Development support with Amazon GameLift

Amazon GameLift provides a set of SDKs that you can use with your game hosting solutions. Use Amazon GameLift SDKs to add functionality to game servers, game clients, and backend services that interact with the Amazon GameLift service.

For the latest information about Amazon GameLift SDK versions and SDK compatibility, see Amazon GameLift release notes.

For game servers

Integrate and build your 64-bit game servers with the Amazon GameLift server SDK. Game servers use the server SDK to communicate with the Amazon GameLift service to start and manage game sessions. For information on integrating the server SDK, see the topics in Preparing games for Amazon GameLift.

Development operating systems

The Amazon GameLift server SDK supports the following development environments:

• Windows

• Linux

Programming languages

The Amazon GameLift server SDK is available in the following languages. Download Server SDKs. For version-specific information and install instructions, see the included readme files in each package.

• C++ server SDK

  • SDK reference

  • SDK integration

• C# server SDK (versions may support .NET 4 and .NET 6)

  • SDK reference

  • SDK integration

• Go

  • SDK reference

  • SDK integration

Game engines

Use language-specific SDKs with any engine that supports C++, C#, or Go libraries. In addition, Amazon GameLift offers plugins for the following game engines. Download Amazon GameLift plugins

• Unity

  • C# server SDK plugin for Unity is a lightweight plugin with pre-built libraries that you can install using the Unity package manager. Use this plugin with the following Unity versions: 2020.3 LTS, 2021.3 LTS and 2022.3 LTS for Windows and Mac OS. It supports Unity's .NET Framework and .NET Standard profiles, with .NET Standard 2.1 and .NET 4.x.

    • Integrate Amazon GameLift into a Unity project

  • Standalone plugin for Unity 2021.3 LTS and 2022.3 LTS is a full-featured plugin with the C# SDK libraries built for Unity and GUI elements for configuring and deploying Amazon GameLift resources for hosting.

    • Amazon GameLift plugin for Unity guide for server SDK 5.x

    • Amazon GameLift server SDK reference for C#

• Unreal Engine

  • C++ server SDK plugin for Unreal is a lightweight plugin consisting of C++ Unreal source code that you can build into libraries for use with Unreal Engine versions 4, 5, and 5.1.

    • Integrate Amazon GameLift into an Unreal Engine project

    • Amazon GameLift Unreal Engine server SDK 5.x reference

  • Standalone plugin for Unreal Engine 5.0, 5.1, and 5.2 is a full-featured plugin with the C++ for Unreal server SDK libraries and AWS SDK. The plugin is installed in the Unreal editor, with UI elements and supporting materials for configuring and deploying Amazon GameLift resources for hosting.

    • Integrating games with the Amazon GameLift plugin for Unreal Engine

    • Amazon GameLift Unreal Engine server SDK 5.x reference

Game server operating systems

The Amazon GameLift server SDK supports game servers that are built run on the following platforms:

• Windows Server 2016

• Amazon Linux 2023

• Amazon Linux 2

  Note

  Amazon Linux 2 (AL2) will reach end of support on June 30, 2025. See more details in the Amazon Linux 2 FAQs. For game servers that are hosted on AL2 and use Amazon GameLift server SDK 4.x., first update the game server build to server SDK 5.x, and then deploy to AL2023 instances. See Migrate to Amazon GameLift server SDK 5.x.

For game client services

Create a 64-bit backend service for your game clients using the AWS SDK with the Amazon GameLift API. Your backend service handles client-side interactions with the Amazon GameLift to start new game sessions, join players to games, and other tasks. Download the AWS SDK.

For more information about using the AWS SDK with Amazon GameLift, see the following resources:

• Amazon GameLift API Reference

• Client service integration

For Realtime Servers

Configure and deploy Realtime servers to host your multiplayer games. To allow your game clients to connect to Realtime servers, use the Amazon GameLift Realtime Client SDK. Game clients use this SDK to exchange messages with a Realtime server and with other game clients that connect to the server. To get started, download the Amazon GameLift Realtime Client SDK. For configuration information, see Integrating a game client for Realtime Servers.

SDK support

The Realtime Client SDK contains source for the following languages:

• C# (.NET)

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Development environments

Build the SDK from source as needed for the following supported development operating systems and game engines:

• Operating systems – Windows, Linux, Android, iOS

• Game engines – Unity, engines that support C# libraries

Game server operating systems

You can deploy Realtime servers onto hosting resources that run on the following platforms:

• Amazon Linux

• Amazon Linux 2

  Note

  AL2 is nearing end of support. See more details in the Amazon Linux 2 FAQs.