Lumberyard – Is Lumberyard Free to Use?
Amazon’s Lumberyard is a new free 3D game engine based on Crytek’s CryEngine. It is a cross-platform tool with support for PS4, Xbox One, PC (Windows and Linux), iOS, and Android devices.
It is aimed at AAA developers and features a visual scripting system called Script Canvas, which allows game logic to be designed without learning a programming language. The engine also features tight native integration with AWS and Twitch, allowing game viewers to interact with the gameplay via real-time chat play.
What is Lumberyard?
Lumberyard is a game engine that combines CryEngine features with cloud elements to unlock a massive scale for multiplayer and community-driven games. It also includes native code performance and a variety of pre-built features to make it easier to get started with your game.
The engine is free to use, although it does rely on AWS services for many in-game features. It also isn’t burdened with any intellectual property rights, says Amazon’s director of AWS game tech Eric Morales.
Unlike Unity, where the UI is in the game window, and the perspective viewport is used for editing, Lumberyard UI is stored separately. This can help with performance in the editor because nothing is rendered twice.
Compared to Unity, importing assets is more complicated. For example, FBX imports need to be fixed in Lumberyard, so you must export different parts of your assets individually. Animators must also be imported in various ways to get into Lumberyard.
What is Amazon’s plan for Lumberyard?
Amazon is looking to rewrite the entire Lumberyard game engine in open source. This move could help boost Amazon’s cloud gaming division, which is responsible for more than 12% of the company’s revenue.
The company is also hoping to attract more developers by offering them a free gaming engine that integrates with Amazon Web Services and Twitch, the videogame streaming site it bought for $970 million in 2014.
It’s important to note that while Lumberyard is free, it does require you to use Amazon’s servers. This ensures you can run the games in the cloud and enable online play via AWS and Twitch.
Amazon has worked hard to overhaul the engine, adding over 200 new features and enhancements in the 1.14 beta release. This includes Script Canvas visual scripting, the Emotion FX Animation Editor, and support for NVIDIA’s PhysX 4.1. It also boasts improved performance and a new ARM-based math library that is lighter and faster than CryEngine.
What are the critical features of Lumberyard?
Amazon’s Lumberyard is a free game engine used to develop video games. It is based on CryEngine but has been upgraded by Amazon and replaced most of the original features, including Double Helix networking code.
It has many features that help you quickly create your own games. It also has a built-in server that allows you to make multiplayer games.
The engine can support a variety of renderers and has multiple options for physics. It is compatible with NVIDIA’s PhysX and NVIDIA’s v-Ray and supports both 3D and 2D physics.
There are some differences in how the physics work, however, with Lumberyard physics only using primitive types of physics components rather than Unity’s extensive physics component type.
Another difference is that the inspector needs to directly edit materials. They have to be created through the Material Editor window. The fabric options and preferences are also saved separately, whereas, in Unity, these are automatically saved.
What are the downsides of Lumberyard?
Lumberyard is a game engine that’s completely free to use, including its source code. It’s also an excellent option for multiplayer games, thanks to its tight integration with Amazon Web Services and Twitch.
It also offers a Component Entity system, which allows you to create complex entities by combining simple ones. You can drag and drop components, set their properties in real-time, or write Lua scripts to change their behavior on the fly.
A significant downside of Lumberyard is its smaller user base, which results in little documentation and possible help on various issues. This can be a hassle for inexperienced developers.