Dependencies

• High-level understanding of Metaplay Cloud - We recommend reading the Introduction to Cloud Deployments to understand the key concepts of cloud deployments.
• A cloud environment to deploy to - To provision cloud environments, you need to sign up to a Metaplay Pro project plan in the developer portal.
• The Metaplay CLI - Install the Metaplay CLI on your local machine.
• A CI system - To set up a CI/CD pipeline, you need a continuous integration system like GitHub Actions or Bitbucket Pipelines. We recommend GitHub Actions.

Overview

We recommend setting up a CI/CD pipeline to automate your game server builds and deployments. This way, every push to your repository can automatically build and deploy an updated game server to the Metaplay Cloud.

In short, you will need to:

1. Create a machine user in the Metaplay Portal and give it admin access to your environment.
2. Store the machine user credentials as a CI secret named METAPLAY_CREDENTIALS.
3. Use the Metaplay CLI to generate CI configuration files for your project.

Create a Machine User in the Portal

First, you need to create a machine user that your CI pipeline can use to access the Metaplay Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Members tab of your organization in the Metaplay Portal. Then, press Add Machine User.

   

2. Give the machine user a name of your choice, assign it the 'organization viewer' role, and check the project boxes for which you want to use this machine account.

   

3. Copy the credentials into a safe place. We don't keep them, so you'll need to create another machine user if you lose them.

   

4. Navigate to the environment(s) to which you want to deploy and grant the machine user the game-admin role. This role gives the machine user full access to the environment.

   

Store Credentials as CI Secrets

Create a secret in your CI system named METAPLAY_CREDENTIALS and store the machine user credentials from the earlier step as the secret's value.

• GitHub Actions: See GitHub's guide on using secrets.
• Bitbucket Pipelines: See Bitbucket's guide on variables and secrets.
• Other systems: Use your CI system's secret management mechanism.

Generate CI Configuration

Run the following command in your project directory:

MyProject$ metaplay init ci

The command will help you generate the template(s) for your game server deploy pipelines for the desired cloud environments. Follow the instructions and the CLI will guide you through the process.

Customize Build Triggers

The generated files include sensible defaults, but you should customize the triggers to match your team's workflow. For example, you might want to:

• Deploy to a development environment on every push to main.
• Deploy to staging when a release branch is created or a tag is pushed.
• Restrict production deployments to manual triggers only.

Refer to your CI system's documentation for details on configuring triggers.

Commit the Generated Files

Review the generated configuration files, then commit and push them to your repository.

Test the Workflow

Push a new commit to your repository to trigger the CI job. You should see the job run and deploy your game server to the Metaplay Cloud. You now also have easy access to the build logs in the CI system of your choice.

Further Reading

With automated deployments out of the way, you can focus on building and testing your game!

When the time is right, you may want to explore some of the more advanced aspects of cloud deployments:

• Rolling Out Updates - Learn how to roll out updates to your live game in a safe and controlled manner.
• Secrets Management - Learn how to work with secrets in your cloud environment.
• Troubleshooting - Learn how to troubleshoot common issues with cloud deployments.