Dependencies

To get the most out of this guide, ensure you have the following prerequisites:

• Metaplay overview - A general understanding of what problems Metaplay solves in the world of game backends. When in doubt, refer to the Introduction to Metaplay page.
• A Project on the Metaplay Portal - You need to have registered on the Metaplay Portal and created a project to link your project with.
• Metaplay CLI - Install the Metaplay CLI, if you don't already have it.
• A Unity Project - An existing Unity project that you want to integrate the Metaplay SDK into.

Quick Install Guide

These steps will guide you through adding the Metaplay SDK to your Unity game project and getting started with building and running the game server locally.

Version compatibility

This guide works with Metaplay Release 32 and above. If you're using Metaplay Release 31 or older, please follow Adding the SDK to a Unity Project instead.

Integrate the Metaplay SDK Into Your Project

You can integrate Metaplay SDK into your project using the Metaplay CLI:

MyProject$ metaplay init project

After this, you'll have:

• The Metaplay SDK initialized in your project.
• Your project linked to the project in the Metaplay Portal.
• A basic example of using Metaplay added in Assets/MetaplayHelloWorld/. Feel free to remove this when it's no longer useful.
• Placeholder player state and game logic code added in Assets/SharedCode/. You should replace these with your own.

Anatomy of a Metaplay Project

You should now have a fully functional minimal Metaplay SDK integration in your Unity project. To verify that everything went smoothly, open the MetaplayHelloWorld/HelloWorldScene imported into your project, set your active environment to 'offline' in the environment configs editor ('Metaplay/Environment Configs'), and hit play. This will run the minimalistic Hello World game logic in "offline server" mode.

The following files were added to your project to get you started with Metaplay:

Assets/
+---MetaplayHelloWorld/     Metaplay's HelloWorld sample project.
+---SharedCode/             Game files shared by the client and server.
|   +---GlobalOptions.cs    Metaplay project configuration, customized to your game.
|   +---Player/*.cs         Game logic placeholders. Implement your logic here.
StreamingAssets/
+---SharedGameConfig.mpa    Pre-built game config files.
Backend/                    Game-specific backend files.
+---Server/                 Game server C# project.
+---BotClient/              Headless game client for load testing.

The MetaplayHelloWorld/ directory can be removed when no longer needed, but the ApplicationStateManager.cs file can still be useful as-is or as a reference when making your own version. It implements the lifecycle of a Metaplay-powered application, including connectivity handling and network errors.

Pro Tip

We strongly recommend disabling Domain Reload in your Unity project, if possible. This makes iterating much smoother as entering play mode becomes much faster.

Managing the Application Lifecycle

The ApplicationStateManager.cs copied from the Hello World sample implements the basic state management and transitions that are needed in a typical game, including the Metaplay SDK initialization, connecting to the server, and handling connection errors.

If you already have a state manager or want to build your own, you can use the ApplicationStateManager as a reference on how to integrate Metaplay into your state manager.

Take a look at Implementing Your Own Game Server Connection on how to integrate the SDK into your own state manager.

Further Reading

The next step is to get your server running. Take a look at Connecting to the Game Server to learn how to run and connect to the game server locally.