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Hosting a web game on the Internet Computer

Overview​

This sample project demonstrates how to deploy a web game on the Internet Computer through Unity and Godot game engines.

Let’s create a web game by using Unity or Godot game engine.

Prerequisities​

  • Before you begin, make sure you have dfx SDK installed.

Unity​

Make sure you have Unity installed.

  • Create a new Unity Project with Universal Render Pipeline template selected, or you can use you own game as well.
  • Install the IC GameKit package by following these instructions.
  • Follow the IC GameKit document to enable IC Connector.
  • Switch to WebGL build target in the Build Settings window.
  • Under the Settings for WebGL tab in the Player Settings window.
    • Set Compression Format to Disabled if you are using dfx SDK with version before 0.12.0.
      You can check this document for more information.
    • Choose the Minimal WebGL template to reduce the number of files generated.
  • Build to WebGL in the Build Settings window.
    With IC Connector enabled in the previous step, a folder named ic-project will be generated under the WebGL build output folder.

Godot​

Make sure you have Godot installed.

  • Create a new Godot project.
  • Install the IC GameKit plugin by following these instructions.
  • Follow the IC GameKit document to enable IC Connector.
  • Switch to HTML5 preset in the Export window
  • Export the project by Export Project button.
    With IC Connector enabled in the previous step, a folder named ic-project will be generated under the HTML5 export folder.

Create a dfx project manually​

If you install the IC GameKit to generate the dfx project automatically in create a web game, please skip this section and jump to the deployment.

Since there is no backend in this sample, there is not any benefit of using the dfx new project_name command to set up a template. The dfx.json file is all that is needed.

Unity​

  • Step 1: Create a folder named unity-webgl-sample​

  • Step 2: Create a dfx.json under unity-webgl-sample folder​

  • Step 3: Follow the Unity WebGL sample to​

    • Setup the dfx.json file
    • Copy the files in the Unity WebGL build to the right places under the src folder

Godot​

  • Step 1: Create a folder named godot-html5-sample​

  • Step 2: Create a dfx.json under godot-html5-sample folder​

  • Step 3: Follow the Godot HTML5 sample to​

    • Setup the dfx.json file
    • Copy the files in the Godot HTML5 build to the right places under the src folder

You may find generating the DFX project manuanlly is tedious and error-prone, we highly recommend you to use IC GameKit to do this automatically. The tool is still in development, let us know if you have any feedback.

Deployment​

The local network is started by running this command from the root of the DFX project:

$ dfx start --background

When the local network is up and running, run this command to deploy the canisters:

$ dfx deploy