Amazon GameLift FleetIQ integration steps - Amazon GameLift

Amazon GameLift FleetIQ integration steps

This integration plan outlines the key steps to getting your multiplayer games up and running on Amazon EC2 instances with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ. If you're looking for the Amazon GameLift managed hosting service, which automates more game hosting processes for you, see the Amazon GameLift Developer Guide.

To get started using Amazon GameLift FleetIQ, you need to have a working game server that runs in either an on-premises or Amazon EC2 environment. Your game server can be a single process that manages one or multiple game sessions, spawns child processes, or runs inside of a container.

  1. Get an AWS account and set up users with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ access.

    Create a new AWS account or choose an existing account to use with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ. Set up users with permissions to manage the Amazon EC2, Auto Scaling, and other AWS resources used with your game. For detailed instructions, see Set up your AWS account for Amazon GameLift FleetIQ.

  2. Create IAM roles.

    Create roles that allow Amazon GameLift FleetIQ, Amazon EC2, and Auto Scaling resources to communicate with each other. See Create IAM roles for cross-service interaction for more details.

  3. Get the AWS SDK and AWS CLI with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ functionality.

  4. Prepare your game server for use with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ.

    Add the AWS SDK to your game server project and add code to keep Amazon GameLift FleetIQ updated with the current status and usage of your game servers. See Integrate Amazon GameLift FleetIQ into a game server for additional guidance and examples. Amazon GameLift FleetIQ uses this information to provide your matchmaking system with a list of viable, unoccupied game servers, and also avoid terminating instances that are currently hosting players during balancing.

  5. Create an Amazon EC2 Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with your game server.

    Create an AMI with your game server software and with any other runtime assets or configuration settings. For help, see Amazon Machine Images (AMI) in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

  6. Create an Amazon EC2 launch template.

    Build an Amazon EC2 launch template that uses your custom AMI and defines network and security settings for your hosting resources. The launch template must reference the instance profile that you created (see Step 2) with permissions that allow your game server to communicate with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ. You don’t need to include instance types in your launch template, as this is done later. For help, see Creating a Launch Template in the Amazon EC2 User Guide.

    Note

    Before using a launch template with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ, we highly recommend that you first set up an Auto Scaling group to verify that the template configuration and AMI are deploying properly.

  7. Set up Amazon GameLift FleetIQ hosting resources.

    In each Region where you want to deploy game servers, create a game server group by calling CreateGameServerGroup(). Pass in the launch template (containing your custom AMI and network and security settings), IAM role, and a list of instance types that your game can run on. This action sets up an Auto Scaling group in your AWS account that Amazon GameLift FleetIQ can modify. For additional guidance and examples, see Manage Amazon GameLift FleetIQ game server groups.

  8. Integrate Amazon GameLift FleetIQ into your game client.

    Add the AWS SDK to your game client, matchmaker, or other backend component that allocates game server capacity. Depending on your game type, your matchmaker might call ListGameServers() or ClaimGameServer() to obtain server capacity and reserve an available game server. For additional guidance and examples, see Integrate Amazon GameLift FleetIQ into a game client.

  9. Scale up your Auto Scaling group.

    As instances are provisioned in your Auto Scaling group, they launch your game servers. Each game server then registers with Amazon GameLift FleetIQ as available capacity, to be listed or claimed later by your matchmaker.

  10. Test your game.

    Invoke your matchmaker and call ClaimGameServer to request server capacity. Pass the resulting IP and port back to game clients so they can connect to the game server.