Game development has only grown more complicated as studios adjust to working with increasingly larger projects, globally distributed teams, and limited resources. It’s no surprise that teams are exploring alternative solutions, like cloud game development, to build their next break out game.
The appeals of building a game in the cloud include its abilities to minimize developer and artist challenges and optimize your development pipeline. Cloud game development will also help developers build interactive and dynamic player experiences and empower teams to do what they were hired to do — game creation.
This blog explains what cloud game development is, the benefits and challenges of developing games in the cloud, and how you can get started with cloud-based game development. Read along or jump to the section that most interests you.
What Is Cloud Game Development?
Cloud game development uses cloud providers — like AWS for games, Azure, and GCP — to build, release, and maintain a game. The processing power in the cloud helps run network-intensive applications associated with game development. So instead of needing to upgrade hardware, teams can use the cloud to get access to the latest and greatest development tools.
Of course, cloud deployments are nothing new. But with the rise of game engines, cloud game development has seen a dramatic spike in usage.
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Back to topBenefits of Cloud Game Development
There are several factors to consider before deciding to adapt cloud-based game development for your studio. Let’s start with the pros.
Flexibility
The biggest benefit when it comes to cloud game development is the flexibility it can provide to teams. Cloud computing allows teams to spin up quickly and pause resources as they need. Instead of investing in extra game creation resources just for one project, studios can get just what they need.
Scalability
Along with flexibility, scale is another huge benefit. Cloud game development removes traditional limitations for studios. Memory requirements and high-graphic capacity can be managed in just a few clicks. Cloud game developers can get all the benefits of high-end equipment without additional hardware and admin resources.
Latency
If you have game developers waiting around for files and feedback, then you are wasting your most precious resource — human innovation. With cloud game development you can reduce high latency issues by deploying game servers where your teams are located.
For many studios, they can even set up build servers to reduce traffic on their main commit server. It important when figuring out your personal cloud requirements that you have game creation tools that can also scale to meet latency demands.
Stability
Cloud game development can help studios become more stable. Their network is easily monitored due to integrated tools. And because cloud providers work with all applications teams use, studios can continue development without missing a beat. No new tools, just an upgraded location.
Another stability benefit is customer support. Not only can game developers rely on their cloud provider for information, but there are also several slack community groups and threads that can help diagnose and solve issues. As studios learn more, they can continuously optimize their environment.
Back to topReady for the Cloud?
Deploy everything you need for world-class development in a single, pre-configured environment.
Potential Challenges with Cloud Game Development
Thought the benefits of cloud-based game development are significant, here we break down additional factors to consider before deciding to move your team to the cloud.
Cost
For many enterprise cloud teams, upfront costs of cloud services can be a major obstacle. But when it comes to your cloud deployment, it is important to consider long-term hardware costs. What happens when game servers goes down? What admin resources do you spend monitoring, upgrading, and installing new equipment?
Also, where will you house your physical hardware? What would you be paying in rent? And who would have to go reboot the server if it went down?
The truth is that on day one, cloud game development could cost you more than on-premises. On day 90, 120, and 365, it is a different story. The added benefits of being able to scale and offloading the maintenance of your cloud server can ultimately reduce long-term costs.
It is also vital to consider how much time your teams are spending waiting around for files and builds. In the end, if your game developers are sitting idle waiting for feedback, cloud services will only cost your team more.
Security
One of the biggest concerns for game dev studios when it comes to a cloud platform is security. On-premises solutions historically have been easier to lock down. But when the world went remote, studios needed to weigh security and accessibility when it came to their teams.
Cloud providers offer several features that can protect your infrastructure and source code. These cloud services are audited and maintained on a regular basis, ensuring that your cloud deployment is protected. No matter your provider, use best practices to lockdown access through an Identity Provider (IdP).
Maintenance
To get started in cloud game development, teams will need dedicated resources and IT experts who can install, configure, and maintain the server. As many game dev teams are already working with limited resources and personnel, it can be challenging to assign team members this responsibility. On the other hand, offloading these responsibilities to a provider can be expensive.
