Amazon GameLift server SDK 5.x - Amazon GameLift
Server SDK 5.x updates

Amazon GameLift server SDK 5.x

This section provides reference documentation for the Amazon GameLift server SDK 5.x. The server SDK provides core functionality that your game server uses to interact with the Amazon GameLift service. For example, your game server receives prompts from the service to start and stop game sessions and it provides regular game session status updates to the service. Integrate your game servers with the server SDK before you deploy them for hosting.

Use this Amazon GameLift server SDK reference to integrate your custom multiplayer game servers for hosting with Amazon GameLift. For guidance about the integration process, see Add Amazon GameLift to your game server.

The latest major version of the Amazon GameLift server SDK is 5.x. The following hosting features require the use of version 5.x:

  • Amazon GameLift Anywhere

  • Amazon GameLift plugin for Unreal Engine and Unity

Topics

Updates in Amazon GameLift Server SDK 5

Your hosted game servers use the Amazon GameLift server SDK to communicate with the Amazon GameLift service to start and manage game sessions for players. The latest version, Amazon GameLift server SDK 5, offers a number of improvements and support for new Amazon GameLift features. If your game server build currently uses Amazon GameLift server SDK 4 or earlier, follow the guidance in this topic to update your games.

Amazon GameLift server SDK version 5.0.0 and above includes these updates:

  • Expanded languages – Libraries are available in the following languages: C++, C#, Go. You can build the C++ libraries for use with Unreal Engine.

  • Game engine plugin support – The Amazon GameLift standalone plugins for Unreal Engine and Unity require Amazon GameLift server SDK 5 libraries. These plugins offer guided workflows for integrating, testing, and deploying your games to Amazon GameLift for hosting. See Amazon GameLift plugin for Unity (server SDK 5.x) and Amazon GameLift plugin for Unreal Engine documentation.

  • Amazon GameLift Anywhere support – With Anywhere fleets you can set up your own hosting resources to use Amazon GameLift features (including matchmaking). Add the Amazon GameLift Agent to automate game session life cycle management. Use Anywhere fleets for production hosting with on- premises hardware, or set up test environments for fast iterative game development. See Anywhere hosting and the Amazon GameLift Agent.

  • Updated testing tools – The Amazon GameLift Anywhere feature lets you set up local or cloud-based test environments for your games. Set up testing with or without the Amazon GameLift Agent. These tools replace Amazon GameLift Local. See Set up local testing with Amazon GameLift Anywhere.

  • Consolidated .NET solution for C# – The C# server SDK 5.1+ supports .NET Framework 4.6.2 (upgraded from 4.6.1) and .NET 6.0 in a single solution. .NET Standard 2.1 is available with the Unity-built libraries.

  • New Compute resource – This new resource combines different types of hosting resources. It includes cloud-based hosting resources (managed EC2 or container fleets) and customer-controlled hosting resources (Anywhere fleets). It includes the following updates:

    • New API calls for the Compute resource include: ListCompute(), DescribeCompute(), and GetComputeAccess(). These actions return hosting resource information for any type of Amazon GameLift fleet. In general, for fleets with game servers that use server SDK 5.x, use the compute-specific actions to replace instance-specific actions. In addition, these actions are for use in Anywhere fleets without the Amazon GameLift Agent: RegisterCompute(), DeregisterCompute(), and GetComputeAuthToken().

    • New metric ActiveCompute with CloudWatch dimensions FleetId, Location, and ComputeType. This metric replaces the previous metric ActiveInstances.

  • Amazon EC2 Systems Manager (SSM )for remote access – For added security, use SSM instead of SSH when connecting to instances in Amazon GameLift managed fleets. See Remotely connect to Amazon GameLift fleet instances.