TL;DR
Using version control with Windows Azure is a smart choice for game development because Azure DevOps offers unlimited Git Large File Storage (LFS) for large binary assets. Anchorpoint streamlines this process for teams by offering a 100% Git-compatible interface that automates repository setup and file locking. This allows artists to concentrate on their work rather than the command line.
If you want to collaborate on a game project, resolving version control (or source control) is one of the first things you need to consider. If you are familiar with Git, you may have heard of GitHub. This allows you to store your game project on a server, so that everybody has access to it. GitHub is great for software development, but for games, there are better solutions out there.
For many game studios, finding a robust git client for Windows Azure DevOps is a priority to ensure technical and non-technical team members can collaborate effectively. While developers often prefer the command line, artists require a visual, fail-safe environment. Anchorpoint acts as a specialized solution that connects directly to Azure, handling the heavy lifting of Git LFS and repository configuration so your team can start creating immediately.
Microsoft Azure DevOps is a Git server and a viable alternative to GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. It provides unlimited storage for Git LFS, which is a blessing for game development with Unity, Godot and Unreal. The free plan allows up to 5 users, which is great to get started. Everything above 5 users comes at a reasonable price of $6 per user per month. This is keeping in mind that it does not bill you for storage, which you will need for textures, movies, audio and 3D files.
Azure DevOps is part of the huge Microsoft Azure ecosystem, which is a direct competitor to AWS from Amazon. It seems a bit overwhelming to get started and this tutorial will help you with that.
In this tutorial, we will use
Anchorpoint is a 100% Git-compatible version control solution used by over 200 studios worldwide to bridge the gap between technical DevOps and artist workflows, eliminating the complexity of managing large game assets on Azure DevOps.
Since Unreal Engine 5, changes on a level can be stored in multiple small files using One File Per Actor. This has multiple benefits:
If you are using World Partition, the One File Per Actor feature is enabled by default. It not, you have to enabled it here.
Go to dev.azure.com and create an account.
Now you have to walk through the typical account creation process. When you are done with that, you will be able to create a new project in DevOps. The process is a bit nasty, but you only need to do it once.
In the next step, you'll need a Git client. This is a desktop application that will push and pull files from your computer to the server. In this tutorial, we will use Anchorpoint, because it is suited for artists and has all the configuration for Unreal or Unity projects ready to go. If you don’t want to use Anchorpoint, there are alternatives like GitHub Desktop or SourceTree.
Setting up Azure DevOps can be a bit fragile. We experienced some login issues, that can be solved using a custom credential set. Just open up the section under "Use Custom Credentials" and follow the instruction on the screen.
Now it's time to turn your Unreal project into a Git repository that you can upload to DevOps. Create a project in Anchorpoint and select your project folder on your hard drive. Once you create a new project in Anchorpoint, it will be also created on Azure DevOps due to the integration.
Anchorpoint detects that you have changes that haven't been committed yet. There are files on your computer that are not on the server. You need to enter a message and commit them.
When you entered the message and pressed “commit”, you created a version, which is basically a checkpoint for your project. After that, you can press “Sync” to upload them to Azure DevOps.
Your workflow will be always like this:
During every push, Anchorpoint will check for file changes, which have been made by your teammates and download them, before uploading your changes.
Your team member needs to have an active Azure DevOps account and an Anchorpoint account. When you invited your team member to an Anchorpoint project, which you did in the step above, they will get a notification. They simply need to click on the invite and join the project. Anchorpoint will ask them, where to store the Git repository. They have to pick an empty folder on their hard drive and then Anchorpoint will download the game project from DevOps.
This is all you need to do to set up a game project with Azure DevOps and Anchorpoint. From now on, you can make changes in Unreal or Unity and commit, push and pull. That’s everything you need to know about Git.
The Anchorpoint Unreal Editor plugin integrates version control solution directly into your game development environment. This allows artists to manage assets without ever leaving Unreal Engine. The plugin automates the asset pipeline by handling Git commits, which function as project checkpoints, and file locking to prevent team members from accidentally overwriting each other's work.
Not with Anchorpoint! We designed the interface for non-technical users, such as artists. It simplifies complex Git workflows, providing guidance and explanations so team members can share files and report completed tasks with minimal training.
Yes. Azure DevOps is ideal for game development because of its generous Git LFS limits. Anchorpoint automates the Git LFS configuration, meaning artists can "publish" a commit (like making a project checkpoint) without ever touching a .gitattributes file.
Azure DevOps is free for 5 users and costs if your user count is beyond that. Take a look at their pricing. Right now, Azure DevOps does not charge for Git LFS storage. Read more on their blog. This however might change in the future.
A .gitignore prevents uploading files, that should not be shared, such as build results or DerivedDataCache. Anchorpoint is setting up a .gitignore file automatically. If you want to know how to customize it, take a look at this article on how to customize your .gitignore for Unreal Engine.
You can. Just make sure that you configure your .gitattributes file correctly to use Git LFS.
