Setting up Unity Collaborate
To get started with Unity Collaborate, you must first link your game to a Unity Services Project ID. A Unity Services Project ID is an online identifier which is used across all Unity Services (Analytics, Collaborate, Cloud Build, etc). These can be created within the services window itself or, online at the Unity Services website.
Step 1. Link your project with a Unity Services Project ID.
The Services Window
Open the Services Window: In the Menu bar (Mac) or Task bar (Windows): select Window > Unity Services, or click the cloud button in the toolbar.
Cloud Button
You will be given the option to create a new Project ID or select an existing one.
If this is the first time you are connecting your project to Unity Services, you’ll need to create a new project ID. The organization name is typically the same name as your company. The project name for the new Services ID will automatically be the name of the Unity Project you’re currently working on.
If you want, you can change the name of the Services Project ID in the Settings section of the services window.
Creating a new Unity Services Project ID
Alternatively, if you have already set up a Unity Services Project ID for this project you can select the organization and project name from your list of existing projects (see example below).
Note: You will have an existing Unity Services Project ID if you have used one of the other Unity services with this project already, such as Unity Analytics, Ads, Cloud Build, or Multiplayer.
Selecting an existing project
Step 2. Turn On Collaborate
Select Collab in the toolbar and click “Start Now”.
Step 3: Submit your first change
With Collaborate now turned on, write your first message and publish your files. These files will be saved to the cloud and shared with your teammates (see below).
Unity collaborate как использовать
Collaboration is the lifeblood of great game design, and today's tools make it easier than ever to collaborate with your team no matter where everyone is working.
Not only are companies like Unity beefing up their built-in collaboration software, but a ton of new software players are entering the game to make remote collaboration easier than ever before.
If your team works in Unity, then you have multiple software tools that can make remote collaboration a cinch when you can’t sit side by side in the studio. We’ll break down the pros and cons of each option so you can figure out which tools are perfect for your team’s workflow.
Does Unity offer a native collaboration feature?
Unity has introduced their native collaboration feature called Unity Teams. Unity Teams is a cloud-based collaboration tool that allows multiple team members to work on the same project files. Unity’s developers have presented this feature as a much simpler alternative to complex (and expensive) source control programs.
Pros and cons of Unity’s native collaboration tool
Pros:
- No additional software is required to collaborate (as long as everyone is working in Unity)
- Simple and intuitive UI
- Affordable
- Allows users to write comments to accompany each change to add context
Cons:
- You need to apply changes before your teammates can see what you’ve changed
- There’s no “live chat” feature to communicate with your team, only comments you can view after they apply changes
This integrated cloud collaboration feature is a huge step forward for remote game development teams and makes it easy and affordable for even small indie teams to integrate source control into their workflow.
Now, if you want to take your collaboration to the next level, there are some additional collaboration platforms that provide even more features that allow your team to work together seamlessly within Unity.
Tools that can help your team collaborate in Unity
Tool #1: Evercast
Evercast is a video streaming and communication platform specifically built for creative teams that need to stream professional creation workspaces while chatting with their team.
With Evercast, you and your team can be working inside of Unity Teams while your team lead streams their workspace to the whole team. Not only that, you can talk face-to-face while you edit, creating a virtual editing suite that anyone you choose can dial into.
Pros:
- Ultra-low latency (less than 150ms on average) means that you’ll be able to chat in as close to real-time as possible
- Dashboard includes on-screen annotation and timestamped notes help you keep project notes organized and frame accurate
- The platform allows for simultaneous video chatting, text chat/note-taking, and workstation streaming, all under one clean interface
- No additional software is required for participants just joining a meeting; they simply need to follow a link to join. Easy to invite others
- It not only works with Unity but any and all creative software
Cons:
- Requires some setup time and configuration for editors who want to stream their workstations (this is just a one-time setup)
- A bit more expensive than other tools
Create together remotely, in real time
Tool #2: Frame.io
Frame.io is a fantastic platform that you can custom-fit to your workflow to allow you to share, annotate, and manage all of your media throughout a project. This is great for reviewing new assets and clips and getting instant feedback. It’s also a popular way to keep external stakeholders in the loop on their own schedule.
Pros:
- Frame-accurate comments
- On-screen annotation tools for visual notes
- One-click comment/task clearing
- Version tracking
- Works with any type of media exports
Cons:
- No video chat integration
- You need to upload your project files to make comments and notes, which can take time for more extensive projects
- Not designed for applying edits while notes are given
Tool #3: Wipster
Wipster is a video review and proofing platform that was built to help streamline the draft review and approval process for both internal collaborators and external clients.
Similar to Frame.io, this is a great platform to use when you’re looking to get fast feedback from other teams or external stakeholders on individual assets or new drafts.
Pros:
- Supports the review and approval of a wide variety of media files such as video, audio, PDF, and images
- Includes version tracking so you can see how the project has changed over time and which versions are currently in review
- Includes on-screen annotation and other feedback tools to make it easy for collaborators to make clear notes on the project
- People just giving feedback don’t have to download additional software
Cons:
- Not designed for a “live” feedback session. Instead, files are uploaded, and then collaborators make notes as they choose
- Not a lot of cloud storage included in the free or team accounts
- Team accounts are priced by the user, which means costs can add up quickly
Tool #4: Arcweave
What’s a great game without a great story? This collaborative game design platform has a direct Unity plugin so you and your team can craft your interactive narratives from start to finish and then get to work right away. Its cross-platform compatibility and easy-to-use UI make this a seamless integration into almost any workflow.
