CryENGINE 3 Game Development:Beginner's Guide电子书

CryENGINE 3 Game Development Beginner's Guide

Table of Contents

CryENGINE 3 Game Development Beginner's Guide

Credits

About the Authors

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more

Why Subscribe?

Free Access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Time for action – heading

What just happened?

Pop quiz – heading

Have a go hero – heading

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Downloading the color images of this book

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Introducing the CryENGINE 3 Free SDK

What is the CryENGINE?

Applying your vision

Far Cry by Crytek – first-person shooter

Aion by NCsoft – massively online role-playing game

Crysis by Crytek – first-person shooter

Crysis Warhead by Crytek – first-person shooter

Crysis 2 by Crytek – first-person shooter

CryENGINE 3 Free SDK

What's in it for me?

Do I need a full team to develop with the CryENGINE?

Learning by example

Time for action – installing the CryENGINE 3 Free SDK

What just happened?

Come in...stay awhile

Time for action – load the sample map in the launcher

What just happened?

Visual Studio Express and C++ game code

Acquiring the sample source assets

Time for action – installation of the 3ds Max exporter Plugin

What just happened?

Time for action – downloading and opening the sample assets

What just happened?

Time for action – installing the Adobe Photoshop plugin-CryTif

What just happened?

CryENGINE 3 Sandbox

Time for action – starting Sandbox and WYSIWYP

What just happened?

Getting around in the Sandbox Editor

Time for action – manipulating the perspective camera

What just happened?

Handling level objects

Time for action – selecting and browsing objects

What just happened?

Time for action – saving our work

What just happened?

Have a go hero – free your mind

Summary

2. Breaking Ground with Sandbox

What makes a game?

Reducing, reusing, recycling

Developing out of the box

Time for action - creating a new level

What just happened?

Using the right Heightmap Resolution

Scaling your level with Meters Per Unit

Calculating the real-world size of the terrain

Using or not using terrain

Time for action - creating your own heightmap

What just happened?

Have a go hero – using additional brush settings

Using alternative ways for creating terrain

Generating procedural terrain

Have a go hero – generating procedural terrain

Importing a pre-made heightmap

Pop quiz – level size and scale

Creating terrain textures

Time for action - creating some basic terrain texture layers

What just happened?

Adding altitude and slope

Adjusting the tile resolution

Pop Quiz – terrain texture layers

Creating vegetation

Time for action - creating some flora for your level

What just happened ?

Time for action - setting up time of day and its basic parameters

What just happened?

Have a go hero – moving the sun

Adding Atmosphere

Summary

3. Playable Levels in No Time

Building levels with entities and objects

Starting a level

Creating a spawn point

Time for action - creating a spawn point

What just happened?

Landmarks to guide the player

Using roads in levels

Time for action - creating a road object

What just happened?

Have a go hero – mastering roads

Utilizing layers to organize level objects

Time for action - creating and managing layers

What just happened?

Have a go hero – utilizing layers for multiple developer collaboration

Adding objects using the asset browser

Time for action - adding brushes to the level

What just happened?

White boxing

White boxing using Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG)

Time for action - creating constructive solid geometry

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Adding characters with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Time for action - place a basic AI entity

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Create an archetype entity

Time for action - creating your own archetype

What just happened?

Pop quiz – essential game objects

Exporting to engine

Time for action - exporting your level to engine

What just happened?

Have a go hero

Summary

4. I'm a Scripter, Not a Coder

Scripting and the CryENGINE 3

Lua usage in the CryENGINE 3

Visual scripting with Flow Graph

Scripted events

Time for action - making a Flow Graph to spawn the player at a specific location

What just happened?

Component and entity nodes

Composition of flow nodes

Have a go hero - experimenting with different flow nodes

Using trigger entities with Flow Graph

Time for action - adding a trigger to Flow Graph and outputting its status

What just happened?

Pop quiz - scripting

AI scripting with Flow Graph

Time for action - creating a patrolling AI

What just happened?

Debugging Flow Graphs using the visual debugger

Time for action - debugging the patrol Flow Graph

What just happened?

Using breakpoints with the visual debugger

Time for action - adding and removing breakpoints

What just happened?

Summary

5. C++ and Compiling Your Own Game Code

Installing Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition

Time for action - downloading and installing Visual C++ 2010 Express

What just happened?

