What is Lumberyard?
Lumberyard is a free 3D game engine that has, in addition to typical 3D game engine capabilities, an impressive set of unique qualities. Most impressively, Lumberyard integrates with Amazon Web Services (AWS) for cloud computing and storage. You will learn about AWS in Chapter 9, Employing Cloud Computing and Storage. Lumberyard, also referred to as Amazon Lumberyard, integrates with Twitch to facilitate in-game engagement with fans. We'll cover Twitch in Chapter 10, Engaging With Users Using Twitch.
Another component that makes Lumberyard unique among other game engines is the tremendous support for multiplayer games. As you'll see in Chapter 7, Creating Multiplayer Gameplay, the use of Amazon GameLift empowers developers to instantiate multiplayer game sessions with relative ease.
Lumberyard is presented as a game engine intended for creating cross-platform AAA games. There are two important components of that statement. First, cross-platform refers to, in the case of Lumberyard, the ability to develop games for PC/Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. At the time of this book's publication, additional support for Mac OS, iOS, and Android devices was being worked on. There is no doubt that these additional platforms will be supported soon. The second component of the earlier statement is AAA games. A triple-A (AAA) game is like a top-grossing movie, one that had a tremendous budget, was extensively advertised, and wildly successful. If you can think of a console game (for Xbox One and/or PlayStation 4) that is advertised on national television, it is a sign the title is a AAA game.
Note
Now that this AAA game engine is available for free, it is likely that more than just AAA games will be developed using Lumberyard. This is an exciting time to be a game developer.
More specifically, Amazon hopes that Lumberyard will be used to develop multiplayer online games that use AWS for cloud computing and storage, and that integrate with Twitch for user engagement. The engine is free, but AWS usage is not. Specifics on this issue will be covered Chapter 9, Employing Cloud Computing and Storage. Don't worry, you can create single-player games with Lumberyard as well.
