About the Authors

Sean Tracy is Crytek's Senior Field Application Engineer for the award-wining CryENGINE. He is responsible for adapting the engine and its features to individual licensees, as well as developing full technical and vertical slice demos for prospective and existing clients. Describing himself as a generalizing specialist, he also gives support directly to CryENGINE licensees, while designing and maintaining their workflows, pipelines, and development techniques.

Sean was recruited by Crytek in 2008 after working as an electronics technician for the Canadian Military. He was recruited due to his role in founding and leading the development on the award winning total conversion project MechWarrior: Living Legends. Since then, he has been featured in numerous gaming magazines and has been invited to speak at many game related trade shows and seminars. He is an avid gamer with extensive modding experience on titles including Never Winter Nights, the Battlefield engine Frostbite, Doom, and Quake.

I would like to thank my wife for her understanding and support throughout the process of writing this book and for her ongoing support in allowing me to do what I truly enjoy for a living. I would also like to thank my brother for co-authoring the book with me as it's a pleasure to be able to work with someone with the same love for the technology as I have. Finally, I'd like to thank Crytek and Packt for their support in allowing me to write this book and for making one of the best game engines in the market.

Dan Tracy is Crytek's Technical Level Designer for the award-winning CryENGINE and Crysis 2. He is responsible for the creation and maintenance of numerous technical features and external applications used for telemetry and optimization. Viewed as more than a level designer, Dan prides himself on pushing the envelope when it comes to improving both technical and game related designs across multiple production disciplines.

Dan was recruited by Crytek in 2009 after previously working as a Quality Assurance Technician for BioWare. He was recruited due to his pivotal role in co-founding and leading development on the award winning total conversion project MechWarrior: Living Legends. Since then, he has been featured in numerous gaming magazines and has been interviewed by multiple media outlets. Dan is a passionate gamer, but an even more passionate modder and game designer, with vast knowledge and experience with multiple engines and titles including Never Winter Nights' Aurora, Battlefield's engine Frostbite, Unreal 3, and CryENGINE. This is Dan's first book.

I would like to thank my friends and family for giving me their support during the crunch time of the Crysis 2 production, which also paralleled the creation of this book. If it wasn't for them, this wouldn't have been possible. I would also like to thank my brother for co-authoring the book with me as well as Crytek for providing me with this amazing opportunity to share my knowledge of CryENGINE with the world. Finally, I'd like to thank Packt for their support and setting this whole project in motion and publishing my first ever book.