Requirements¶
What you need to know and have installed before using MIP.
What MIP Is NOT¶
Being upfront about scope helps you decide if MIP fits your project:
You are responsible for your own infrastructure
MIP is a self-hosted product. You receive the full source code for both the UE5 plugin and the NestJS backend — but you deploy and run everything on your own servers. MIP does not provide hosted cloud services, managed servers, or backend uptime guarantees. Provisioning infrastructure, maintaining uptime, scaling, and securing your deployment is entirely your responsibility.
- Not cloud-managed — MIP gives you the Kubernetes/Agones integration and a production-ready backend repo, but you provision, deploy, and manage your own servers. You are not renting our backend or our cloud — you run your own.
- Dedicated server only — MIP runs entirely on dedicated servers with full server authority. It does not support listen servers or single-player. All game logic (combat, inventory, quests, save/load) executes on the server — there is no host-player acting as server. If your game is single-player or listen-server based, MIP is not the right fit.
- Not a turnkey game — MIP provides the systems and infrastructure. You still design your game's content, levels, balance, art, and unique mechanics.
- Not a visual scripting tool — MIP is a C++ framework with Blueprint exposure. You write gameplay logic, not drag-and-drop it.
Skill Level¶
MIP is a production-grade framework, not a beginner tutorial. You should be comfortable with:
| Area | Expected Knowledge |
|---|---|
| Unreal Engine | UE5 Editor, Blueprints, basic C++ (creating classes, overriding functions, working with components) |
| Gameplay Ability System | Understand what GAS is (Attributes, Gameplay Effects, Gameplay Abilities). MIP uses GAS heavily for combat, equipment stats, and status effects. |
| Multiplayer | Server-authoritative model, replication, RPCs, HasAuthority() checks. MIP is built entirely around dedicated servers. |
| Command line | Docker, kubectl, npm require terminal commands — but MIP ships with the MIP Control Panel, a GUI that wraps all of these so you rarely need to touch the CLI directly. |
You do NOT need to be an expert
MIP handles the hard parts — replication, server orchestration, persistence, UI. But you should understand the concepts above well enough to extend and customize the systems for your game.
Software Requirements¶
Unreal Engine (Source Build)¶
You can use the Epic Games Launcher version of UE5 to develop your game — editing levels, Blueprints, and content works fine. However, MIP is a dedicated-server framework, and to test locally you need to build and run a dedicated server (<ProjectName>Server target). The Launcher version does not support server targets, so you need UE5 built from source for local testing and packaging.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Engine version | UE 5.7 (source build) |
| Platform targets | Windows Editor, Linux Dedicated Server |
| Cross-compilation | Linux toolchain required for packaging server binaries from Windows |
Backend & Infrastructure¶
The backend and supporting services run on your development machine:
| Tool | Purpose | Install via |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js v24+ | Runs the NestJS backend | choco install nodejs |
| Docker Desktop | Runs Redis and MongoDB locally | choco install docker-desktop |
| Minikube | Local Kubernetes cluster for Agones game servers | choco install minikube |
| Helm | Installs Agones into Minikube | choco install kubernetes-helm |
| kubectl | Kubernetes CLI (bundled with Minikube) | Included with Minikube |
See Prerequisites for step-by-step installation.
Hardware Recommendations¶
Minikube and Docker run alongside the UE Editor, so you need a reasonably powerful dev machine:
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| RAM | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| CPU | 4 cores | 8+ cores |
| OS | Windows 10/11 | Windows 11 with Hyper-V |
Minikube is configured with 6 GB RAM and 2 CPUs by default. The UE Editor, backend, Docker containers, and Minikube all run simultaneously during development.