The future of video game development is in the cloud. According to a recent study by Perforce, nearly 80% of game developers develop their games either partially or fully in the cloud, and that number is growing quickly. The report also added that large file-size assets and collaboration can be a challenge, which are issues that cloud-based game development is uniquely suited to solve.
When game developers move their version control systems to Assembla Perforce Cloud, they see a significant improvement in the speed and responsiveness of their tools. With Perforce Federated Architecture, remote teams experience local-speed performance for large clone/pull/build operations. It also gives them access to collaboration and security tools and flexible, dynamic storage.
The 2020 pandemic accelerated several trends in the game industry, one of the biggest being the move toward remote work. Cloud based game development allows developers to work effectively from anywhere in the world. Assembla provides fast and responsive access to assets and tools, allowing your team members to collaborate easily across different continents.
As expectations for higher fidelity and more detailed assets continue to grow, so will storage requirements and our flexible storage space options can scale to your needs. The only SaaS platform for Perforce Helix Core in the world, Assembla Perforce Cloud users can access up to 1 TB of storage, while Perforce Enterprise users can choose their own storage limits. No matter how much you have stored on our servers, your software will remain fast and responsive.
Leaks are a constant issue in game development, and more developers are experiencing malicious hacks or theft of their code. Make sure your code is locked down by hosting it on a server that you can trust. With Assembla, administrators retain a high degree of control over their source code, just as they would with an on-prem setup, but with flexibility and scale that comes with hosting in the cloud. They can track changes in the code, whitelist users, and set specific permissions. Client data is transferred with SSL encryption and stored using AES 256-bit encryption. Perforce Enterprise clients also receive their own single tenant servers, which aren’t shared with any other customers.
Assembla’s Perforce DevOps team has been hosting Perforce on AWS longer than anyone else and provides 24x7x365 real-time performance monitoring. Here’s our take on why Perforce in the cloud is a great choice for game development.
Perforce Helix Core is one of the most popular version control systems for game developers, used by 19 of the top 20 AAA development studios. Developers use Helix Core to store and track their digital assets and source code. Helix Core keeps versions of assets such as video, large binary file, and IPs, in addition to traditional source code versions. It’s designed to support large and growing teams, with the ability to handle 10,000+ concurrent commits without slowing down.
Working with software tools that respond quickly is crucial to a productive game development team. While many on-prem setups become bogged down from an overload of assets, developers typically see a significant boost in speed when switching to the cloud. The distributed architecture of Helix Core allows for faster file access, but still maintains a single source of truth. Their federated services optimized network has several server configuration options which allow you to balance your business and security needs without sacrificing performance.
Your game team probably has tools they already use and don’t want to part with – and with Perforce they won’t have to. Perforce supports integrations with dozens of products from partner companies, including major game engines like Unity, Unreal, Lumberyard, CRYENGINE, and Open3D. It also integrates with industry standard tools for software development (Jira, Jenkins, Microsoft, AWS, IncrediBuild, JetBrains, Kdevelop, GitHub, and Steam), collaboration (Slack), and asset creation and management (Adobe, 3ds Max, Maya, ftrack, and KinematicSoup).
For studios that want to go all-in on Perforce offerings, Assembla Perforce Enterprise also supports Helix DAM, Hansoft, and Helix Swarm.
Assets are at the core of game creation, but keeping track of them can be daunting. Helix DAM is a digital asset management tool that helps you find, track, and review your game assets. Helix DAM is built on top of Helix Core, so you get the same performance and security improvements, plus it integrates with industry standard tools such as Photoshop, Maya, and Blender. Of course, it also has an API so you can integrate it with your own custom solutions.
We’ve partnered with Perforce to deliver an enterprise-grade cloud platform for centralized project and program management. Hansoft, an enterprise Agile planning tool, is designed for large-scale backlog management, Gantt chart planning, and portfolio management. It supports a flexible mix of Scrum, Kanban, Waterfall, and more and offers efficient bulk updates and the ability to change attributes and workflows on the fly.
Helix Swarm brings collaboration and streamlined efficiency to code reviews. Helix Swarm is a web-based code review tool that works with Helix Core. You can configure custom workflows for your studio and make additional tweaks for individual projects. The review dashboard enable visibility into how the reviews are progressing, and comment threading allows for easy back and forth conversations inline with your code.
If you’re ready to try cloud-based game development, start a free 14 day trial of Assembla. Our team would love to talk with you about how a cloud solution can meet your development needs.
