GDC Europe: PC SDK offered gratis for non-commercial use
One of the most cutting-edge game development platforms is, from today, available to everyone for free.
Crytek, the independent Frankfurt group famous for its CryEngine, has become the latest engine vendor to offer its tech at no initial cost.
Much like with Unity and, more recently, the Unreal Development Kit, CryEngine’s SDK is being offered gratis in the hope that more developers will experiment and test game ideas with the tech.
Carl Jones, Crytek’s engine business director, said he hopes the free SDK will “lead to new companies being formed and using our engine”.
If a studio wants to release a commercial product using CryEngine, standard licensing rates will then come into effect.
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The toolset is available for download at crydev.net, Crytek’s new web portal for the mod and development community, and the German independent has pledged to update the tech regularly. The SDK is only available for PC games development, Crytek added.
Since its launch CryEngine 3 has been licensed by numerous games studios dotted across Asia – a market Epic Games is beginning to make inroads into. Licensing deals with western studios are in place but have yet to be announced.
”We expect to increase the talent pool for CryEngine developers, as well as boosting our online community of users,” Jones added.
”This SDK contains more toys than we’ve ever released before – it empowers people to create whole new games from scratch, not just mod Crytek’s own games, so we encourage all aspiring and indie developers to try it out.”
What's the price for commercial development then? If it's as expensive as the full version, nobody's going to use it.
Unity3D is better, Unreal is better, Cryengine 2 was one of the worst professional editors I've ever used.
"Better" is a relative term. But I think at the moment you send them an e-mail if you want to make your project commercial so they can negotiate the terms.
I'ld imagine it's comparable to the UDK licence - I can't see them pricing themselves out of the market for this one.
They need to disclose the details of the commercial pricing.
We can't assume it'll be similar to UDK with nothing to go on. Why would I spend 6 months building something to find out publishing it would cost $10k+?
My project's already well udnerway in Unity 3D with just a one-off price of $1500.
combined with the fact that it doesn't support all the latest DCC tools... and doesn't disclose all documentation etc... it makes it feel rather limited.. nothing even close to unity or UDK.
Who cares what is "better"? These are all just tools, and the willingness of the tool builders to share is what makes this industry great.
According to a report on gamasutra.com those wishing to use the engine for commercial products will have to enter into a royalty-only licensing agreement that sees Crytek receiving 20 percent of the game's revenues.
Why pay 20% when you can use Unity for 0% (after a one-off payment of $1500 that is only payable if you are making over $100k per year)
maybe because unity is shit
"What's the price for commercial development then? "
20% of profits.
