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

Flash movie clips and UI graphs


In order to provide developers with a solution for creating user interfaces, CryENGINE integrates Adobe Scaleform GFx, a real-time Flash renderer for game engines. The system allows the creation of user interfaces in Adobe Flash, which can then be exported for immediate use in the engine.

Note

It is also possible to use Flash .swf files in materials, allowing the rendition of Flash movie clips on 3D objects present in the game world.

The effort involved in creating modular dynamic user interfaces is greatly simplified with the addition of the UI flowgraph, a system that allows the creation and maintenance of any Flash UI element using the flowgraph system.

The UI flowgraph system is based on the concept of two types: elements and actions. Each element represents a Flash file (.swf or .gfx), while each action is one flowgraph representing a UI state.

Elements

UI elements are configured via XML files in Game/Libs/UI/UIElements/, and represent each Flash file. By modifying...