Unreal Engine Gets Multi-User Editing – A Game Changer?

Introduction

The release of multi-user editing capabilities for Unreal Engine is an exciting development that has the potential to significantly impact game development workflows. As a game developer myself, I am eager to dive into this new feature and understand how it can improve my team’s process. In this article, I will provide an in-depth look at multi-user editing in Unreal Engine, why it matters, and how it may evolve going forward.

What is Multi-User Editing in Unreal Engine?

Multi-user editing allows multiple developers to simultaneously work on the same Unreal Engine project. Previously, developers had to take turns editing levels or assets to avoid conflicts from overlapping changes.

With multi-user editing, developers can concurrently modify the same assets and see each other’s changes in real-time. This enables much faster iteration as teams no longer have to wait for assets to be checked in and out of source control.

Some key capabilities of multi-user editing include:

• Simultaneous editing – Multiple developers can modify the same level or asset at the same time. Changes are instantly visible to all users.

• Presence indicators – Icons indicate where other users are working within the level editor. This helps avoid conflicts.

• Communication tools – Built-in chat and audio communication allow developers to coordinate in real-time.

• Seamless co-ordination – Workflow features like locking prevent conflicts between users modifying the same objects.

Under the hood, multi-user editing uses a distributed model with authoritative game state replication. This allows all connected users to remain in sync.

Why Multi-User Editing is a Game Changer

Multi-user editing has the potential to vastly improve game development workflows. Here are some of the key benefits:

• Faster iteration cycles – No more waiting for other team members to finish working on an asset. Developers can work in parallel to iterate and prototype faster.

• Improved collaboration – Real-time coordination and communication improves collaboration between level designers, environment artists etc.

• Avoid merge conflicts – Simultaneous editing and locking prevent merge conflicts from overlapping changes.

• Test in real-time – Level designers can test gameplay while environment artists add polish, speeding up the process.

• Remote work enablement – Multi-user editing makes remote collaboration seamless by allowing remote team members to work together in real-time.

For large AAA games with massive teams, multi-user editing can remove workflow bottlenecks and time wasted waiting for asset hand-offs. This has the potential to greatly shorten development cycles.

Even smaller teams can benefit from faster iteration and the ability to collaborate in real-time. The bottom line is that multi-user editing can enable teams to create better games, faster.

What Multi-User Editing Means for Different Development Roles

Multi-user editing will have varying impacts across different development roles:

Level Designers

For level designers, multi-user editing enables:

• Simultaneous editing of levels with others
• Real-time playtesting and tweaks while artists update aesthetics
• Rapid iteration of gameplay pacing, combat encounters etc.

This allows level designers to test ideas faster without waiting for a new build.

Environment Artists

Environment artists can now:

• Update visuals and aesthetics in real-time while designers refine gameplay
• See material changes update live in-engine as they work
• Avoid redundant steps exporting, importing, and testing changes

This makes polishing environments much faster and collaborative.

Technical Designers

Technical designers benefit from:

• Implementing and testing gameplay systems while others edit around you
• Real-time debugging of gameplay logic and systems
• Simultaneously working on levels with designers to test systems

This tightens the iteration loop and connects the dots between technical design, level design, and art.

Producers

For producers, multi-user editing enables:

• Real-time visibility into what the team is working on
• Coordinating creative decisions and resolving conflicts
• Identifying and removing workflow blockers or dependencies

This provides greater agility in managing and leading development teams.

Limitations and Challenges

While promising, multi-user editing also comes with some limitations:

• Learning curve – Adopting this new workflow requires teams to learn new tools and processes.

• Technical issues – There may be bugs, stability issues, and kinks to iron out in early releases.

• Visibility – Providing too much presence of other users could be distracting. Controls are needed to limit visibility.

• Security – Multi-user introduces potential security risks of unwanted access. Robust access controls are critical.

• Social dynamics – Real-time editing can disrupt social team dynamics. Etiquette and communication norms may need establishing.

• Hardware requirements – Multi-user editing will require more RAM, VRAM, and GPU power to handle additional editor instances.

Despite these challenges, I believe Epic and the Unreal Engine team will continue rapidly evolving multi-user editing capabilities over time.

What’s Next for Multi-User Editing Features?

Looking ahead, here are some exciting features I hope to see added to multi-user editing:

• Presence controls – More granular controls over seeing other editors’ presence, to minimize distractions.

• Permission management – More advanced permissions for locking down access to specific assets, folders, or editor functionality.

• Asset workflow integration – Tighter integration with Perforce for advanced version control workflows with multi-user editing.

• Mobile and tablet support – Extending multi-user editing to mobile devices to enable editing on the go.

• Cloud-hosted sessions – Support for multi-user sessions hosted in the cloud, to improve accessibility.

• VR editing – Combining multi-user editing with VR editors to enable immersive, collaborative editing sessions.

There is tremendous room for growth when it comes to multi-user workflows. I can’t wait to see how Epic expands this feature set over time.

Conclusion

The release of multi-user editing is a major milestone for Unreal Engine that brings collaborative, real-time editing to game development. This has the potential to massively speed up iteration cycles, improve work quality, and remove workflow bottlenecks.

While limitations exist, multi-user editing is an incredibly empowering feature set that lays the groundwork for the future of collaborative game dev. I’m excited to adopt multi-user workflows into my team’s process to improve how we create interactive experiences. Epic’s execution on delivering innovative features like this continues to make Unreal Engine an indispensable tool for game developers.