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Game Development Version Control: How to handle lots of gigabyte game assets?

Nikolaos Bampaliaris · 2021-01-06T03:58:19

I'm mainly a full stack web developer and never had problems with big (in size) repository projects, so I could just push everything on GitHub without any problems. Now I decided to make some games and I was wondering how should I manage my repository. Well probably the idea is to add the game assets directory into the .gitignore file, but how do I share the rest of the project with the other developers? How are we going to stay in synch with game asset changes?

General and Gameplay Programming Programming Unity Assets git github

Started by babaliaris December 20, 2020 07:13 PM

24 comments, last by darthdeus 3 years, 5 months ago

babaliaris

136

Author

December 22, 2020 12:07 PM

I thought of a solution. I will use git and GitHub for the source code and any other text files, and I will create a VM in the google cloud platform and use ssh to transfer data between our computers.

We just need to be careful to not override asset data.


void life()
{
  while (!succeed())
    try_again();

  die_happily();
}

babaliaris

136

Author

December 23, 2020 02:38 PM

I think I found a better way. I can set up my own git remote (instead of GitHub or other online services) https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Setting-Up-the-Server .

It doesn't seem to be that difficult. It's just a

git init --bare

and a communication protocol setup (You can either use an HTTP server or SSH).

Now the problem is that I believe even 6$/month is a waste in this early stage for something like that, so I might turn my own computer into a remote.


void life()
{
  while (!succeed())
    try_again();

  die_happily();
}

ddlox

309

December 23, 2020 03:06 PM

babaliaris said:
…I might turn my own computer into a remote.
and previous in the OP:
… but how do I share the rest of the project with the other developers?

the remote git server setup will work, but are you sure you want to share your home IP address with other developers? is it safe to do so? … just wondering…

?-/

babaliaris

136

Author

December 23, 2020 03:42 PM

ddlox said:
babaliaris said:
…I might turn my own computer into a remote.
and previous in the OP:
… but how do I share the rest of the project with the other developers?
the remote git server setup will work, but are you sure you want to share your home IP address with other developers? is it safe to do so? … just wondering…
?-/

We all know each other, I'm comfortable with them. Now in the future, if we make some profit too we can easily support servers and more.


void life()
{
  while (!succeed())
    try_again();

  die_happily();
}

ddlox

309

December 23, 2020 04:14 PM

babaliaris said:
We all know each other, I'm comfortable with them…

LorenzoGatti

4,650

December 23, 2020 06:17 PM

I thought of a solution. I will use git and GitHub for the source code and any other text files, and I will create a VM in the google cloud platform and use ssh to transfer data between our computers.
We just need to be careful to not override asset data.

This is going to fail catastrophically. It might be reasonable to sacrifice advanced version control functionality, but even for assets you need complete history (not only snapshots of whenever backups run, skipping intermediate states) and atomic operations (not, for example, backups that silently omit open files).

Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru

a light breeze

362

December 23, 2020 07:52 PM

You want at least four copies of your complete project history on different computers for backup purposes anyway. If you've got four or fewer team members, then letting your revision control system store a copy of the project history on each computer is a cheap and effective method of creating (some of) these backups and keeping them up to date.

ddlox

309

December 23, 2020 08:49 PM

LorenzoGatti said:
This is going to fail catastrophically.

@lorenzogatti i think u missed this:

babaliaris said:
I think I found a better way. I can set up my own git remote (instead of GitHub or other online services) https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Setting-Up-the-Server.

frob

46,233

December 24, 2020 01:10 AM

Still seems like a big hassle when you can get that for free. Perforce is free for up to 5 users / 20 workspaces. and not particularly expensive if/when you grow above that.

It's an unnecessary risk, you really don't have to worry about asset data being overwritten.

Choose the right tool for the job. Git is great for source code, but games are more than just source code.

LorenzoGatti

4,650

December 24, 2020 08:17 AM

@ddlox Using a privately hosted remote server for Git instead of services like Github could improve flexibility (e.g. fancy hooks) and avoid arbitrary impositions and limitations (e.g. free pricing plan up to N repositories) but it doesn't help with the OP's dangerous idea of keeping assets out of proper version control.

Moreover, DIY security and server administration can be too much for a small team without an expert.

Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru

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