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Behind the scenes at Europe’sleading games studio

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IN JUST TEN SHORT years, Crytekhas achieved more as a studio thanmost could hope for in a lifetime.

“From the beginning it was our aimto be world-class,” say founders theYerli brothers. “By putting the gamer’sexperience in the centre ofeverything we do, we want to makethe world a better place and bringgreater gaming to the world.”

As its ten-year anniversary drawsnear, Crytek has certainly succeededin the goal that defined its gestation.

Now the studio boasts a catalogueof well-renowned titles, includinghugely popular releases like Crysisand Far Cry. The Crysis series of gamesin particular are still regarded asprime examples of the cutting-edgeof gameplay and gamesdevelopment, showcasing thetechnical muscle of cutting-edge PCs.

Not content to limit itself todeveloping games with its powerful proprietary tech, Crytek hasalso garnered a reputation as aleading provider of game engines.

The third iteration of CryENGINE isone of the most powerful tools on themarket, and offers developers ofconsole and PC games one of themost flexible, highly organised genre-agnostic pieces of techavailable on the market.

“We haven’t as yet shown most ofwhat is possible from CryENGINE 3within a full game,” says Carl Jones,director of global businessdevelopment for CryENGINE. “Butdevelopers can see from our owndemos that it is possible to buildincredibly realistic environmentswithin CryENGINE 3.”

Crytek has also demonstratedimpressive expansion across thedecade. Having started in Coburg in1999, the company now also ownspremises in Budapest, Frankfurt, Kiev,Nottingham, Sofia and Seoul.

Over the next few pages, we look atthe culture that has made Crytek sucha popular employer and closelywatched company, plus we speak tothe people who make its studios sosuccessful…

Introduction

Q&A: The Yerli brothersTen years have passed sinceCevat, Avni and Faruk Yerlifounded Crytek. Here, the trioshed light on the company’sprogress and their hopes for its future…

As you draw close to your tenthanniversary, what do you think isyour greatest achievement as acompany over that period?Very interesting question. Let’s put itthis way: the journey is the reward andwe have come a long way. It’s the‘Crytek way’ that is our biggestachievement. Our games and ourtechnology have gained us the respectof gamers and our industry. Weworked very hard to achieve this, andwe built that company and the wholeCrytek family on the three values:trust, collaboration and respect.

Those values define and guide oureveryday work. We trust our vision, ourdreams and the talents of our Crytekfamily, and believe that we’re allheroes in our own right. Collaborationenables our teams to make or breakgoals. Our heroes strive to contributein ever more meaningful ways to ourgamers, our communities andindustry. That, in our eyes, is thebiggest achievement of Crytek so far.

Why did you decide to start tolicense out your internal tech?To be honest, at the beginning thatwasn’t a priority for us. We just wantedto have a proprietary engine for ourgames projects. The first companiescontacted us in 2002, and said theywanted to license CryENGINE. That wasa great honour for us and, after a bit ofthinking, we started to establish ourlicensing business and just a shorttime later had several licensees.

Today, engine licensing is a veryimportant part of our daily business. Itcontinues to show us every day whatthe CryENGINE is able to do.

Crytek has always been devoted tothe cutting edge. Placed as you arein that position, what do you expectto see from the next ‘next-generation’ platforms?The new generation of consoles willdefinitely blow our mind. We’llexperience not only all-new graphicalfireworks but also a lot of impressivenew functionality.

Our CryENGINE 3 is already next-genready and allows studios to developcutting edge games for thisgeneration and the next generation ofconsoles. It can deliver top-notchquality on all platforms now, and youcan have a head start on developmentfor the next generation. We want to beprepared for the future while alsodelivering for this generation.

What motivated your decision toexpand into the UK?The decision to acquire Free Radicalcame up at the end of 2008. Thecombination of our CryENGINEtechnology and the experienced,skilled team was more than perfect forus and was highly attractive. We thinkthe team fits into our culture andstrategy very well, as Free Radical has aproven track record in developinggames on consoles and PC. We alwaysplanned to enter the console marketand open a studio in the UK, and thatwas part of our strategy even beforethe acquisition.

What plans do you have for yourUK studio?When we acquired Free Radical, wewere really impressed with thedevelopment talent they have andtheir console experience. What weexpect is that the team will make kickass games under the Crytek umbrella.

