The best way, in my opinion, to go about learning to use CryENGINE 3 SDK is by actually using it to create a variety of achievable genre-specific mini games or prototypes. These examples will then become the stepping stone that will give you the ability to create more complex games using the same skills and functions explored in simplified examples. You should be aware that these examples most likely won't make you millions of dollars, but will rather teach you the tools and techniques required to make your own successful game, should you have the passion and desire to do so.

The relatively straightforward examples in this book will give you a focus to concentrate your efforts as you learn CryENGINE 3 SDK, since attempting to master the engine all at once would be an extremely difficult and a time-consuming task for anyone.

This book will mainly focus on what you can do within Sandbox, but we will still explore the occasional need for external applications, such as 3ds Max and Photoshop. There are countless resources available to learn these applications.

Once you have gone through these examples, you will understand and even feel empowered by being able to create your very own game worlds within CryENGINE 3 SDK.