Personally I liked CryEngine, I wouldn’t of tried to release a game with it (due to lack of support) but it had a hell of a lot going for it. For it to be viable really, a lot more user examples are needed and a CE for dummies guide wouldn’t go a miss.
They could do with dropping scaleform, finishing off the .FBX import for characters and have a way to report bugs (that actually get fixed). Finally start reaching out to partners like speedTree for integration.
It looked great and the performance was nothing to complain about. So it’s one of those engines I’ve always considered but never brave enough to take on for a commercial project…
Ok I tried out CryEngine 3.7 with the blank code project provided by community.
And now I remember exactly I never could get into, programming with CryEngine. The API is so convoluted and obfuscated that even with blank proejct it’s hard to start 0o.
For example core interfaces, have functions like GetArmor (!!!) Vehicle support, and there are like 30 functions you have to implement in single file to even get started…
I have complained about damage system being part of actor in Unreal, but compaed to CryEngine, it’s masterpiece of tought.
In anycase, CryEngine forces you to implement all those interfaces, and fail at providing, core systems like character movement, networked movement prediction (and that’s one of the harder parts of game to write, if you don’t have much experience) base game modes (and I mean game mode that does nothing except let you get into world).
I dunno about people who praise CryEngine for it’s programming. I think they simply haven’t seen anything else.
The day when an engine / any engine does not hold you back in at least 4 departments, that is the day i will willingly give you everything i have in my bank account. Sure my bank accounts are all in arrears but its the thought that counts
This is exactly the point about CE engine, it’s hard to learn and use , it’s not recommended for beginners. Until they bring new and simple C++ interfaces and templates with lot of tutorials and documentation, i don’t see CE engine take off.
Whether it is for beginners or not is not relevant in this case. The problem is that API for coding gameplay is just very poorly designed compared to Unreal.
Not to mention about rest of the things like extending editor and engine.
Actually it is much more easier to use the cryengine, you don’t have to handle with lightmaps, what you see is what you get. You have basically all the shaders you need, all you have to do is to switch the textures. The time of Day system is also very nice and easy to use. They are a lot of things which “they” handeld alreday for you. So the engine is in my opinion perfect for a quikstart. You can get amazing results in like no time.
The two down sides in my opinion are the coding part and that is of course a big problem, especially if you are new in gamedevelopment and the working pipeline for textures etc… I even don’t talk about tutorials, support, community and documentation cause i think it is absolutly clear the cryengine is like a million years behind Epic.
I would say for long-term goals and a steady career that knowing game engine architecture is a wise thing to investigate. No matter what engine you are using they employ similar libraries/api’s. They will never be exactly the same and the choice will depend on multiple factors that only you the game developer can decide. No game is the same as the others unless the entire “idea” and mechanics is ripped off from the beginning.
The reality is the engines will always be debated for as long as they remain. Nobody can predict the future but I will admit that Unreal’s is quite bright at the moment and one of the safest bets in the industry. One thing that will never be substituted is tenacious effort to better yourself and outwork those in the same industry. So whether you are choosing this engine or the others the best way to make a choice is to sample the ones out there and then commit to learning the engine of your choice through the manuals and training available. With that in mind you can’t fail.
Yea I tend to bounce back and forth but the majority of my posts are in the CE forums and for the most part I have left my UE comments housed in the UE dev Skype chats. Thanks for the compliments and I hope to carry on using both engines and maximizing my reach in this quest for knowledge.
The truth is the only limitations to your game is not engine related but skill related.
Sure it holds true that some things might have to be custom implemented but calling an entire engine broken because a specific feature you desired was not present seems a bit uncalled for.
At the end of the day we need both engines to exist. Therefor i am happy there are studios using CE and studios using UE.
We as users of an engine should constantly evaluate which is better for our needs. When one surpasses the other in a specific department it would not be unwise to switch engines if your studio or you have the means to invest the time and resources into relearning and porting.
If there was no competition out there then a monopoly would start and the need to improve on an engine would become less urgent meaning we would wait longer for updates regardless of which engine it is.
I said this the other night and deleted my post because this is becoming a political argument and i try to avoid those. But what i said is
Users should not be the ones to put down another engine or defend an engine. Its a tool. Epic is doing a great job at public relations and being in touch with the user base which is invaluable. Crytek slipped in that department in the past and this caused a major backlash. At the end of the day its not so much the capabilities of the engine but more how the public perceive the company behind it. Crytek had much love before the entire salary debacle and also before dismissing some users.
However UE enables me to bring my ideas to reality as i do not come from a coder background. If Crytek had something similar to blueprints (flowgraphs yes i know it exists but its a little more restricted) i would consider going back because there are features i find lacking in UE. But those features are project dependent and could very well not be a requirement for other projects.
Much like some users needed Large Open World support and Epic is providing that, so do other users need or want other features but not Large Open Worlds. So i say it again. Just because a feature is lacking that you as a team or individual require, does not make an entire engine broken. It just means that specific engine might not be your best bet to achieve your goals.
It’s not about desiring features that are not present, no that doesn’t sound like anything is broken. It’s about features that are present but are not working. And a feature that’s present but is not working is broken. Is there another way of looking at it?
You’re not forced to use Lightmaps, and yes the lod system is cool but there are programs dedicated for creating LODs easier and you have better control.
If you stick with CE engine fps template and just want to do some modding it’s fine, and it’s just horrible when you try to make any kind of game that is not FPS , making your own gameplay and code that is not based on CE FPS framework. About lightmapping CE engine renedring of interiors is just poor compared to Unreal, and Epic has already real time GI for outdoors planned.
ok thats truth, i’m not saying that the cryengine is perfect. I stick to my coment that UE4 is the best fit at least for me. But like i wrote for a quick start FPS game, you get pretty quick pretty good results with CE.
The only down side i see in UE,is still the lighting! Even with the Dynamic GI from Heightfiled feture we still don’t have a fully dynamic lighting solution which is good in performance. I’m also missing a few features like parallax mapping, good water shaders etc…
It seems to me like epic is not really motivated or let’s better say they’re didin’t see the need to change some things quick like the full dynamic lighitng. No matter how motivated you are, no matter how good your skills are, you wont never create a game like FarCry 4 or the Divison with lightmaps.
One of the worst things is, they removed the forest level and created a new woodland level, again FPS. Entire waste of time. Why adding new rocks and vegetation? They could keep the forest level as it was and add other template like UE4 has.
Maybe the answer is making new rocks and throwing together a new level is easier so that’s why.