Are you considering establishinga new presence in any othercountries?Well, I think we currently have a verystrong studio network with our studios

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in Budapest, Frankfurt, Kiev,Nottingham, Sofia and Seoul. We arealways looking into all possibilities. Butat the moment we are not activelylooking for a new presence.

What makes a career at Crytek sospecial for your employees?At Crytek we’re always looking fortalented and skilled developers whounderstand that making games is morethan just a job. Everybody who joins ushere at Crytek joins a highly motivated,talented and experienced team.

What attracts people to work atthe company?We’re convinced that a good andhealthy team in a unique culture is thekey to succes; it offers a lot to ouremployees. Besides a competitive salaryand bonuses schemes, Crytek offers avery refreshing atmosphere in anmultinational English-speaking team.

We also apply the 80/20 rule: ouremployees are allowed to use up to 20per cent of their work time to pursueideas outside their projects. In manycases people from different

departments are working together andcarrying ideas further. Through this,we’re killing two birds with one stone:we’re holding the creative potential andthe entrepreneurial spirit up, and inparticular beginners can show theirspecialities, which helps us supportthem by specific education.

In addition to that, we also offerflexible work time, good health carebenefits and relocation support. All inall, Crytek is a great place to work andwe’re always happy to welcome newmembers to our Crytek family.

We built the Crytek family on three values:trust, collaboration and respect. Those values

define and guide our everyday work. We trust ourvision and our dreams, and we believe thatwe’re all heroes in our own right.

Crytek’s founders, brothers Avni,Faruk and Cevat Yerli

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Crytek Across the World

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Crytek GermanyFOUNDED: 1999

KEY STAFF: Carl Jones (director of global business development,CryENGINE), Nick Button-Brown (director of businessdevelopment), Heiko Fischer (director of human resources), JensSchäfer (PR manager)

As Crytek’s base of operations, the Frankfurt HQ is responsible formuch of the company’s output.

Subsequently, the studio plays home to the Yerli brothers andvarious others from the upper echelons of the organisation.

“Frankfurt offers a big cluster of innovative and creativecompanies, which makes it a very strong location for the creativeindustry and thus an excellent place for Crytek,” says CEO andpresident Cevat Yerli.

“This cluster gives us the possibility for many partnerships, bothon the vertical and the horizontal value chain. Frankfurt hasvarious games companies such as developers, publishers, agenciesand universities.”

Originally based in Coburg, Crytek relocated in 2006, and sincehas established itself as one of the city’s most highly regardedemployers.

“We’re already working on several projects we’d call ‘dreamprojects’,” says Yerli. “In general we can’t really commit to a certaingenre or platform. Everything has its strengths and weaknesses, and we’re trying our best to bring out the best in allgames we’re developing. It’s our mission to always offer greatergaming experiences.”

Crytek UKJOINED CRYTEK: 2009

KEY STAFF: Karl Hilton (studio manager)

In February 2009 Crytek purchased FreeRadical Design, which built its reputation onthe superb, tongue-in-cheek TimeSplittersseries. The acquisition gave Crytek a teamwith a long heritage in the UK industry.That’s something set to continue as thestudio readies its first Crytek-branded title.

“We are currently concepting up anoriginal IP that we hope will become adefining game series for the UK studio,”reveals Karl Hilton, studio manager. “However, in reality, the opportunityto make any kind of original FPS genre game where we get to focus onthe quality of both the multiplayer and single player experience is whatdrives people at the studio. We have a strong history of creativity here,and we want to take that forward with Crytek and the CryENGINE 3.”

Many of Crytek’s UK staff boast an impressive range of skills taken fromthe country’s industry, and will be key to developing relationships withinthe sector both to import and export knowledge and expertise.

“We are particularly keen to get involved with education in the UK andbuild up good communications and knowledge exchange withuniversities and colleges,” explains Hilton.

Crytek HungaryFOUNDED: 2007

KEY STAFF: KristofferWaardahl (studio manager)

Developing games lead bythe mantra ‘on time, onquality’, Crytek’s Hungarianstudio is focused ondeveloping with theCryENGINE tech.

