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Guidebook

Quickstart: from Unreal to your players in 10 minutes

Studio, game, plugin, first release, launcher build and what players see, in ten minutes.

This walks one packaged Windows build all the way to a player who installs it through a launcher with your studio's name. Each step says what to click, what you should see, and what commonly goes wrong. The longer pages linked from each step have the details.

You need Unreal Engine 5.5 to 5.8, a packaged build of your game, and about ten minutes plus the time a launcher build takes (usually a few minutes).

1. Create a studio#

  1. Go to app.deltaship.dev and choose Sign up.
  2. Enter your email, a password of at least 10 characters and your studio's name.
  3. Open the email from Deltaship and choose Confirm email.

You should see the dashboard, with a Getting started checklist on Overview. Your studio starts on the Free plan.

Common problems:

  • No email: check spam, or choose Resend email in the banner at the top of the dashboard.
  • You can look around before confirming, but publishing and creating tokens need a confirmed email.

More: Create a studio.

2. Create a game#

  1. Open Games & releases.
  2. Under Create a game, enter the Name and a Slug (lowercase letters, numbers and single hyphens).
  3. Choose Create game.

You should see the game under Your games with Not published next to it. Click it to open its page, where the Plugin setup card shows the values you need in step 4.

Common problems: a slug with capitals or spaces is refused; at your plan's game limit, creating another is refused (see Plans and limits).

3. Install the plugin#

  1. Install Deltaship from Fab (coming soon), or copy the plugin folder into your project's Plugins folder.
  2. Open your project, then Edit > Plugins, and enable Deltaship.
  3. Restart the editor.

You should see a Deltaship button on the toolbar, and Window > Deltaship opens the Deltaship tab with four steps: 1. Package and prepare, 2. Compare with a previous build, 3. Export to folder and 4. Upload (needs a Deltaship account).

Common problems: the plugin supports Unreal Engine 5.5 to 5.8 only. See The Unreal plugin and Troubleshooting the plugin.

4. Create a publish token and fill in the plugin settings#

  1. In the dashboard, open Settings, then Publish tokens.
  2. Under Create a token, enter a name such as "My editor", set Access to Upload drafts only (or Upload and publish, if you want to be able to publish from the same token) and choose Create token.
  3. Copy the token now. It is shown once.
  4. In the editor, open Project Settings > Plugins > Deltaship. Copy Server address, Studio, Studio id and Game id from the Plugin setup card, and set Channel to live.

You should see the token on the Publish tokens page, and the four values in the plugin's settings. The token does not go in Project Settings; it goes in the Deltaship tab in step 5.

Common problems:

  • The Game id starts with gam_ and is on the game's page, not on Settings.
  • The channel may use only lowercase letters, digits and -.
  • Your email must be confirmed to create a token.

More: Publish tokens and CI.

5. Prepare and upload the build#

  1. Package your game for Windows as usual, or choose Package project in the Deltaship tab.
  2. In the Deltaship tab, under 1. Package and prepare, choose Choose packaged build and pick the folder with your game's executable.
  3. Enter the Version, such as 1.0.0, and check the Launch file.
  4. Choose Prepare patch-ready build. Large builds take a few minutes.
  5. Under 4. Upload, paste your token and choose Sign in, then choose Upload release.

You should see "Patch-ready build saved" after preparing, "Signed in" after signing in, and "Release uploaded", with how much was sent, when it finishes. The release now appears as a draft on the game's page.

Common problems:

  • "That does not look like a publish token": copy it again from the dashboard; it starts with udtk_pub_.
  • "Set your studio id in Settings first": fill in step 4.
  • A version that already exists is refused; use a new version for every release.
  • The build changed after preparing: prepare it again.

More: Prepare and verify a build and Export, sign in and publish.

6. Publish the release#

  1. In the dashboard, open Games & releases and then your game.
  2. Next to the draft release, choose Publish.

You should see the release become the current one on the channel. If you made an Upload drafts only token, publishing is always done here, by someone whose email is confirmed.

Common problems: "Confirm your email to publish" appears until your email is confirmed; a channel your plan does not include is refused (see Channels and publishing).

7. Brand your launcher#

  1. Open Launcher.
  2. Under Preset, choose Default, Vanguard or Nova. Default is on every plan; Vanguard and Nova need Starter and up. See The launcher builder for what each looks like.
  3. Upload your Logo (required to publish) and your background art, and choose your accent color. The live preview on the right shows the result.
  4. Choose Publish.

You should see the design published. Installed launchers pick it up the next time they start. Use Save draft to keep work in progress without publishing.

Common problems: publishing is refused without a logo; low-contrast colors only show a warning.

8. Build your Windows launcher#

  1. On the same Launcher page, find Installer and app. Enter the Product name and Program file name, and choose Save installer settings.
  2. Upload your App icon: a PNG of exactly 512 x 512 pixels, or an .ico with a 256 x 256 image.
  3. Under Launcher builds, choose Build for Windows.

You should see a new row in the builds list move from Queued through Building, Signed and Publishing to Published, usually within a few minutes. The Current downloads line then links the Windows installer.

Common problems: the button is disabled until your design is published and an icon is uploaded; only one build per platform runs at a time; and builds are limited each month by plan. See Installer and launcher builds.

9. Invite a player and share the download#

  1. Open Players. Under Invite a player, enter an email and choose Send invite.
  2. Choose Open player portal to open your portal, at app.deltaship.dev/portal/ followed by your studio's short name.
  3. Share that portal address with your players.

You should see Download the launcher on the portal once the build is published. The invited player gets an email with a link to set a password. With open sign-up, anyone can instead create an account on the portal.

Common problems: a button that says the studio has not published its launcher download means step 8 is not finished; invite links work once, for 7 days, and can be sent again from the player list. See Players and the player portal.

What players see#

  1. On your portal they sign in, or create an account if you allow it, and choose Download the launcher.
  2. They run your installer, which installs a launcher with your name and icon, and open it.
  3. They sign in with the email and password they set on your portal.
  4. The library shows your game, in the preset you chose. They choose Install, then Play.

When you publish your next release, their launcher shows Update and downloads only what changed, verified and resumable. See The launcher for players and How updates reach players.

Next#