • Creating vegetation groups and applying them to your level

  • Creating and setting a basic time of day to light our level

What makes a game?


In the previous chapter, we saw that majority of the games created on the CryENGINE SDK have historically been first-person shooters containing a mix of sandbox and directed gameplay. If you have gone so far as to purchase a book on the use of the CryENGINE 3 SDK, then I am certain that you have had some kind of idea for a game, or even improvements to existing games, that you might want to make. It has been my experience professionally that should you have any of these ideas and want to share or sell them, the ideas that are presented in a playable format, even in early prototype form, are far more effective and convincing than any PowerPoint presentation or 100-page design document.

Reducing, reusing, recycling

Good practice when creating prototypes and smaller scale games, especially if you lack the expertise in creating certain assets and code, is to reduce, reuse, and recycle. To break down what I mean:

  • Reduce the amount of new assets and new code you need to make

  • Reuse...

Developing out of the box


As mentioned earlier, the CryENGINE 3 SDK has a huge amount of out-of-the-box features for creating games.

Let's begin by following a few simple steps to make our first game world.

Before proceeding with this example, it's important to understand the features it is displaying; the level we will have created by the end of this chapter will not be a full, playable game, but rather a unique creation of yours, which will be constructed using the first major features we will need in our game. It will provide an environment in to which we can design gameplay.

With the ultimate goal of this chapter being to create our own level with the core features immediately available to us, we must keep in mind that these examples are orientated to compliment a first-person shooter and not other genres. The first-person shooter genre is quite well defined as new games come out every year within this genre. So, it should be fairly easy for any developer to follow these examples.

In my...

Time for action - creating a new level


Let's follow a few simple steps to create our own level:

  1. Start the Editor.exe application.

  2. Select File | New. This will present you with a New Level dialog box that allows you to do the adjustments of some principal properties of your masterpiece to come. The following screenshot shows the properties available in New Level:

  3. Name this New Level, as Book_Example_1. The name that you choose here will identify this level for loading later as well as creating a folder and .cry file of the same name.

  4. In the Terrain section of the dialog box, set Heightmap Resolution to 1024x1024, and Meters Per Unit to 1.

  5. Click on OK and your New Level will begin to load. This should occur relatively fast, but will depend on your computer's specifications.

  6. You will know the level has been loaded when you see Ready in the status bar. You will also see an ocean stretching out infinitely and some terrain slightly underneath the water.

  7. Maneuver your camera so that you have a good, overall...

Time for action - creating your own heightmap


You must have created a new map to follow this example.

Having sufficiently beaten the terrain system to death through explanation, let's get on with what we are most interested in, which is creating our own heightmap to use for our game:

  1. As discussed in the previous example, you should now see a flat plane of terrain slightly submerged beneath the ocean.

  2. At the top of the Sandbox interface in the main toolbar, you will find a menu selection called Terrain; open this. The following screenshot shows the options available in the Terrain menu.

  3. As we want to adjust the terrain, we will select the Edit Terrain option. This will open the Terrain Editor window, which is shown in the following screenshot:

  4. You can zoom in and pan this window to further inspect areas within the map. Click-and-drag using the right mouse button to pan the view and use the mouse wheel to zoom in and zoom out.

  5. The Terrain Editor window has a multitude of options, which can be used...

Using alternative ways for creating terrain


There are still two other methods we have not yet explored for creating terrain. Before experimenting with either of these, I recommend that you create a new level.

Generating procedural terrain

Use the Tools menu in the Terrain Editor and click on Generate Terrain; you can modify many parameters when generating new terrain procedurally like this:

Have a go hero – generating procedural terrain

Try adjusting some of the automatic generation parameters like:

  • Feature Size: This value handles the general height manipulations within the seed and the size of each mound within the seed. Since the size of the feature depends greatly on rounded numbers, it is easy to end up with a perfectly rounded island. This is not realistic, so it is best to leave this value to around 7.

  • Bumpiness / Noise (Fade): This is a noise filter for the level. The greater the value, the more the noise that will appear on the heightmap.

  • Detail (Passes): This value controls how detailed...

Time for action - creating some basic terrain texture layers


Applying a good set of terrain layers depends heavily on the environment in which you wish to create your map. In this particular example, we will use a somewhat straightforward setup of rocks, forest, grass, mud, sand, and underwater.

  1. Create a new map and generate some terrain, or open Book_Example_1_no_color.cry because we need to have some terrain loaded for us to paint onto like a blank canvas.

