Game Development Version Control Best Practices: A Beginner's Guide

Version control (VC) is a crucial system for game development, allowing teams to track changes to files over time. It acts as a time machine, enabling developers to revert mistakes, review history, and collaborate effectively without relying on cumbersome ZIP files. This guide is designed for beginners eager to optimize their game development workflow, detailing best practices for selecting a version control system (VCS), setting up repositories in Unity or Unreal Engine, managing large assets, adopting branching workflows, enabling continuous integration (CI), and maintaining repository health. Expect copy-paste-ready configurations and commands that you can implement immediately.

Core Concepts: Systems, Terms, and When to Use Them

Quick glossary:

• Repository (repo): A storage space for project history.
• Commit: A recorded snapshot of changes.
• Branch: A parallel line of development.
• Push/Pull: Send/fetch commits to/from a remote repository.
• Lock: Prevent editing of a file while working (useful for non-mergeable binaries).
• LFS: Large File Storage, used for managing large binaries outside normal Git history.
• Merge conflict: Occurs when two changes can’t be automatically merged.

Common systems used in game development:

• Git (with Git LFS): Widely used, perfect for code and smaller teams. Utilize Git LFS for large file handling. Visit the official Git LFS site.
• Perforce (Helix Core): Preferred by large studios for its excellent handling of large files and locking mechanisms. Refer to Unreal Engine’s documentation on Perforce.
• Plastic SCM: Designed for game teams, offering strong GUI, branching, and locking features.
• Mercurial / SVN: Less common, but still in use across some studios.

When to choose each system:

• Solo dev / very small indie: Git + Git LFS — affordable and integrates well with GitHub/GitLab.
• Small to mid-size teams with many binaries: Git + Git LFS can work, but monitor quotas and performance.
• Mid-size to large teams with extensive binary pipelines: Perforce or Plastic SCM — better locking and performance options.

Choosing the right tool revolves around team size, asset types, and budget considerations.

Repository Setup: Structure, .gitignore, and Asset Serialization

A well-defined repository structure minimizes confusion. For Unity and Unreal, it typically looks like this:

• /Assets (Unity) or /Content (Unreal)
• /ProjectSettings (Unity) or /Config
• /Source (C++, C# scripts)
• /Builds (CI artifacts)
• /Docs, /Tools

What to commit vs. exclude:

• Commit: Project settings, source code, final art assets, and scene files (if using text serialization).
• Exclude: OS files (.DS_Store), local IDE settings, generated build binaries, per-machine caches, and user-specific files.

Use official .gitignore templates as a base. Start with community/official ignores for Unity and Unreal, then add platform-specific entries.

Example highlights for .gitignore (Unity + common extras):

# Unity generated  
[Ll]ibrary/  
[Tt]emp/  
Obj/  
[Bb]uild/  
UserSettings/  
MemoryCaptures/  
  
# OS  
.DS_Store  
Thumbs.db  
  
# IDE  
.vscode/  
*.suo  
*.user  
  
# Build artifacts  
*.apk  
*.exe  
  
# Ignore large local caches  
*.log  

For large binary handling, use .gitattributes to specify file types managed by Git LFS:

Example .gitattributes for Git LFS:

# Unity common types  
*.psd filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
*.png filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
*.jpg filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
*.fbx filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
*.wav filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
*.mp4 filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
*.uasset filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  
  
# Unreal compiled shader caches or big binaries  
*.ushadercache filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text  

Asset serialization: For Unity, enable ‘Force Text’ (text-based YAML) so scenes and prefabs are mergeable and compatible with tools like UnityYAMLMerge (Smart Merge). Learn more from Unity’s official version control documentation.
For Unreal, .uasset files are binary; prefer locking or Plastic SCM at scale. See Unreal’s source control guidance.

Handling Large Binary Assets — Git LFS, Locking, and Perforce

Challenges with Git and large binaries:

• Every version of a binary is stored in history, making clones heavy and slow.
• Binaries are not diffable; merging them is virtually impossible.

