Great game design is always a product of great collaboration. From ideation to development to playtesting, the success of any new release relies on the input of multiple stakeholders. 

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Now that teams are working remotely, tools that help you maintain this constant connection with your team are vital, especially for editors and animators. A good collaborative workflow starts with the right tools. 

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What kind of tools do you need for collaborative game dev?

To effectively collaborate through the game development process, you’ll need tools to manage each type of asset (source code, artwork, digital assets, music) as well as tools that allow you to manage scheduling and review. 

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The bigger your remote team, the more carefully you’ll need to manage all of these moving parts, and it’s next to impossible to do without the right tools. 

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That’s why we’ve compiled our list of the top 10 collaborative game editing tools for 2022, including tools that help you manage assets, edit together in real-time, and get approvals and feedback in just a few clicks. 

Evercast

Evercast is a remote collaboration platform that can be used at every step of the game creation process. A single Evercast room can be your meeting room for brainstorming sessions, your editing suite for co-editing sessions, and your screening room for asset review sessions. It works well in tandem with other collaborative editing tools (such as remote desktops), so you can talk face-to-face while you work together in real-time. 

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Key features:

• Ultra-low latency HD video streaming (less than 150ms)
• Record and review function to review key session moments
• On-screen drawing for visual notations
• Time-stamped notes to keep comments organized
• Real-time video conferencing, HD project streaming, and comments/visual note-taking all under one platform

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What’s missing:

• No ability to deliver assets directly through the platform
• You’ll need additional software to co-edit in your game development platforms

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Parsec

Parsec is an advanced remote desktop application that is used by some of the biggest developers in gaming, such as Blizzard and EA. It allows you to control your desktop from anywhere as well as invite collaborators to access your desktop and collaborate with you in real-time. 

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Key features:

• Secure P2P streaming
• Multi-monitor support
• Precise gamepad control for playtesting
• Team management tools

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What’s missing:

• No built-in video or voice chat
• Since it’s a remote desktop control platform, you’ll still need additional tools to manage assets and work in tandem with other developers

Frame.io

Frame.io is a cloud-based media collaboration program focused on getting feedback and approvals on creative content, as well as enabling remote collaboration and managing your asset pipelines. 

Game production teams have been moving over to Frame.io to not only speed up the internal asset review process but to make it easier to distribute content to external stakeholders and collaborate on edits. 

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Key features:

• Lightning-fast media upload speeds (less than 3 minutes for 5GB of data)
• Custom-branded presentations to present work
• Supports most common game editing software integrations and has an API that allows it to custom-fit the workflow to your needs
• Time-stamped notes and on-screen annotations
• Version control system

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What’s missing:

• No live editing feature for real-time feedback
• It does not support video calling
• Good for visual assets, not specifically designed to manage code