Back to topState of Game Development Report
In our annual game development report, 43% of respondents cited not having enough time and resources as a key blocker for development speed. Learn more industry insights from other game industry professionals in our full report.
How Do You Build a Game in the Cloud?
Cloud game development requires a toolset that can also be flexible and scale to match your needs.
Version control and digital asset management are foundational tools for cloud-based game development. Building games in the cloud will require tools that can support working with extremely large assets and numerous and distributed contributors — many of them contractors. Because if your tools can’t deliver files and feedback fast, you’re not maximizing your cloud platform investment. And you could be potentially delaying how quickly your game gets to market.
Back to topHelix Core for Cloud Game Development
Helix Core — version control from Perforce — is trusted by 19 of the top 20 game dev studios. Why? It allows studios to reap all the benefits of the cloud. Flexibility. Scale. Speed. Teams use Helix Core to accelerate their builds and manage all their digital and game assets, not just code.
If you are embarking on cloud game development, Helix Core can give you lightning-fast performance. Plus, it scales to manage everything.
Top Performance
Helix Core is the game and media standard for a reason. Perforce Federated Architecture allows you to deploy servers wherever you need them. For example, you could set up build servers in the cloud to handle large game engine files. Or deploy an edge server in a region near a group of remote team members to give them instant access to the files they need.
Key Integrations
Helix Core works with most popular game engines including:
And it integrates the leading tools digital creators are already using — 3ds Max, Maya, Photoshop, and more. For creatives, Helix Core also offers another option. Helix Sync — the free desktop client — allows teams to truly version everything without needing to rely on insecure email or DropBox. Teams can create and use game assets with the performance required to manage ever-increasing file size.
How Does Helix Sync Work?
Helix Sync is a one stop shop, no need to use any other tools. Team members can simply drag and drop assets. It’s easy to get started. Artist and designers will be versioning like a developer without ever knowing it!
- Connect to a Helix Visual Client (P4V) workspace.
- Create using the tools you love.
- Drag and drop assets into a local folder to version. Learn more >>
Because all game assets and code are stored in one depot in the cloud, you get more accurate builds, without needing to hunt down anything.
Helix Core Cloud
Perforce offers several cloud hosting and deployment options of Helix Core – including Helix Core Cloud, the first ever fully managed and hosted SaaS offering of Helix Core for teams of up to 50 users. As a completely turnkey option, it is the fastest path to the world’s most scalable version control. Helix Core Cloud streamlines development for small teams and creators working with many large digital assets, like binaries, 3D art, game files, and more.
A top benefit of Helix Core Cloud is that it is scalable, enterprise-grade version control, made simple. By removing the need for customers to configure and perform ongoing administration of their server — something most smaller teams don’t have bandwidth for — Helix Core Cloud lowers the barrier to entry for teams who need powerful version control.
The Fastest Path to Scalable Version Control: Introducing Helix Core Cloud
In this discussion, Perforce CTOs Brad Hart and Deepak Giridharagopal break down how Helix Core Cloud works and why it’s important as teams and projects continue to scale.
Digital Asset Management
Cloud game development will speed up development and enable your team to scale their projects more easily. To best support building games in the cloud, your team needs a digital asset management solution to streamline your creative workflows and improve collaboration.
Create Digital Efficiency at Your Studio
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Helix DAM, digital asset management by Perforce, enables teams to store, track, find, and share their art assets all in one central repository. With file locking and quick access to every version of your files, Helix DAM gives your team the visibility needed to iterate faster and avoid duplicated effort or file conflicts. Additionally, it gives you both a view into your entire asset library and a full view of your team’s collaboration in real time.
Get Started with Cloud Game Development
If you’re ready to start building the foundations needed for cloud-based game development, you can get up and running with Helix Core Cloud in just a few clicks.
For teams up to 50 users, Helix Core Cloud is the fastest path to the world’s most scalable version control — available now as a monthly subscription on the Azure Marketplace.