Offload project builds with Unity Build Server

Unity Build Server is a new way to offload project builds to dedicated hardware, so studios can build projects at scale and improve team productivity.

Building projects may not be the first thing people think about when they choose Unity, but figuring out how to handle project builds can be a significant problem as projects grow in size and complexity. It’s frustrating when you’re partway into development and you realize you can’t get enough project builds rolling for all the different stakeholders to test at a rate that can keep up with the speed at which a project gets updated. Or worse, you realize your development team has to use their own workstation to build a project and they are losing serious productivity time while waiting for a build to complete.

Unity Build Server is a license type that runs Unity in batch mode, exclusively for building your Unity projects. This means developers don’t need to use their primary workstation to build projects, which consumes machine resources and slows down any other work that needs to be done. It also lets more team members request builds at their own pace, when they need them, so there is no waiting for a nightly build to see if something got fixed, to test a gameplay idea, or to verify that the new build works properly on a different target platform.

Both Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise subscribers can get access to Unity Build Server. Unity Pro customers can get it through add-on packs, while Unity Enterprise customers get a number of Build Server licenses that scales up based on how many Unity Enterprise licenses they have. Enterprise customers can also add more Build Server licenses through add-on packs, if needed. So if you’re an Enterprise subscriber today, you can start using Build Server right now.

First, you need to set up the  Unity License Server from the Unity ID Portal and deploy it locally in your studio network with a centralized pool of floating Unity Build Server licenses. The Unity License Server can then serve Build Server licenses dynamically on demand when project builds are requested by users. Once a build process is complete, the license is automatically returned to the pool. 

The flexibility of a floating license means that you can change network hardware or deployment targets at any time without having to manually reassign licenses. Unity Build Server can also be set up with popular automation and continuous integration systems so it doesn’t obstruct existing build pipelines – it just makes the build process more fluid and integrated.

To get started with Unity Build Server, download the license server from the Unity ID Portal. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your setup via a command line process for the license server to pull the required information from the target server. The resulting server registration file is uploaded to the Unity ID Portal, where the Unity Build Server license is generated and made available to be deployed back to the target server.

To learn more about Unity Build Server, visit the product page. Or contact us to discuss Unity Build Server with our sales team.