Pros:
- Simple visual interface
- Real-time chat and editing with team
- Ready-made Unity plugin for fast exports
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Affordable
Cons:
- A relatively new platform, so it may have some bugs
- Features seem heavily weighted towards RPG developers
Now you can collaborate from anywhere
The biggest benefit of all these remote collaboration tools is that they allow your team to expand beyond the boundaries of your local area.
Your core team may be headquartered in L.A., but you can now onboard a freelancer from New York, London, or Barcelona. You can start drawing from a global talent pool to recruit your next video or audio professionals, which means building the perfect team just got a lot easier.
Not only that, your current team members can now have much more flexibility in where they choose to work without sacrificing creative collaboration on video and audio production.
We could not be more thrilled to see how many tools are now available to help creative teams do better work at a distance, and we can’t wait to see what they’ll enable you to create next.
What is Unity teams and how to use it?
Have you ever wanted to work with people around the world but no able to connect and work seamlessly. Well you can now develop games that way and Unity teams is the answer. Unity teams lets you sync all your work with the team members you who have joined with you. Unity Teams promises to help you create with your entire team and stay in sync no matter where you are.
Features of Unity Teams
1. Cloud storage
Unity allows you to store your game resources in the cloud so that all the collaborators can access them.
2. Collaborate
This feature allows you to save, share and sync your projects in between team members.
3. Build sharing
You can upload, save, share your build with other team members across the globe.
Unity Teams basic vs Unity teams advanced
Unity teams has a free version and a paid version. Let’s see what are the difference.
| Basic | Advanced | |
| Unity Teams Pricing | Free | Free with Unity PRO or $9/mo |
| Cloud storage | 1GB | 25GB |
| Team seats | 3 max | 3 but expandable by purchase |
| Features | collaborate,build share | collaborate,build share, cloud build |
| Version history | 90 days | unlimited |
My Experience using unity teams
When I first tried it, I felt really insecure about sharing my project with someone in a different country but still I gave it a try. I must admit the experience of working with unity teams was really smooth. I could understand what I had to do to join a team member and how to remove a team member in about 15 minutes of using it.
One major doubt I had while using unity teams is what happens when another team member makes changes to your project. Will all my data be erased? Then I found out unity team only sync if you allow it to and clearly tells you what the change is. It also keeps a backup so that you can revert back if you don’t want the recent changes.
I was really impressed with the usage and ended up collaborating in a few more projects after that.
I think the above video gave a little idea of how to use unity teams but if you still have some confusion read on.
Unity Teams has two main service
- Unity Collaborate which allows you to Save, share, and sync your projects and use simple version control and cloud storage, all seamlessly integrated with Unity.
- Cloud Build Automatically share builds with team members. If you subscribe to Teams Advanced you can build your Project in the cloud.
- Ref: Unity Docs
Adding a team member
To give team members access to specific Projects:
- On the Unity editors toolbar, click the Collab button.
- In the Collaborate panel, click the Invite Teammate icon at the bottom.
When you click the Invite Teammate icon, Unity launches the Users section of the Unity Developer Dashboard in your browser. From the Users section, you can invite anyone with a Unity ID to join your Project:
When your team member has access to the Project, they can see the Project in their Launcher (Projects > In the Cloud) and they can download the Project.
Unity teams is really useful if you want to collaborate with other people living in different parts of the globe. Give it a try and let us know in the comments.
Unity collaborate как использовать
Some of these tips are very generic and apply to any code collab project, but they’re worth repeating to prevent you some headaches.
- Use the same Unity (sub)version. Switching to a different version is often possible without issues, but if you’re working on different versions, you’ll have to convert the project each time which is rather time consuming (and could also cause incompatibility issues from time to time).
- Merge often. The more differences there are between two versions, the more likely you’re going to run into compatibility issues and/or merge conflicts that can be time-consuming to resolve.
- Use version control. Ideally a git based solution. When you do use git for Unity projects, include the Unity .gitignore, as Unity projects contain a lot of extra files that don’t need to be included in the repo, and so excluding them saves a lot of data.
- Work with prefabs and packages where you can. In general having work «containerized» into Unity packages or prefabs makes them easier to transfer to other projects and scenes. This helps to keep your project maintainable.
¶ Unity Collaborate
Unity Teams, also sometimes referred to as collaborate. Important to note is that this is a pro-feature, but as pro license is free for students/educators, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
Some links to get started:
This doesn’t seem to be used too often (judging by the lack of forum/youtube posts about it etc). Nonetheless, it has some advantages over the (more used) git version control pipeline:
- Scene merging. If two people are working on a scene, merging changes made by someone else will keep the current changes and just apply the changes made to the scene in the latest commit. This doesn’t really work that well when working with git.
- Processing merge conflicts. In the case that you try to push a new versions of a file, while that file has changed in the meantime, you get a merge conflict. The newest version of Unity collaborate (using PlasticSCM) has a really intuitive interface to process merge conflicts, such that you don’t need to worry as much about this.
- Ease-of-use. You don’t need to be familiar with all the git-mumbojumbo to be able to use Unity Teams. It integrates fully with Unity, and you can use and do everything from within the editor.
Since 2020, this is also integrated within Unity, but will require a little more knowledge and set-up to use. However, this is defenitely worth it when working on larger projects or with larger teams.