Get started

Note: The content on this page pertains to Game Server Hosting (Multiplay) available on the Unity Cloud Dashboard. If you’re using Game Server Hosting (Clanforge), refer to the Game Server Hosting (Clanforge) documentation.

This guide walks you through setting up Game Server Hosting as your project's game server orchestration platform. You’ll learn how to:

Note: Refer to Guides if you’ve already set up Game Server Hosting and want to learn how to perform a specific task.

Tip: Check out our YouTube video How to set up Game Server Hosting.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you meet the following prerequisites:

Set up Game Server Hosting

You can set up and manage Game Server Hosting through the Unity Cloud Dashboard:

  1. Go to cloud.unity.com.
  2. Select the Products tab from the sidebar.
  3. Under Gaming Services > Multiplayer, go to Game Server Hosting (Multiplay) and select Launch.
  4. Select Setup guide.

Note: When you launch Game Server Hosting for the first time, this adds Game Server Hosting to the Shortcuts section on the sidebar and opens the Overview page.

Integrate your game server

The first step in the process of setting up Game Server Hosting is to integrate your game server executable. Game Server Hosting also refers to this executable as the build executable.

  1. Select your game engine
  2. Link your Unity project
  3. Install the Game Server Hosting package

Select your game engine

  1. In the Setup guide, select Integrate game server.
  2. Select the game engine your game server executable supports. Game Server Hosting is engine-agnostic, meaning you can use Unity, Unreal, or a custom engine.
  3. Select the engine, then select Next to continue.

Before you continue, you must link your project with the Unity Cloud Dashboard using the Unity Editor.

Note: You can skip this step if you’ve already linked your project in the Unity Editor, or you are using Unreal or a custom engine.

  1. Sign in to the Editor before linking the project to the Unity Cloud Dashboard.
  2. Select File > Project Settings > Services.
  3. If you already have a Unity project, select Use an existing Unity project ID. To create a project from the Unity Editor, select your Organization, then Create project ID.
  4. Select Link project ID.
  5. After you’ve linked your project in the Unity Editor, select Next in the Unity Cloud Dashboard.

Tip: Refer to the Game Server SDK for Unity documentation to learn how to integrate your game with the Game Server SDK.

Install the Game Server Hosting package

After you’ve linked your project to the Unity Cloud Dashboard, you can install the latest version of the Game Server Hosting package.

Use the Unity Package Manager to import the Game Server Hosting package in the Unity Editor:

  1. In Unity, navigate to Window > Package Manager.
  2. In the Package Manager, select the plus icon (+) with the down arrow next to it.
  3. Select Add package by name
  4. Paste the following text snippet into the Name field, then select Add.
    com.unity.services.multiplay
  5. After importing the Game Server Hosting package in the Unity Editor, select Finish in the Unity Cloud Dashboard.

Create a build

The following sections guide you through creating your first build, and supplement the embedded guide on the Unity Cloud Dashboard.

There are three ways to create a build:

Create a build configuration

Create a build configuration for the build you created in the earlier step, and set the server density. Refer also to Build configurations.

Create a fleet

After you've created a build configuration, create your first fleet and define the following settings:

  1. The fleet details
  2. The fleet scaling settings
  3. The fleet server density

Create a test allocation

Finally, create a test allocation to make sure everything is working correctly. Refer to Test allocation documentation.

Next steps

Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up Game Server Hosting. You can continue to Game Server Hosting in the Unity Cloud Dashboard to:

You can also configure other Unity services, such as Matchmaker, Analytics, or Cloud Code.