  2. Open the Terrain Texture Layers window found in the main sandbox toolbar under Terrain | Texture.

  3. In this window we want to create some new layers because, as we can see, it has only a single layer at present.

  4. Create a new layer using the Add Layer command, as shown in the following screenshot:

  5. Rename the new layer grass.

  6. Next, change the Surface texture of this layer.

  7. Use the Change Layer Texture command shown in the following figure, and navigate to Book_Chapter_2_Assets\low_detail_terrain_textures\directory and select the grass.tif texture...

Time for action - creating some flora for your level


Without further ado, let's bring some life to the map we have been working on.

  1. Open Example_Level_2.cry or your own, already textured level.

  2. From the RollupBar, open the Terrain tab and click on the Vegetation button as shown in the following screenshot:

    Before we can paint the vegetation, we first must add in some objects that we want to use. The first vegetation we will place will be some trees.

  3. Click on the icon called Add Vegetation Category, as shown in the following screenshot:

  4. Name the new category Trees.

  5. Select the newly created Trees category.

  6. Click on the add vegetation object icon as shown in the following screenshot.

  7. Navigate to .../Objects/Natural/vegetation/rocky_ravines/ and select a_spruce_a.cgf, then click on Open.

    Note

    You can hold Control and click on multiple objects in a category at once.

  8. All of the highlighted trees have now been placed in this category. You can now start painting with a few of the selected trees or select the...

Time for action - setting up time of day and its basic parameters


Now, the time has come to adjust the overall lighting of our level. The fastest and easiest way to achieve a huge variety of atmospheres and settings is by using the Time of day feature in CryENGINE.

The sun in CryENGINE is approximated by a colored, directional light without distance attenuation. This is important to understand as its properties are similar to that of a regular light, and properties such as color and specular level can be adjusted. There is an important distinction, however, to the sun and other lights in CryENGINE, as the sun uses a technology called cascaded shadow maps.

  1. Open the Time Of Day dialog box from Terrain | Time Of Day.

    Note that when you highlight any of the basic parameters in the time of day dialog, there are key frames set already represented by the small, yellow squares on the timeline in the preceding screenshot.

    This timeline is represented by a 24-hour slider at the top of the Time Of Day...

Summary


In this chapter, we've found out that gameplay needs an environment in order to take place, and so the creation and design of a level's environment is a critical factor in developing top-quality games. The level's environment is just as important as character design and presents several unique challenges to designers.

Designing levels breaks down into two distinct parts. The first of which is the look and feel of the level's environment, which we've gone over in a good amount of detail in this chapter. The second, which we will explore in the next chapter, is the design and challenge of the play space itself. The whole purpose to this chapter was to provide the space and ambience to host the various challenges of AI enemies, puzzles, and trials within our game.

Having made an interesting environment, let's fill it with some gameplay, using entities and objects essential to making our first game example!

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Key benefits

  • Begin developing your own games of any scale by learning to harness the power of the Award Winning CryENGINE 3 game engine
  • Build your game worlds in real-time with CryENGINE 3 Sandbox as we share insights into some of the tools and features useable right out of the box.
  • Harness your imagination by learning how to create customized content for use within your own custom games through the detailed asset creation examples within the book.
  • Contains C++ programming examples designed to expose powerful game customization opportunities available to game programmers.
  • Translate your game design into a functioning game by following the easy step by step examples exploring level building, visual scripting, and many of the other tools within CryENGINE 3.

Description

CryENGINE is a complete game development environment used by AAA game development studio Crytek to produce blockbuster games such as Crysis 1, 2 and 3. This complete Beginner's Guide takes the would be game developer through the steps required to create a game world complete with event scripting, user interface and 3D environment in the free CryENGINE SDK. Learn to create game worlds with the CryENGINE 3 Sandbox, the tool used to create AAA games like the soon to be released Crysis 3. Follow straightforward examples to sculpt the terrain, place vegetation, set up lighting, create game sounds, script with Lua and code with C++. Learn to navigate the interface within the CryENGINE 3 Sandbox, the tool used to create AAA games like Crysis 1 and 2, as well as the soon to be released Crysis 3. Learn to create your own worlds by following straight forward examples to sculpt the terrain, place vegetation, set up lighting, create game sounds, and script with the Lua language. The book covers all beginner aspects of game development including an introduction to C++ for non- coders.

Who is this book for?

This book is written with the beginner and casual developer in mind. The freely available version of the CryENGINE® 3 is used for all examples in this book.