How Git LFS works:

• Git LFS replaces large files with small pointer files in your Git history, storing the binary content separately.
• This enhances cloning times for developers as they need only the most recent asset versions.
• Git LFS also supports locking (git lfs lock) for assets that should be edited by one person at a time.

Set up Git LFS early; moving large files out of history later can be complex. Check the official Git LFS documentation for guidance.

Locking workflows suitable for artists:

• For non-mergeable binary files (PSD, large scene binaries), implement file locking. With Git LFS, you can execute:

git lfs install  
git lfs track "*.psd"  
git add .gitattributes  
git commit -m "Track PSDs with LFS"  
  
# When editing  
git lfs lock Assets/Art/hero.psd  
# After finishing  
git lfs unlock Assets/Art/hero.psd  

• Perforce uses an exclusive checkout model, favored by many studios for large binary-heavy pipelines.

Storage and hosting considerations:

• GitHub/GitLab offer LFS support but often impose storage/bandwidth quotas on free plans; monitor your usage.
• Self-hosting Git LFS or employing Perforce/Plastic may be more cost-effective for larger teams. For self-hosting details, refer to our guide on building a home lab.

Branching Strategies & Workflows for Game Teams

Start simple and evolve your strategy. Here’s a comparison of popular workflows:

Guidelines:

• Keep the main/trunk branch in a deployable state always.
• Utilize short-lived feature branches, merging frequently (daily or several times a week).
• Maintain consistent branch naming conventions: feature/123-descriptive-name, hotfix/issue-456, release/v1.2.
• Avoid long-lived branches to minimize merge challenges, especially with binary assets.

Artist and programmer coordination:

• Programmers can work on small code branches; artists should lock binaries or work on task-specific branches that include exported assets.
• For significant art changes, create a feature branch and synchronize merges to main once the assets are ready.

Collaboration Best Practices: Merging, Conflicts, Code Reviews, and Communication

Reduce merge pain:

• Use text serialization for mergeable assets (Unity Force Text).
• Lock files that cannot be merged.
• Keep pull requests small and focused; smaller changes are easier to review.

Handling scene/prefab merges:

• Use Unity Smart Merge (UnityYAMLMerge) to auto-resolve some scene/prefab merges; ensure text serialization is enabled first. Visit Unity’s documentation for details on version control.
• For Unreal, prefer locking or Perforce workflows for managing large binary assets.

Code review practices for mixed teams:

• Clearly define what aspects to review: code logic, API changes, performance, and asset integration.
• Artists’ PRs should include preview builds or screenshots; programmers should accompany with unit tests or small test scenes.
• Implement branch protection rules in Git hosting to require reviews and passing CI checks to minimize accidental merges.

Effective communication:

• Maintain brief communication protocols: notify team members when locking a file, add notes in PRs for significant asset changes, and schedule merge windows for significant artistic merges.

CI/CD, Automated Builds, and Playtest Pipelines

Automated builds are vital as they:

• Identify integration issues early (e.g., build breaks, missing assets).
• Produce artifacts for playtesting (daily/nightly builds).
• Ensure reproducible builds across team members.

Basic CI pipeline for a game project:

1. Checkout code and LFS assets.
2. Restore dependencies and cache where possible.
3. Build the player for target platforms.
4. Run unit tests or smoke tests.
5. Upload build artifacts to storage and tag releases.

Common tools:

• GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and Jenkins are widely utilized.
• Unity Cloud Build is an easy option for Unity developers.
• Perforce-integrated build servers are available for teams relying on Perforce.

Containerized build agents enhance reproducibility. If you’re new to containers, check out our Docker guide. For CI networking and artifact storage considerations, see our guide on container networking.

When building for multiple platforms, ensure that you efficiently cache compiled shader caches and platform SDKs. For shader-specific concerns and managing compiled shader caches, refer to our shader programming guide.

Artifact storage and versioning:

• Store builds in an artifact store (e.g., GitHub Releases, S3, Artifactory).
• Use tags and semantic versioning (e.g., v1.2.3) for easy recreation of specific builds.

