Hey all,
Welcome to our third update from the team. As it has been a while since the last update, let us first do a quick recap on the two builds we released recently:
CRYENGINE 3.6.3 Build 2685 was released on June 23rd - full notes can be found here.
A few days earlier, we had Build 2674, on which you can read up here.
With that out of the way, let us look at today’s release of CRYENGINE 3.6.4, some important changes to the EULA in response to your questions as well as some great content from the development community!
CRYENGINE 3.6.4
You might have already noticed Steam downloading an update today, as we just released CRYENGINE 3.6.4 (2701) to all subscribers! You can find the full release notes for the more than 70 fixes and optimizations here in the Docs.
Most importantly, this release will give you further access to the Source Code, namely to the Entity and Script Systems.
Entity and Script Systems Source Code
Entity System: Access to this code will allow you to implement the core system that handles the logical units in the game world. These get direct access to core modules of the engine such as renderer, physics, sound and script system.
Script System: Hosts the Lua virtual machine featuring a custom made Lua Visual Debugger which can be used from Sandbox or directly in game. The module also hosts many script bind implementations that expose C++ functionality to Lua.
Updates to the CRYENGINE End-User License Agreement
When we initially launched the CRYENGINE Subscription, some members of our development community had questions that they felt the initial End-User License Agreement (or EULA, for short) did not fully answer. We have gathered some of the most frequently asked questions, and made some changes to the EULA to clarify these points.
One of the most common questions was “What is a Serious Game”? With this in mind, we have added a clearer definition in §1.8:
““Serious Games”, i.e. ‘games’ which are not developed for the sole purpose of entertainment but for purposes of training, simulation, science etc.;”
So, contrary to some community speculation, the game’s budget, age rating or similar factors have no bearing on this limitation- if your project is an entertainment product rather than, for example a training simulation, you are good to go.
Another topic of contention was the inclusion of the assets shipped as part of the CRYENGINE Subscription, and whether users could incorporate them, into their own projects. To which we say: “Yes, you can”. As outlined in the changed §1.4, you are free to use the assets we ship (including the recent free Sample Assets DLC Package) in your own game. Of course, we would still advise you to create your own assets to give your game a unique visual flair.
There was also the question about plug-ins and video tutorials, and whether they would be permitted under the Subscription’s EULA. Here we have added a new section under §1.9, where plug-ins and tutorials are defined as User-Generated Content (“UGC”), which licensees are permitted to create:
““UGC”: (a) code created by License for the development of Games (e.g. plug-ins); and (b) audiovisual content (including tutorials) generated by Licensees using the CryEngine which is not based on CryEngine Assets for the development of Games, to be distributed via the UGC Marketplace”
Finally, there was the question of what would happen if you stopped your subscription for a month; could you still distribute already finished projects, and would have incomplete projects have to be deleted? The short answers are “Yes” and “No”, respectively. As outlined in §9.3, you can continue to distribute any finished projects or User-Generated Content even after you end your subscription.
Community Contributions
Today we would also like to take the opportunity to make you aware of some great resources for CRYENGINE from within the community. If you have created something that you think others in the community would love to see or find helpful, let us know!
CollinBishop, a mainstay of our community, has created a nice video tutorial on texture mapping- you can find it (and many more video tutorials) on Collin’s YouTube channel
Futurepoly is a school for video game artists that was founded by Jason Stokes, one of the creative minds behind the epic vistas of the Guild Wars universe. As they use CRYENGINE as a teaching tool in several of their courses, they have created a 20 minute “Intro to CRYENGINE” video for newcomers. Check it out here
Finally, CryDev Staffer Richmar1 has created a “Game Starter kit” for CRYENGINE that you can use for a clean start for your own game projects; Full details here.
That is all for today. As always, we want to thanks everyone in the CRYENGINE community for their support, and their invaluable feedback- keep it coming!
Until next time,
The CRYENGINE Team