Book Image

CryENGINE Game Programming with C++, C#, and Lua

Book Image

CryENGINE Game Programming with C++, C#, and Lua

Overview of this book

CryENGINE is a complete 3D game development solution that can run on multiple platforms. It is orientated around giving intuitive tools to the developer. A variety of interactive video games can be created using CryENGINE. CryENGINE is one of the most beginner-friendly engines out there to learn. If you are interested in diving into the various systems and understanding their workings in a way that is easily understood, then this book is for you. This book provides you with the knowledge to tame the powerful but hard-to-master CryENGINE. CryENGINE Game Programming with C++, C#, and Lua dives into the various systems and explains their workings in a way that can be easily understood by developers of all levels. It provides knowledge on the engine along with step-by-step exercises and detailed information on the backend implementation of the subsystems, giving you an excellent foundation to build upon when developing your own CryENGINE games. Written by developers with years of CryENGINE experience, this book breaks down the common confusion that encompasses the CryENGINE engine code, guiding you through a series of chapters aimed towards giving you the ability to create your own games in a rapid yet productive fashion. You will learn everything you need to know in order to create your own CryENGINE-powered games as well as detailed information on how to use the engine to your advantage. By teaching systems such as audio, particle effects, rendering, AI, networking, and more, we'll be exposing the most inner parts of CryENGINE that commonly confuse programmers. If you want to quickly gain the knowledge required to create your own CryENGINE game title, then this book is for you.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
CryENGINE Game Programming with C++, C#, and Lua
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

The console


Although not directly linked to debugging, the CryENGINE console provides the means for creating commands that can execute functions directly from the game, and the creation of variables that can be modified to change the way the world behaves.

Note

Fun fact: by using the hashtag (#) sign in the console, we can execute Lua directly in-game, for example, #System.Log("My message!");

Console variables

Console variables, commonly referred to as CVars, allow the exposure of variables in your code to the CryENGINE console, effectively allowing the tweaking of settings at runtime or through config (.cfg) files.

Pretty much every subsystem uses console variables at runtime in order to tweak the behaviour of systems without requiring code modifications.

Registering a CVar

When registering a new CVar, it's important to distinguish between by-reference variables and wrapped variables.

The difference is that a by-reference CVar points to a variable defined in your own code that updated directly...