Agones is an open-source library for hosting, running and scaling dedicated game servers on Kubernetes, built for game developers, platform engineers and live-ops teams that need multiplayer server capacity without bespoke cluster management.
What it is
Agones is a Go project, licensed under Apache-2.0 and developed in the open under the googleforgames organisation. The name derives from the Greek word agōn, which roughly translates to "contest", "competition at games" and "gathering". Technically it is a Kubernetes custom controller paired with matching Custom Resource Definitions for resources such as GameServers and Fleets, which together give a Kubernetes cluster native awareness of dedicated game server processes.
The concrete problem it solves is the usual bespoke or proprietary cluster management and game server scaling solution that studios otherwise assemble by hand. Agones replaces that with a Kubernetes cluster that includes the Agones controller and its CRDs, so dedicated game server processes can be created, run, managed and scaled with standard Kubernetes tooling and APIs. The same model lets any matchmaker interact directly with Agones through the Kubernetes API to provision a dedicated game server.
Key capabilities
- Define a single
GameServer or large game server Fleets inside Kubernetes, either through yaml or via the API.
- Manage GameServer lifecycles, including health checking and connection information.
Fleet autoscaling capabilities that integrate with Kubernetes' native cluster autoscaling.- Game server specific metric exports and dashboards intended for ops teams.
- A custom Kubernetes Controller plus Custom Resource Definitions, installed as part of a cluster.
- Matchmaker provisioning of dedicated game servers directly through the Kubernetes API.
- Client SDK development supported through the repository's
sdks/README.md guidance.
Who uses it and how
- Game development teams that already run Kubernetes and want dedicated game server fleets scheduled on the same cluster they operate today.
- Platform and infrastructure engineers who need fleets to grow and shrink in step with Kubernetes cluster autoscaling rather than through custom scaling code.
- Ops teams that need per-game-server metrics and dashboards to observe running title workloads.
- Backend teams wiring a matchmaker to provision servers, using the Kubernetes API as the integration surface instead of a proprietary control plane.
- Studios replacing hand-rolled cluster management for large fleets of dedicated game servers with declarative yaml and API calls.
Getting started
The README directs readers to the usage documentation on the Agones website at https://agones.dev/site/docs/, and the repository carries a Helm chart under install/helm/agones/. Development, testing and building from source are covered in build/README.md, with SDK work in sdks/README.md.
How it compares
The supplied facts name no paid products this project replaces and no comparable tools in the same space. On the evidence available, it stands alone in this registry.
When to use it — and when not to
A self-hoster takes on operating a Kubernetes cluster plus the Agones controller and its CRDs, so the project suits teams that already run Kubernetes and not teams without that operational base. The README excerpt itself is fairly sparse about installation, deferring setup to the external website documentation rather than giving an inline install command, which is worth knowing before adopting it. Licence terms are unambiguous, Apache-2.0, and the project is in active development with roughly 7,000 stars and a large contributor surface.
project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline
Agones is a library for hosting, running and scaling dedicated game servers on Kubernetes.
Agones, is derived from the Greek word agōn which roughly translates to “contest”, “competition at games” and “gathering”.
(source)
Why does this project exist?
Agones replaces usual bespoke or proprietary cluster management and game server scaling solutions with a Kubernetes cluster
that includes the Agones custom Kubernetes Controller and matching Custom Resource Definitions for GameServers, Fleets and more.
With Agones, Kubernetes gets native abilities to create, run, manage and scale dedicated game server processes within Kubernetes clusters using standard Kubernetes tooling and APIs. This model also allows any matchmaker to interact directly with Agones via the Kubernetes API to provision a dedicated game server.
For more details on why this project was written, read the
announcement blog post.
Major Features
- Define a single
GameServer, and/or large game server Fleets within Kubernetes - either through yaml or via the API
- Manage GameServer lifecycles - including health checking and connection information.
Fleet Autoscaling capabilities that integrate with Kubernetes' native cluster autoscaling- Gameserver specific metric exports and dashboards for ops teams
Usage
Documentation can be found on the Agones website.
Get involved
Code of Conduct
Participation in this project comes under the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct
Reporting Security Issues
To report a security issue for this project, please follow the instructions in
the Project Security Policy
Development and Contribution
Please read the contributing guide for directions on submitting Pull Requests to Agones,
and the governance documentation for decision-making and community membership governance.
See the Developing, Testing and Building Agones documentation for developing, testing and building Agones from source. For adding a new field to one of the Custom Resource Definitions refer to Development Work on Agones Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs).
For Agones client SDK development refer to Developing, Testing, and Building Agones Client SDKs.
The Release Process documentation displays the project's upcoming release calendar and release process.
Agones is in active development - we would love your help in shaping its future!
This all sounds great, but can you explain Docker and/or Kubernetes to me?
Docker
Kubernetes
Licence
Apache 2.0