Reviewing Game builds within the Shotgun ecosystem

[MattB]

I am looking at Shotgun as a solution for both game projects and animation projects. My questions are around the mechanisms for review of game builds.

1. If you wish to review a daily build - see it live and playable on the screen, how would you do that via Shotgun?

2. How would you be able to provide visual feedback on a sequence of gameplay. I don’t see how that would occur in RV at the moment.

3. What kind of game engines could you integrate into the Shotgun pipeline: Unreal, Unity, Custom engines?

4. Can source control software, like Perforce, be integrated seamlessly with Shotgun? If so, what is needed to do that?

5. Is it possible to play a game build live and have it seen by many team members at the same time?

Thanks for any replies and help! I am brand new to Shotgun and trying to find a foothold for understanding how all the parts work together.

[Ben_xzj]

Hi @MattB,

Thanks for posting!

First of all, we have a pretty awesome Getting Started with Games Series, produced by Shayna, which could be a good start. And to learn more of Shotgun, the learning tab will lead you to all the content written or video-https://community.shotgridsoftware.com/tag/learning.

Then I’m trying to answer some of these questions as below:

• #1 and #5 are pretty much relevant. Shotgun support cloud-based review workflow or locally review process with RV, which mean you could review streamed media on Shotgun/RV or local highres media on RV. But since Shotgun is not a live broadcast platform, there is no way to review a game build live with Shotgun. You probably need to playblast the game play as media and upload to Shotgun for review. Get more of Shotgun Review Workflow here.

• #2 What kind of visual feedback are you looking for here. Shotgun Review workflow does support annotation, with which you could draw over on the frames while giving feedback. With Shotgun Create-the new Desktop experience for Artists and Supervisors, you could screen capture with audio while reviewing works. Screen Capture in Shotgun Create.

• #3 Shotgun does support integration with Unreal and Unity. See the guide separately on Unity and UE pages:
  Shotgun for Unity 0.9.0-preview.4
  Using Unreal Engine with Autodesk Shotgun

• #4 We use to have an integration with Perforce, which is deprecated due to new Shotgun toolkit release. I’ll leave this one here for other team members and see if any other news on this one.

Cheers,
Ben

[MattB]

@MattB

• If you wish to review a daily build - see it live and playable on the screen, how would you do that via Shotgun?
• How would you be able to provide visual feedback on a sequence of gameplay. I don’t see how that would occur in RV at the moment.
• What kind of game engines could you integrate into the Shotgun pipeline: Unreal, Unity, Custom engines?
• Can source control software, like Perforce, be integrated seamlessly with Shotgun? If so, what is needed to do that?
• Is it possible to play a game build live and have it seen by many team members at the same time?

Thanks for your timely reply Ben. Much appreciated. For games the feedback is usually visual and would require some kind of capture, just like you would with a video. But the ability to play the game live, without lag, with a number of students watching is going to be important for us. I don’t know if a solution exists for that part of the puzzle yet.

The Perforce integration could be problematic as well. I will be really curious to see what your other team members say.

Thanks again,
Matt

[Ben_xzj]

Hi @MattB,

Getting back here again. Yay, Shotgun Create is the first thing to look at for screen capture, Screen Capture in Shotgun Create. As for live show of game play, you probably want to try with meeting/webinar tools, which support desktop sharing.

Checked with the team that there is currently no plan for a new integration with Perforce. You could follow the post to submit it as a feature request.

How do I submit an idea or feature request?

If you’ve got an idea or need for a feature, you can submit it directly to our product team over on our public roadmap . When you submit an idea, your feedback is delivered to our product team and the product owner of that area of Shotgun will review and determine next steps. The best ideas are the ones that explain why this would be useful in your workflow and how you would use it. This helps the product team to understand if there is a need to be filled. While the roadmap is the best place …

I would also recommend you to post in the Pipeline Integration category as well as some of our clients are enthusiastic in self-development and may have done or are doing something similar.

Cheers,
Ben

[Ben_xzj]

Hi @MattB,

Searched in the community and found the following thread, which might be useful to you. Help setting up perforce integration

Cheers,
Ben

[MattB]

Hi Ben, Thanks so much for this info. It is incredibly helpful. Figuring out the right resources and combos for a good pipeline is a daunting task.

[Ben_xzj]

Glad to know it’s helpful, Matt.

Yay, pipe is always vital, and sometimes you have to use some wisdom from others. Get back to the forum frequently and hunting for good wisdom.