Chapter 1
Getting started
Why game projects need different version control, what USourceControl is made of, and how to get your Unreal project into it.
5 sections · Chapter 1 of 8
This chapter is about the ground floor. If you have never used version control, or you have used Git for code and found that it fell apart the moment you added a level, this is where to start.
We begin with why game projects break the tools that work fine for source code, because that explains almost every design decision that follows. Then we cover what USourceControl is actually made of, the handful of words the rest of the book uses, and finally the practical business of installing the app and getting your first project into it.
By the end you will have a project linked, a folder syncing, and enough vocabulary to read any other chapter in any order.
In this chapter
- 1.1About version control for gamesWhy the tools built for source code struggle with Unreal projects, and what changes when your files are binary.
- 1.2What USourceControl isFour pieces — a dashboard, a desktop app, a build runner, and a local agent — and which one you actually spend your day in.
- 1.3Core conceptsOrganizations, projects, commits, locks, branches, editions, plugins, and releases — the vocabulary the rest of the book assumes.
- 1.4Installing the desktop appDownload, install, and understand how updates behave.
- 1.5Linking your first projectCreate the project, generate a key, point the app at your .uproject folder, and take the first pull.
Summary
Game projects break the assumptions that source-code version control is built on: the files are binary, they cannot merge, and they are enormous. USourceControl takes that as the starting point rather than something to work around, which is why locking is central, why storage and bandwidth are unlimited, and why there is no repository for you to manage.
You now have the vocabulary — organization, project, commit and its sequence number, lock, branch, edition, plugin, release — and a linked project on disk. That is everything the rest of the book builds on.
Next is the desktop app in earnest: committing, pulling, locking, and getting a file back when you need it.