Getting started: project management for game studios with Gameheim
For the person setting up Gameheim for a studio or a team: a founder, a producer, a lead. In about half an hour you go from an empty account to a project with version control, your team invited with the right access, and a clear list of what to set up next.
Why project management for game studios needs its own setup
Most project-management tools were designed for teams whose work is text: code, documents, tickets. A game team is different. A large share of the work lives in binary assets (maps, meshes, textures, audio) under version control, disciplines move at different speeds, and the same production mixes staff, freelancers and outsourcing partners.
So studios end up with a stack: a tracker for tasks, another for bugs, a wiki, a chat, a spreadsheet for capacity, P4V or a Git client for version control, and a shared drive for everything else. Each tool is fine on its own. The cost is in the gaps: the task says "in progress" while the changelist was submitted two days ago, the design decision is in a chat thread nobody can find, the contractor still has access to the drive.
What to decide before you set up any tool
- How projects map to titles. One project per game (or per prototype) keeps boards, bugs and permissions clean.
- Which version control each project uses. Perforce and Git with Git LFS both work well for Unreal Engine projects; the choice affects how artists lock and submit binary files.
- Who needs to see what. Staff, contractors, QA vendors and external stakeholders need different access.
- How you split the team. By discipline (art, design, programming, audio, QA), by feature team, or both.
How Gameheim organizes a studio
Gameheim brings version control, tasks, bugs, crash reports, the design wiki, voice acting, audio tracking and team tools into one place, organised around three ideas.
| Concept | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Organization | Your studio. It owns the members, the roles, the billing and the encryption keys. Organizations are isolated from each other. | Dragons Studio |
| Project | One game or prototype, with its own board, bugs, wiki, pipeline and version control. Each project has a short code that prefixes its keys. | Dragon's Legacy, code DQ, tasks DQ-12 |
| People | Accounts with a tier (LEAD, MEMBER, VIEWER), a discipline, custom roles and project memberships. | An artist, MEMBER, Art, member of Dragon's Legacy |
Version control is chosen per project: Perforce (Helix Core) or Git + Git LFS. Git support is still experimental; Perforce is the more complete integration today. Either way, commands run on each person's computer through the Gameheim Agent, so file contents stay in your studio.
You also choose an engine for each project: Unreal Engine, Unity, Godot or Custom / Other. Everything that sits above the engine (the board, milestones, the wiki, capacity planning, roles) works the same for all of them. Unreal Engine projects get extra help, such as plugin awareness and crash reports from Unreal's own crash reporter.
How to set up your studio in Gameheim
- An email address you can open right away: the verification link is valid for 24 hours.
- For a Perforce project: the depot path of the game, for example
//depot/DragonLegacy, and the server address if your team uses more than one. - For a Git project: the URL of the remote repository.
Create your organization
Open the registration page. Under Choose your plan, pick Monthly or Annual and select a plan; a paid plan also asks for Team seats, and you can add more later. Some plans have a limited number of places and show how many are left, or Full. The plans and their limits are on the pricing page.
Fill in Organization name, Your name, Username, Email and Password. You will sign in with the username, not the email. The password needs at least 10 characters, with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number. Accept the Terms of Service, the Customer Agreement and the Privacy Policy, then click Create account.
Confirm your email
Gameheim sends a verification link to your email. Open it within 24 hours to activate the organization. On a free plan your workspace is ready straight away. On a paid plan you continue to secure checkout; when payment is done, the page shows Your organization is ready and you can sign in. There is no manual approval step.
The account you just created is the first LEAD of the organization. At the first sign-in, a one-time dialog asks you to accept the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy and to read the notice about presence status. Click Continue.
Create your first project
In the sidebar, click the + button next to the project name (only LEADs see it). In the New Project form:
- Version control: under System, choose Perforce (Helix Core) or Git + Git LFS. A LEAD can later move a Perforce project to Git, or a Git project back to Perforce, with a guided transition; see move a project from Perforce to Git.
- Identity: a Name and a Code of up to 10 characters. The code prefixes every task, bug and decision key (for example
DQ-12), so keys stay unique across projects. Add a Description if you like. - Timeline: an optional Start date and Target release.
- Perforce: the Depot path (required), an optional Stream and an optional Server override with the server address, for example
ssl:perforce.studio.com:1666. - Git repository: Hosting (Managed provider such as GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Gitea or Bitbucket, or Self-hosted server), the Remote URL, an optional Default branch, and whether the Remote supports LFS file locking.
