Spotlight
August 25, 2021
Initially released as an Early Access title on the Epic Games Store back in 2018, single-player rogue-like action game Hades has gone on to receive widespread critical praise, garnering numerous game-of-the-year awards in the process.
Developer Supergiant Games has since released the game on several platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, where they implemented player data storage for cloud saves and achievements across Nintendo's console and PC using Epic Online Services, which is free and platform/engine agnostic.
Developer Supergiant Games has since released the game on several platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, where they implemented player data storage for cloud saves and achievements across Nintendo's console and PC using Epic Online Services, which is free and platform/engine agnostic.
Speaking with Supergiant Games' Amir Rao, the studio director elaborated on why it was important for the developer to incorporate these features, "Our players on the Epic Game Store were the first to take a chance on our first-ever Early Access title. Throughout our Early Access, we maintained a commitment to save backwards compatibility, so those who were with us from the very beginning could continue their saved game progress as the game grew. We wanted those same players to be able to take their save-game progress to Nintendo Switch as well, so they could seamlessly transition back and forth. Our implementation relies on Epic Online Services to achieve a feature that we could not necessarily do ourselves with our small team."
Even with their own game engine, Supergiant Games was able to incorporate Epic Online Services into their pipeline, "We were only able to use Epic Online Services because it could easily integrate into other technologies and we are grateful that it’s platform agnostic," Rao stated. When asked if Epic Online Services saved them time and resources from building their own custom solution, Supergiant Games Engine Programmer Nikola Šobajic emphatically stated, "There is no doubt about it," adding, "Implementing something like cloud saves on our own would require significant infrastructure and engineering time, significantly altering Hades’ possible scope and timeline."
"Our implementation relies on Epic Online Services to achieve a feature that we could not necessarily do ourselves with our small team."- Supergiant Games Studio Director Amir Rao
Supergiant Games was one of the first developers to use Epic Online Services and Šobajic had very positive things to say about adopting the services, "The API already looked very mature and well thought out when we started, and we were happy that it didn’t change during our time working with it," adding, "and the stability has only improved with each new build."
Speaking to how they learned to implement Epic Online Services into Hades, the engine programmer shared, "The implementation of EOS was straightforward after reading the documentation and sample programs. For Authentication and Achievements, we were able to reuse a lot of the sample code.” Regarding tips for other developers to implement EOS, Nikola added, "Look at the sample programs, it’s very likely that they already have answers to your questions."
For more information on Epic Online Services and what it can add to your game, visit https://dev.epicgames.com/services. For more information on Supergiant Games' award-winnning game Hades, visit http://www.supergiantgames.com and @SupergiantGames on Twitter.
Speaking to how they learned to implement Epic Online Services into Hades, the engine programmer shared, "The implementation of EOS was straightforward after reading the documentation and sample programs. For Authentication and Achievements, we were able to reuse a lot of the sample code.” Regarding tips for other developers to implement EOS, Nikola added, "Look at the sample programs, it’s very likely that they already have answers to your questions."
For more information on Epic Online Services and what it can add to your game, visit https://dev.epicgames.com/services. For more information on Supergiant Games' award-winnning game Hades, visit http://www.supergiantgames.com and @SupergiantGames on Twitter.