Sitting all pretty-like at the top of Steam's software roster is the new addition of the CryEngine toolkit and source code. For a $10/£6 monthly subscription, developers can license one of the beefiest and feature-rich graphics generators out there for technical boosts such as "perspective-correct volumetric soft shadows" or "procedural object deformation" or "ooh, shiny."
CryEngine's Steam debut follows the release of Unreal Engine 4's subscription service two months ago. Both plans bring immediate access to future engine version releases and design documentation straight from each respective studio. A major difference is the absence of royalty fees for commercializing works using CryEngine—the extra revenue stays in the developer's pocket as an extra bit of funding for larger projects. By comparison, Unreal Engine 4 users pay five percent of their earnings to Epic.
And just in case you've not been visited by the great CryEngine eye yet, here's a few games you might've heard of that uses Crytek's powerful workhorse. CryEngine mods have thrived over the last few years, as well; check out the big-brother version of Battlefield 2's Project Reality mod for an excellent example.