Starting CryENGINE 3 with Visual Studio

Time for action - starting CryENGINE with the debugger attached

What just happened?

Have a go hero - debugging the launcher

Breakpoints, watches, and code

Time for action - setting up your first breakpoint

What just happened?

Have a go hero - stepping through the code

Create a new Lua entity and call C++ code to interact with it

Time for action - creating a new entity

What just happened?

Time for action - placing your entity into your level

What just happened?

How to interact with entities via Lua script

Time for action - making the teleporter usable

What just happened?

Have a go hero - adding Flownode input/outputs to your Lua entity

Time for some real code

Time for action - writing a new scriptbind function in C++

What just happened?

Call the new C++ function from your Lua script

Time for action - changing the teleporter entity to execute the C++ code

What just happened?

Have a go hero - doing the complete teleporter logic in C++

CryENGINE specific data types

Pop quiz - Lua entities and scriptbind functions

Summary

6. User Interface and HUD Creation with Flash

Adobe Flash as a very powerful UI design tool

Time for action – creating a new Flash asset with Adobe Flash

What just happened?

Have a go hero – adding a crosshair to the HUD

Bringing your Flash asset into CryENGINE 3

Time for action – bringing your Flash asset into CryENGINE 3

What just happened?

Time for action – making functions, variables, and movieclips accessible in CryENGINE 3

What just happened?

Different alignment modes for UI elements

Dynamic alignment

Fixed and fullscreen alignment

Using the UI Emulator to display and test your asset

Time for action – starting Sandbox and testing your UIElement

What just happened?

Have a go Hero – extending the ActionScript function

Creating a new UI Action for the new HUD

Time for action – making the HUD work

What just happened?

Have a go Hero – hiding the crosshair if the weapon is zoomed

Basic event handling from Flash to CryENGINE 3

Time for action – creating a simple interactive menu

What just happened?

UI Emulator, UI Actions, and FreeSDK example menus

UI Actions – Flow Graphs to control the UI

UI Action is a standalone, level-independent Flow Graph

UI Action can have start and end nodes

UI Action can be in a disabled state

UI Actions support multitriggering

UIEventSystems and UI Emulator to test your UI

Time for action – using the UI Emulator to test the FreeSDK demo menus

What just happened?

Have a go Hero – creating a new menu page

Pop quiz – UI Actions

Summary

7. Creating Assets for the CryENGINE 3

What are assets?

Understanding the CryENGINE 3 asset pipeline

Exploring the CryENGINE 3 asset file types

Following a workflow for artists

Working with units and scale in CryENGINE 3

Time for action - setting up 3ds Max units to match CryENGINE scale

What just happened?

Matching grid and snap settings between 3ds Max and Sandbox

Using real-world measurement reference

Creating textures for the CryENGINE

Time for action - creating your own texture

What just happened?

Working with the CryTIF (.TIF) format

Creating and exporting custom assets

Time for action - creating and exporting your first model

What just happened?

Using a physics proxy instead of the render geometry for collision

Adjusting physical dynamics with user-defined properties

Creating destructible objects

Time for action - making your object destructible

What just happened?

Have a go hero - use some of the other breakability types

Specifying physics and render dynamics with user defined properties

Breaking two-dimensional assets

Designing breakables with constraints

Pop quiz - creating assets for your games

Using character assets

Following the character creation pipeline

Creating your own characters

Time for action - creating your own skinned character

What just happened?

Creating a character LOD (Level of Detail)

Bone attachments

Creating animations for your character

Time for action - creating animation for a skinned character

What just happened?

.chrparams wildcard mapping

Have a go hero - using the animobject entity for animation playback

Creating animation for rigid body assets

Time for action - creating animation using rigid body data

What just happened?

Have a go hero - using pre-baked physics with .cga objects

Summary

8. Creating Real-time Cutscenes and Cinematic Events

Discovering the Track View editor

Creating a new Track View sequence

Time for action – creating a new sequence

What just happened?

Have a go hero – using Sequence Properties and director node tracks

Adding tracks to the director node

Adjusting Sequence Properties

Animating a camera in Track View

Time for action – animating a camera

What just happened?