Currently hard at work on‘thrilling new IP’, theBudapest-based teamconsists of a very experienced and passionate multinationalworkforce. While nothing is known about the project publically,when speaking about the studio’s opening Avni Yerli said: “It is a great way to widen our horizons and develop for a newgaming genre while continuing our company's strategic growthand expansion.”

And as for the studio’s home city? “Budapest speaks for itself,”promises studio manager Kristoffer Waardahl. “It’s a charmingcapital with stunning buildings, a soothing river, good publictransport, lively cultural and night life, and a warm andwelcoming atmosphere. It is the pearl of the Danube. It’s easy tofind a nice place to live, and food and services prices tend to belower then in the EU in general.”

Karl Hilton

Kristoffer Waardahl

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Crytek KoreaFOUNDED: 2008

KEY STAFF: Young Mok Park (country manager)

Focusing its efforts on delivering the CryENGINE to the huge Korean market, Crytek’s Korean operation was formed in2008, and is rightly confident of the market it courts.

“Korea is one of the biggest markets for 3D graphics engines,” explains Young Mok Park, country manager. “Because ofthe long history and experience in online games, Korean developers look for leading edge technology in all fields. Thesedevelopers are hungry to create something that does not exist in the world yet.”

As a country where online gaming is phenomenally popular, Korea also offers Crytek an unrivalled test bed with whatmany believe is the best internet infrastructure in the world. For that very reason, the Seoul-based studio continues toattract an array of hugely talented staff.

“We have many people from excellent backgrounds in the gaming industry,” says Park. “Most people have worked ononline game services and famous blockbuster games with great success. We have experts from various fields such asonline service operation, QA, marketing, PR and network technology. This long experience and expertise will be greatasset to Crytek, both now and the future.”

Crytek Black SeaJOINED CRYTEK: 2008

KEY STAFF: Vesselin Handjiev(managing director)

Having joined the Crytek fold in2008, the Black Sea studio hasbecome a cornerstone of thedevelopment community in the region.

“It is not that big an industryhere, but still there are a dozen orso developers and companiesinvolved in creating interactive entertainment software in someway,” explains studio manager Vesselin Handjiev. “Crytek Black Sea, located in the capital city of Sofia, is the local leader andcreates stability and career opportunities for the area’s young andtalented people.

“It can be said the Bulgarian gaming industry is not as old as it isin Western Europe or North America, but it is catching up fast.”

Prior to its acquisition by Crytek, Black Sea Studios worked onrenowned PC games Knights of Honor and WorldShift, and can takemuch of the credit for the progress of co-operative multiplayermodes in the RTS genre.

While the studio’s current projects remain undisclosed, CrytekBlack Sea is proudly ambitious. “Anything that really delivers interms of replay value is a dream to work on,” enthuses Handjiev,when asked about ideal projects. “We are working on a project thatwill deliver greater gaming experiences.”

Crytek UkraineFOUNDED: 2006

KEY STAFF: Max Dembick (studio manager)

In 2006 the Crytek Kiev team consisted of just six artists and twomanagers. Now, three years later, the team now amounts to over 50people, including experienced programmers and game designers.

“Our team’s contribution to Crysis project demonstrated the ability ofthe studio to start its own project,” says Maxim Dembick, studio manager,adding: “Not even a new project, but brand new IP. This is where we arenow – stay tuned for public announcements.”

Crytek’s Kiev office offers a confident, creative atmosphere to newemployees, who can mix with a talented international team in a brightand large office space.

“We do not like silence here,” admits Dembick. “It is always a bit toonoisy in the main area, because people communicate verbally a lot . Thereare more than 50 of us at the moment but we still do our best to keep thefamily feeling within our office.”

Crytek Kiev is currently very busy with a currently unannouncedproject, though Dembick is tantalisingly secretive – only letting slip thatthe team is “working on our dream project at the moment.”

Vesselin Handjiev

Young Mok Park

Maxim Dembick

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ANYONE WHO’S SEEN THE lusciousCrysis screenshots on these pages orplastered over the internet barely needsan introduction to the CryENGINE.

Despite having been released almosttwo years ago, Crysis – and, by extension,the CryENGINE technology powering it –is so cutting edge that it’s still seen as ahigh-end benchmark today.

