Epic Games announced the launch of Epic Online Services allowing developers to effortlessly scale games and unify player communities.
The services are completely free offering developers a single SDK to quickly and easily launch, operate, and scale games across engines, stores, and platforms.
"At Epic, we believe in open, integrated platforms and in the future of gaming being a highly social and connected experience," said Chris Dyl, General Manager, Online Services, Epic Games. "Through Epic Online Services, we strive to help build a user-friendly ecosystem for both developers and players, where creators can benefit regardless of how they choose to build and publish their games, and where players can play games with their friends and enjoy the same quality experience regardless of the hardware they own."
The new initiative provides an essential set of backend services for a game to work on any platform or store. You can selectively mix and match Game Services together with any other services, plus authenticate players with the OpenID identity provider of their choice or with any of the included out-of-the-box integrations.
Services:
- Matchmaking: Match up players in pairs or groups to play together.
- Lobbies (Preview): Give players the ability to join a session via invite or search, or create sessions of your own for players to join.
- Peer-to-peer: Establish peer-to-peer network connectivity between multiple players regardless of firewalls or router setups.
- Achievements: Motivate your players with badges, statuses, and achievements as they progress in your game.
- Stats: Query player stats in real time and display achievements on leaderboards or within your own game construct.
- Leaderboards: Show your players how they rank against their friends and everyone else, encouraging competitive and engaging gameplay.
- Player data storage: Give your players the freedom to move between platforms by storing their game data in the cloud.
- Game analytics: Track gameplay, frequency, playerbase, time, and location KPIs to identify opportunities for improvement or expansion.
- Player ticketing: Connect directly with your players and personalize service through tickets tied to player profiles.
You can learn more here.