Amazon has slowly been inching its way towards gaming, it started with its acquisition of CryTek’s CryEngine and then it bought the popular streaming service Twitch. Granted that’s less of an inch and more of a running jump towards gaming, but you get the idea. Well Amazon made another step today announcing and releasing its own game engine: Lumberyard. According to a report made by Gamasutra, the engine is available for free to download and will give developers access to the source code.
Lumberyard started off as a derivative of the CryEngine, which Amazon licensed back when CryTek was going through some financial trouble for around $50-70 million, according to Kotaku. Since then Lumberyard has evolved into its own system as the company has upgraded and replaced various CryEngine systems. General Manager of Lumberyard Eric Schenk had this to say to Gamasutra about the engine’s relation to CryEngine,
We’re going [in] our own direction here, and over time that will increase substantially, [Lumberyard has] an entirely new asset pipeline and processor.
Along with other system upgrades and changes one of the biggest features of Amazon’s new engine is its integration with Twitch and AWS (Amazon Web Services). What this means is that things like “Twitch Plays”, which Amazon calls ChatPlay, will be supported at an engine level allowing devs to build a game around the functionality. Another interesting feature is JoinIn, which is as obvious as it sounds; JoinIn allows players to jump into the same game as their favorite broadcaster and play with them. All of these online features require a lot of cloud computing and server management, which Amazon will happily provide.
Amazon also introduced GameLift, system to help developers manage server-based online gaming, alongside Lumberyard. GameLift is an optional add-on available only to people who use Lumberyard. It is through GameLift and the other AWS services that Amazon will monetize Lumberyard. Coming from the GameLift FAQ, there will be charge of $1.50 per every 1,000 daily active users.
Through deals Amazon made with Microsoft and Sony, developers can created games directly for the Xbox One and PS4, with mobile and VR support on the way. With Unity, Unreal, and other engines available for developers and enthusiasts alike to use it will be interesting to see if Lumberyard and GameLift will see much action. If you’re curious you can check out Lumberjack right here.