But that was CryENGINE 2. Revealedearly in 2009, the latest version of Crytek’sbehemoth engine – the cunningly-titledCryENGINE 3 – takes that industry-leading DirectX 9 and 10 engine to thenext level: consoles.

“CryENGINE 3 is all about highperformance on PS3, Xbox 360 and abroad range of PC specs,” explains CarlJones, CryENGINE’s director of globalbusiness development. “We’ve alwayswanted to make products for consoleshere at Crytek. Finally, the PS3 and Xbox360 are able to run the quality andcomplexity of content we require, somaking the engine run on theseplatforms was the logical step.”

The engine’s multiplatform support isso comprehensive, says Jones, thatlicensees won’t need paralleldevelopment teams for each platform.But the focus hasn’t just been onconsoles: the engine also runs on a huge

range of PC specs, ensuring that thosewith older rigs aren’t left out in the cold.

The 60 R&D engineers dedicated to theCryENGINE’s development haven’t justbeen working on new platforms, though:the engine’s Sandbox editor has beensignificantly updated to provide real-timeediting and development on allplatforms, plus hot-updates of assets toautomatically bring source materialchanges instantly into the engine. Roadand river building tools, plus vegetationand terrain placement tools, significantlyfacilitate the generation of startling

CryENGINE 3

Crysis, and thetechnology

powering it, is so cuttingedge that it’s still seen as asuper high end benchmarkalmost two yearsafter its release.

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SUPPORT STRUCTUREOne interesting aspect of the CryENGINE is how much effort Crytek has putinto supporting it: in addition to all the usual documentation and forums,licensees receive a free week of on-site training from the developer’s ownin-house expert staff, known as the ‘Start Up’ week, which helps studiosaccelerate their initial experiences with the engine and get to the prototypestage much quicker. A further week’s schooling can also be taken at thefirm’s Frankfurt headquarters, where they can work with the engineers thatcreated the engine to ensure that they’re using its full potential.

Crytek is also in the process of building up a network of local supportoffices through its various studios, with additional outlets in Japan, Chinaand the US to be established this year.

outdoor environments. Meanwhile, theengine’s lighting system has beendramatically improved with a newdeferred shading solution and real-timeglobal illumination.

There’s a lot to CryENGINE beyond justthe graphics, though: there’s a fullmodular AI system, for example, thatoffers characters with sensory systems, avisual scripting system, and dynamicpathfinding with automatic navmeshgeneration. A full proprietary multi-threaded physics engine is also included, with full interactive anddestructible environments and advancedrope physics.

Don’t think the tech is just limited totropical island-based first personshooters either. “CryENGINE 3 is genreagnostic to a great extent,” Jonesexplains. “Whilst there is not much pointusing the power of the engine to drive acasual game, we don’t see a limit to thegenres that could be built – as long as the

game requires incredible, high qualitygraphics and gameplay to match,CryENGINE 3 is perfect for the purpose.”

In fact, one other area in which theCryENGINE has traditionally been popularis the massively-multiplayer area,particularly in the Far East.

“Online gaming is without doubt thefuture of gaming,” says Jones. “Where youdraw the line at ‘massively’ multiplayer isa matter of opinion, but we can see most

– if not all – games involvingcommunities of players in the future.Products such as NCsoft’s Aion prove thepower of CryENGINE technology forthese types of games.”

As such, the engine is firmly gearedtowards MMOs, with environment sizeslimited only by development budgets: itfeatures intelligent streaming technologythat takes full advantage of the hostplatform, utilising data clustering,compression and multiple CPUs.

Essentially, CryENGINE 3 is a muchmore rounded engine than itspredecessor, and one that will make significant headway in themiddleware market.

Jones adds: “Developers looking tomake truly awesome looking games onPS3, Xbox 360 and PC need look nofurther than CryENGINE 3. It is finallypossible to achieve the quality of gamingseen only before in Crysis and CrysisWarhead on consoles.”

There’s a lot to theCryEngine beyond

graphics. It includes a fullmodular AI system, a multi-threaded physics engineand many otherfeatures.

INSIDERwww.cryengine3.comwww.crytek.com

CryENGINE Licensingwww.crytek.com/technology/contacts

Crytek Jobswww.crytek.com/career