Have a go hero – doing more with the tools available

FOV

Playback speed

Curve Editor

Triggering a sequence using Flow Graph

Time for action – triggering a sequence

What just happened?

Have a go hero – triggering sequences even faster and adjusting the PlaySequence FlowNode

Using the Input:Key node to trigger a sequence

StartTime property

BreakOnStop property

Animating entities in Track View

Time for action – animating an entity in Track View

What just happened?

Have a go hero – using other tracks on entities

Entity Visibility track

Animating scale

Entities and their tracks

Playing animations on entities in Track View

Time for action – playing an animation on an entity in Track View

What just happened?

Have a go hero – using more properties for animations on entities

Using Console Variables in Track View

Time for action – adding a Console Variable to a sequence

What just happened?

Have a go hero – animating CVAR values

The t_scale CVAR in Track View

Using Track Events

Time for action – creating some Track Events for a sequence

What just happened?

Capturing video from CryENGINE 3

Time for action – capturing frames from CryENGINE

What just happened?

Have a go hero – increasing frame size and setting useful CVARs for video recording

Useful CVARs for high resolution capturing

Pop quiz – creating cinematics and cutscenes

Summary

9. Immersion through Audio Design

Introducing sound design

Understanding the CryENGINE sound event system

Setting up a project structure

Event grouping

Using categories

Adding events

Reviewing sound event system file formats

Using wavebanks

Getting your first sound into the CryENGINE

Time for action - creating an ambient sound event

What just happened?

Have a go hero - using more ambient volume properties

Leveraging advanced parameters of ambient sounds

Time for action - nesting ambient sounds and using other parameters for sound events

What just happened?

Have a go hero - sound obstruction using area shapes and boxes

Randomizing sounds

Time for action - creating random sounds

What just happened?

Reverb volumes

Time for action - create your own reverb preset

What just happened?

Have a go hero - setting parameters in the reverb preset editor

Adding sounds to particle effects

Time for action - add a sound to a particle effect

What just happened?

Have a go hero - changing sound over time on particles

Using the three different sound control overtime functions

Sound events and weapons

Time for action - add sound to a weapon

What just happened?

Weapon sound workflow tips

Pop quiz - creating sound for your game

Summary

10. Preparing to Share Your Content

Profiling performance in Sandbox

Profiling with display info

Time for action – enabling and reading display info

What just happened?

Understanding draw calls

Visualizing triangle count

Setting budgets

Saving a level's statistics

Time for action – Save Level Statistics

What just happened?

Have a go hero – view additional statistics in the save level stats file

Viewing textures and render targets in the Textures tab

Viewing physical triangle count and physics memory footprints

Reading the Detailed Dependencies tab

Enabling Debug Draw modes

Time for action – enabling Debug Draw modes

What just happened?

Profiles

Time for action – using profiles to break down frame-time performance

What just happened?

Optimizing levels with VisAreas and Portals

Time for action – set up a VisArea

What just happened?

Ambient color of VisAreas and Portals

Blind spots

Using VisAreas and Portals vertically

Light clipping boxes and areas

Time for action – create a light clipping box

What just happened?

Using a concave light shape

Linking to multiple light shapes

Activating and deactivating layers

Time for action – use layer switching logic

What just happened?

Limitations of layer switching

Cinematics

Pop quiz – performance profiling

Packaging your content to share

CryDev project database

Time for action – create a team, project, and share an upload

What just happened?

Summary

A. Pop Quiz Answers

Chapter 2, Breaking Ground with Sandbox

Pop quiz – level size and scale

Pop quiz – Terrain texture layers

Chapter 3, Playable Levels in No Time

Pop quiz – essential game objects

Chapter 4, I’m a Scripter Not a Coder

Pop quiz – scripting

Chapter 5, C++ and Compiling Your Own Game Code

Pop quiz – lua entities and scriptbind functions

Chapter 6, User Interface and HUD Creation with Flash

Pop quiz – UI Actions

Chapter 7, Creating Assets for the CryENGINE 3

Pop quiz - creating assets for your games

Chapter 8, Creating Real-time Cutscenes and Cinematic Events

Pop quiz – creating cinematics and cutscenes

Chapter 9, Immersion through Audio Design

Pop quiz – creating sound for your game

Chapter 10, Preparing to Share Your Content

Pop quiz – performance profiling

Index