What you will learn

  • Learn to navigate within the CryENGINE 3 Sandbox.
  • Learn to create your own worlds by following straightforward examples to sculpt and mould the terrain and place vegetation.
  • Learn to model with the integrated tools available to designers and artist in the CryENGINE3 Sandbox.
  • Learn methods of visual scripting used to create amazingly complex scripted events
  • Learn how to start creating and compile C++ game code to create your own custom game.
  • Learn to use Autodesk Scaleform to create high fidelity 3d heads up displays and menus for the player.
  • Learn how to create your own custom characters and objects for use within the examples.
  • Learn to create your own cut scenes, animations and videos using the power of the CryENGINE3 engine to maximize the output.
  • Learn to use FMOD designer along with the CryENGINE 3 to add sound and music to your game.
  • Explore some of the key performance and optimization strategies for levels and learn to share your content with others.

Product Details

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Publication date : Sep 21, 2012
Length: 354 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849692069
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Product Details

Publication date : Sep 21, 2012
Length: 354 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849692069
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Introducing the CryENGINE 3 Free SDK Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Breaking Ground with Sandbox Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Playable Levels in No Time Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
I'm a Scripter, Not a Coder Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
C++ and Compiling Your Own Game Code Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
User Interface and HUD Creation with Flash Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Assets for the CryENGINE 3 Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Real-time Cutscenes and Cinematic Events Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Immersion through Audio Design Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Preparing to Share Your Content Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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railerswim Mar 28, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I love it! This book has helped me get a great start. I'm halfway through but I have hit some snags because of my limited education (we haven't and won't get into programming xml files or anything at my University, so much for a college education). I already recommended it to my fellow dev team for my indie game company. I ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!
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sefirosu777 Oct 23, 2012
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I Love the way this book is written. The format is great and the wording is perfect, its easy to understand. A Must have for anyone interested in game development. The only problem I have with it is the terrain_materials folder in missing from the chapter 2 assets. I think that's what is causing the Example_Base_Terrain_Layers.lay to not work, I get an error when I try to open it. Hopefully that will be fixed soon cuz besides that this is the greatest game development book of all time.
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Mohamed Dec 23, 2012
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No book explains everything regarding game development or a game engine nor it will can.However, CryENGINE 3 Game Development: Beginner's Guide explains all the fundamentals that the CryENGINE 3 Free SDK has. From the introduction, creating levels or sculpting terrain, scripting through Flow Graph, coding in C++, User Interface and HUD creation using Flash, assets, etc... This book will help you begin your first steps through CryENGINE 3 and when you're done, you're ready to create levels and content in this engine.If you're interested to learn creating content through CryENGINE 3 SDK, don't hesitate to buy this book.
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S. M. Prinke Dec 25, 2012
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For those interested in game developement this book gives information you need on the cryengine. It fills in where other books do not.
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W Boudville Nov 06, 2012
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It is encouraging that the Cryengine 3 was used to make actual successful games, like the Crysis series. This helps validate the book's appeal to a newcomer. But be aware that the book is not a quick read. Yes, much effort has been expended by the package's developers to streamline the steps you need to do within it to make various and many effects. The reality is that game development has so much in the way of details and coding that is indispensible.Specifically, you need a pre-existing background in programming. This book is not akin to one on, say, webpage design (like this one I recently reviewed, Learning Adobe Muse ). Game development is far more complex. Many details cannot be swept under the rug of an SDK GUI. Consequently, the book has snippets of C++ code that demonstrate certain points of functionality. Oh, and that means you need to know C++. By the way, the choice of C++ is accurate. Serious game programming tends to fall back on C++ as the underlying language of choice, or necessity, to be more pragmatic. C++ and its core originating subset, C, gets close to the silicon, for maximum performance.The book has many recommendations germane to the practicalities of game development. One keen aspect is the use of white boxing. Where you model some object with a simpler geometrical object, in the interests of rapid prototyping. The idea is to get quickly to a baseline functionality so that your testers and you can get feedback on how the game plays. Later, you can go back and build the final object.While I mentioned the need to know C++, it turns out that Cryengine has alternatives. You can do scripting. Here the design flow is more rapid than having to wait for your machine to compile and link in C++ changes. The scripting language is Lua, (see Programming in Lua, Second Edition for a text devoted to it). But Cryengine proffers another and very different scripting approach. The use of visual scripting via what it calls a Flow Graph. This is a graphical drag and drop method of hooking up various entities, from the output of one to the input of another. Very intuitive and akin to chip layout software, if you have that background. Again, to do rapid development, either scripting approach may benefit you.
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