- Technical: the Engine and its Version, and the Target platforms.
Click Create Project. The number of projects you can create depends on your plan.
Install the agent and connect version control
Install the Gameheim Agent on your computer, connect it with a setup code from Settings → Agent, then open P4 Workspace or Git Workspace and enter your credentials for the project. Every teammate who works with files does the same on their own machine. The full procedure is in Install the Gameheim Agent.
Invite your team
Open User Management and click Invite User. Enter a Username, a Display Name and an Email, pick the Discipline (Art, Design, Programming, Audio, QA or General) and the Role: MEMBER for most people, VIEWER for read-only stakeholders, LEAD for people who run the studio with you. Tick the project under Add to projects (optional). The Team Member (Default) role is pre-selected under Assign roles (optional), so the new person starts with a sensible set of permissions.
Click Create User. Gameheim emails the invite and shows a link you can also share yourself; it expires in 24 hours and works once. The person sets their own password from that link. The header of User Management shows how many licences are in use.
Organize people into teams
Open Team for the project. The page shows who is online and, in By Team view, groups people into teams. Click New Team, give it a name, a description and a color (for example "Environment Art" or "Combat"), then use Manage members to add people. Disciplines filter the task board; teams group people the way your studio actually works.
What to set up next
Once the project exists and people can sign in, pick what your team needs first. There is no required order.
| If you want to | Read |
|---|---|
| Give contractors and QA exactly the access they need | Roles and permissions for game teams |
| Plan the work on a board by discipline | Game development task tracking |
| Track phases, milestones and deadlines | Production pipeline and milestones |
| Set up Perforce workspaces for Unreal Engine | Perforce workspace setup for Unreal Engine |
| Help artists and designers use Perforce | Perforce for artists and designers |
| Receive crash reports from your builds | Unreal Engine crash reporter setup |
| Track bugs | Bug tracking for game development |
| Write the game design document | Game design document wiki |
| Turn on two-step verification for everyone | Audit log and account security |
| Ask an AI assistant about your project | AI assistants for game projects |
The Integrations page, in the sidebar, shows for the selected project which integrations are in use (Perforce, Git, Unreal Engine, AI assistants), your own status for each (agent installed and connected, credentials entered) and the next step to take.
Troubleshooting the first setup
- The verification email did not arrive. Check the spam folder. The link expires after 24 hours; after that, register again.
- "This verification link is invalid or has expired." The 24 hours have passed or the link was already used. Register again.
- The plan you want shows Full or Not open yet. Places on that plan are taken or sign-ups are closed for now: choose another plan.
- A teammate cannot see the project. MEMBERs and VIEWERs see only the projects they were added to. Use Manage project assignments in User Management.
- A teammate says the invite link does not work. Invite links expire after 24 hours and work once. Use the password reset action on their row to generate a new link.
- The + button to create a project is missing. Only LEADs can create projects.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best project management tool for a game studio?
The one that follows your production instead of asking you to copy status between tools. For a game team that usually means tasks, bugs, design decisions and version control in the same place, disciplines as a first-class idea, and access control that handles contractors. Gameheim is built around that, for teams working with Unreal Engine, Perforce and Git LFS.
How long does it take to set up Gameheim for a studio?
Creating the organization and the first project takes a few minutes, plus the email confirmation. Installing the agent on each workstation takes a couple of minutes per person. Most of the real time goes into deciding roles, teams and project structure, which is worth doing once and carefully.
Can I change a project from Perforce to Git later?
A Perforce project can move to Git. A LEAD or an ADMIN starts a guided transition from the project settings: a checklist waits until nobody has work left on Perforce, the roles receive their Git permissions at the cutover, and Perforce stays readable as an archive until the transition is closed. Everything else about a project, such as its name, code, dates, engine and platforms, can be edited at any time.
Do I need Unreal Engine to use Gameheim?
No. When you create a project you choose Unreal Engine, Unity, Godot or Custom / Other. The board, bugs, wiki, capacity planning, roles and version control work the same for all of them. Unreal Engine projects get extra features, such as plugin handling and crash reports from Unreal's crash reporter.
Who can invite people and create projects in Gameheim?
LEADs. The account that registers the organization is its first LEAD, and can make other people LEADs. LEADs create projects, invite users, set their tier and projects, and manage billing. MEMBERs and VIEWERs work inside the projects they were added to.