Example GitHub Actions snippet:

# .github/workflows/build.yml  
name: Build  
on: [push]  
jobs:  
  build:  
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest  
    steps:  
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2  
        with:  
          lfs: true  
      - name: Setup Unity  
        # setup steps for Unity  
      - name: Build  
        run: |  
          # build command here  
      - name: Upload Artifact  
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2  
        with:  
          name: game-build  
          path: Builds/  

Repo Maintenance, Scaling, and Troubleshooting

If your repo becomes overly large:

• Remove large files from history carefully using tools like BFG Repo-Cleaner or git-filter-repo. Note that this rewrites history, so coordinate with your team and update remotes.
• Utilize shallow clones for faster developer setup: git clone --depth 1.
• Implement sparse-checkout if contributors require only sections of a monorepo.

Cloning performance tips:

• git clone --filter=blob:none --no-checkout (partial clone) and sparse-checkout can significantly reduce clone size.
• Ensure that CI caches dependencies and LFS objects to expedite builds.

Backup and disaster recovery:

• Mirror repositories to a secondary remote and routinely back up LFS storage.
• Automate backups and periodically test the restore process.

When to consider splitting or migrating:

• If a single repo contains numerous unrelated projects causing long checkouts, think about splitting them into smaller repositories.
• If Git + LFS usage becomes administratively or financially burdensome due to heavy binary usage, evaluate migrating to Perforce or Plastic SCM.

Practical Day-to-Day Checklist & Starter Commands

Checklist for new projects:

• Initialize the repo and add a README.
• Install and configure Git LFS and .gitattributes from the start.
• Include a .gitignore tailored for Unity/Unreal.
• Enable text serialization (Unity) or plan locking (Unreal).
• Establish branch policy (main + feature branches) and define protection rules.
• Set up a basic CI pipeline for nightly builds or builds on PR merges.

Starter Git + LFS commands:

# Install LFS for your machine  
git lfs install  

# Start repository  
git init  
git remote add origin [email protected]:yourorg/yourrepo.git  

# Track binary types  
git lfs track "*.psd" "*.png" "*.fbx" "*.uasset"  

# Save the attributes and .gitignore  
git add .gitattributes .gitignore  
git commit -m "Add LFS tracking and ignores"  

# Add all files, commit, and push  
git add .  
git commit -m "Initial commit"  
git branch -M main  
git push -u origin main  

Artist quick workflow tips:

• Lock files before editing: git lfs lock Assets/Art/hero.psd.
• Regularly export working versions (flattened PNG/JPG) for smoother merges and previews.
• Communicate in PRs or chat when large files are subject to change.

Conclusion and Next Steps

To achieve success from the start:

• Enable Git LFS at the project’s inception and track large file types.
• Utilize text-based serialization for mergeable assets (Unity Force Text + Smart Merge).
• Implement a straightforward branching policy (main + short-lived feature branches).
• Add CI to produce frequent builds and identify integration issues early.

Make progressive changes to your workflow. If you are solo or part of a small team, start with Git + LFS and a simple CI workflow. As your team grows and asset sizes expand, reevaluate options like Perforce or Plastic SCM.

Want to jumpstart your project? Copy the .gitignore and .gitattributes snippets into files at your repo root. Additionally, you can download a ready-to-use starter package (including README, .gitignore, .gitattributes, and sample CI) by copying the code blocks provided into your project files — a small actionable step that can yield immediate benefits.

Further reading and authoritative references:

• Unity Manual — Version Control and Collaboration
• Git LFS — Git Large File Storage (official)
• Unreal Engine Documentation — Source Control

Related guides on this site:

• Graphics API comparison for game developers
• Game shaders programming guide (beginners)
• Docker containers beginners guide
• Container networking (CI/CD infrastructure)
• Building a home lab hardware requirements (useful for self-hosting VCS/CI)

Call to action: Try the starter checklist today — initialize a repo, add the .gitattributes and .gitignore shown above, and execute the Git LFS commands. If you need assistance customizing configs for Unity or Unreal, I can generate a downloadable starter bundle with files and a step-by-step setup for your specific engine and host.