Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 9, 2016. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Lumberyard is based on Crytek’s CryEngine because Amazon helped the game developer out of a financial hole in 2014 by agreeing a CryEngine licensing deal with Crytek that saved the company from bankruptcy.
For a long time, it was unclear what Amazon would do with the CryEngine licence. The result is the now freely available AAA game engine Lumberyard, which can be used to develop games for PCs and consoles.
Fees Only When Using GameLift
According to Lumberyard’s official Amazon page, the engine has no seat or subscription fees. Revenue generated through a developed game does not have to be shared with Amazon either. Fees are charged only if you decide to use the engine’s Amazon Web Services integration and therefore GameLift for a multiplayer option.
Twitch
The Amazon engine also has the Twitch ChatPlay feature, which allows Twitch viewers to influence gameplay interactively in real time. Thanks to the Flow Graph Visual Scripting Tool, even designers who are not so technically adept can create chat-channel commands for the game quickly and easily.
New Components
Although the engine is based on CryEngine, Amazon wants to take its own path with Lumberyard: “It already contains different components from CryEngine, such as low-latency networking code and a new asset pipeline and processor,” said General Manager Eric Schenk.
You can download the Lumberyard beta free of charge here. The file is around 10 GB. The page also offers free downloads of a Woodland and Beach City Asset Package, as well as the Legacy Game Sample (CryEngine GameSDK).
