Version Managementfor Game Developers

Sven Erik Knop

Perforce Software

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What we do

▪ Perforce helps delivery teams build complex products collaboratively, securely and efficiently.

▪ Commonly used for… • Software • Games • Electronics • Animations • Chipsets • Medical Devices • IoT

Global 24x7 Support

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Why version management?

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Working with Version Management (1)

#include <game.h>

int main() { InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

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Working with Version Management (2)

#include <game.h> #include <login.h>

int main() { LogOnUser(); InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

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Working with Version Management (3)

#include <game.h> #include <loot.h>

int main() { InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SeedLoot(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

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Working with Version Management (4)

#include <game.h> #include <login.h> #include <loot.h>

int main() { LogOnUser(); InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SeedLoot(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

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Merging ...

#include <game.h>

int main() { InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

#include <game.h> #include <login.h>

int main() { LogOnUser; InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

#include <game.h> #include <loot.h>

int main() { InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SeedLoot(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

#include <game.h> #include <login.h> #include <loot.h>

int main() { LogOnUser(); InitialiseGame(); PopulateWorld(); SeedLoot(); SetUpOpponents();

StartUpGame(); }

Base

Source

Target

Merged

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Working together on binary files

▪ Merging for binary files?

▪ Locking!

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Single of Source of Truth

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Challenges in Games Development

▪ Why is Games Development so hard? • Besides the obvious I mean …

▪ Average AAA game: • 100 of thousands of files

• 1 TB+ source code and assets at HEAD

• 50GB + changes a day

• 100+ Team size

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Consequences

▪ Continuous integration • Builds take minutes (incremental) to hours (full) • Smoke tests?

• Full tests?

▪ Who broke the build? ▪ HEAD is not stable!

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Coding practices compared

▪ Different ways to organise your sources ▪ There is no single best way

• Team size • Target platform: Mobile/Console/PC/4K/… • Rate of change • Iteration frequency

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Single Code Line

Head

Stable Head still stable?

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Development branches

Long-lived development branches can cause problems

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Task/Feature branches

Keeping feature branches short-lived avoids severe merge conflicts

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3-way merge for binary assets?

▪ Images? ▪ 3D models? ▪ Sound files?

▪ Locking! ▪ Across branches?

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Component-based

Shared trunk

Separate trunks

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Trunk-based Development

Trunk

Release

Extended testing for release Requires tooling!

Stable

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Milestone branches

Stabilise in separate branch Merge fixes, ignore hacks

Conclusion

▪ Games development brings its own challenges ▪ Large projects ▪ Large binary files ▪ Large teams

▪ Careful code line management helps to manage this

▪ Single Source of Truth is essential for success

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Perforce Helix

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Flexible Workflow Version control, code reviews, simple file sharing, distributed, Git

Fast and ScalableFrom 10 to 10,000+ users, unlimited files Every fileEfficiently handles large, often binary, data All contributorsFamiliar tools, natural workflows AnywhereSupports geographically distributed teams

Secure Granular permissions, theft risk monitoring Open and ExtensibleAPIs and integration hooks for customization

Introducing Perforce HelixNext Generation Hybrid Version Management

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IDEs

Integrated into your workflow

Game Engines

Build/CI

Image and 3D Tools

+ APIs and many other tools

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Distributed Single Source of Truth

Versioning Service

Proxy

Proxy

Edge Service (humans)D/R

Edge Service (automation)

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Helix Streams

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Helix GitSwarm – Modern Git Ecosystem

▪ Browser-based Git Management ▪ Self service repos ▪ Merge requests ▪ Permissions ▪ Issue tracking, wiki, etc.

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Integrated with Perforce Helix

▪ Automatic mirroring with the shared Helix server

▪ Collaborate with non-Git contributors

▪ Helix security –protection down to the file level, immutable audit trail

▪ Work with narrow clones from the Helix depot

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How do I start?

▪ Perforce is free (without restrictions) • For educational purposes • For Open Source projects • For 5 users / 20 workspaces

▪ www.perforce.com

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Futher resources

▪ Videos ▪ Tutorials ▪ Unity P4Connect introduction:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMXnHKHykLU

Thank YouQuestions?