When Are Epic Online Services Coming Out

We'll starting time with an overview of Epic Online Services and its components, and in subsequent articles nosotros'll build out a WPF demo app in C# that volition prove you how to use each individual service. You lot'll observe a continuously updated listing of all articles in the serial at the lesser of this post.

What is Epic Online Services (EOS)?

Ballsy Online Services (EOS) is a set of cross-platform gaming services to assistance game developers implement functionality similar authentication, histrion progression tracking, matchmaking, vox conversation, statistics, anti-cheat, and more than. EOS is available anywhere, no matter what platform your game targets, which store you transport your game to, and which game engine you utilize. The back-end services powering this functionality are all fully hosted for you, so you won't have to worry about infrastructure setup and maintenance, cost, or calibration.

EOS can be roughly divided into three sets of services: account services—which provide Ballsy Account identity, friends, and presence, game services to encompass multiplayer, progression, and game ops, and store services to manage Epic Games Store transactions. These services are all free to employ for whatever developer.

These services tin be accessed directly from your game using the SDK (available in C and C# across PC, iOS, Android, Playstation, Xbox, and Switch) and—for specific service calls—from your own back-cease services through web APIs. Lastly, the SDK includes a few tools to help you implement and debug certain services.

Configuration of EOS is done through the Ballsy Games Developer Portal, which enables you lot to manage your arrangement (company) and products (games). In game, y'all can use the Epic Overlay to display UI to manage matchmaking and achievements. Here'southward an overview of how all these components are interconnected:

EOS Marketecture Alt Blog 01 V3
Epic Online Services overview

Free, y'all say?

I mentioned in a higher place that the services and functionality offered with EOS is free to apply and yous may wonder "where's the catch?". The brusque answer is: there is no catch. These services were originally built for Fortnite and Epic now also uses them in the Epic Games Store. Now, Ballsy offers them to game developers for free with the goal of encouraging wider adoption of all of Epic'due south offerings, and of making cross-play, cross-progression, and other open up and interconnected, online features more accessible to everyone. If you'd similar to learn more, check out the EOS FAQs here.

Now that we've gone through the overview of Ballsy Online Services, we can dive into setting upwardly Epic Online Services in the Ballsy Games Programmer Portal in the next article. Head over to the Epic Online Services Customs Support forums to discuss this commodity, or post a new discussion to share feedback or if y'all run into bug implementing Epic Online Services.