Building a Version Control System for Game Art Assets

We often see: when three artists simultaneously edit one FBX file of a character, and the version control system is a folder named assets_FINAL_v2_NEW_fixed, the problem is not team discipline. The problem is a lack of infrastructure. Binary files — meshes, textures, audio — are not code: they cannot be merged via diff, and plain Git without extensions handles them poorly.

Why standard Git is unsuitable for graphic assets

Git stores every version of a file entirely. A 4K texture in PSD format weighs 80–120 MB. After 50 iterations, one file takes up 4–6 GB in the repository history. Cloning the project after a year takes an hour. git checkout to an artist's branch takes 20 minutes.

Git LFS (Large File Storage) solves the storage problem: binaries are sent to a separate server, only pointers remain in the repository. But Git LFS does not solve the locking problem: if artist A and artist B simultaneously open one FBX, one of them loses changes when attempting commit. Git LFS File Locking adds exclusive locking, but it is not integrated into DCC tools (Maya, Blender, Substance Painter). The artist must remember to lock via CLI — in practice this does not work.

How Git LFS handles locking

In fact, Git LFS does not provide automatic locking. The git lfs lock command requires the artist to manually invoke it before editing. If forgotten, a conflict is inevitable. Adding external solutions like Anchorpoint partially solves the problem, but without DCC integration it is a temporary crutch. As a result, when working in parallel on one asset, conflicts occur in 30–40% of cases.

Perforce Helix Core for graphics

Perforce is the de facto standard in AAA development. Its preemptive locking (checkout before edit) is ideal for binaries. An artist checks out a file for editing, the system locks it for others. This does not hinder the workflow — on the contrary, everyone knows who is editing what right now.

Integration with DCC: Perforce plugins for Maya, Houdini, and Substance Painter. For Unity — built-in Version Control in recent versions. For teams of 3–15 artists, Perforce Helix Core can be deployed independently on a Linux server (free license up to 5 users and 20 workspaces) or use Helix TeamHub.

Drawback: Perforce is not Git. Developers accustomed to git workflow take about a week to adapt. But losing an artist's work due to a merge conflict costs more.

Why Perforce is better than Git for assets

Comparison on key parameters:

Perforce is 3 times more efficient than Git LFS in locking time and completely eliminates conflicts during parallel work on the same file.

Git LFS + DVC for mixed teams

If the team is not ready for Perforce, a working alternative is Git LFS for assets + DVC (Data Version Control) for large datasets. DVC stores assets in S3/GCS/Azure Blob/local NAS, and only .dvc pointer files in Git. dvc pull downloads the needed versions. This allows working with assets like code (branches, tags, history) without bloating the repository.

System structure for a game project

Typical architecture for a Unity/Unreal project with a team of 5–20 people:

• Source repository (code): Git + GitHub/GitLab. Everything except binaries. .gitignore aggressively excludes PSDs, FBXs, WAVs, PNGs above 1 MB.
• Asset repository: Perforce or Git LFS + DVC. Structure: assets/characters/, assets/environments/, assets/audio/, assets/vfx/. Both source files (PSD, FBX, MA) and final exports (PNG, glTF, OGG) are versioned.
• Asset pipeline: scripts for automatic conversion and optimization on commit. Maya → FBX export via Mayapy (converts 100+ assets per hour), PSD → compressed PNG via ImageMagick (up to 80% lossless compression), audio → platform-specific formats. Triggered by CI hook.
• Naming convention: strict, documented. CH_Goblin_Body_Diffuse_D.png (CH=character, Body=mesh part, Diffuse=map type, D=diffuse). Without this, after six months no one knows what texture_v3_USE_THIS_ONE.png means.

On one of our projects, transitioning from a network drive folder to Perforce took two weeks (installation, converting history from NAS to Perforce depot, team training). After two months — 'why didn't we do this earlier' — the authorship problem disappeared and a full change history of every asset emerged. Time savings for artists reached 30%.

How to implement the system: step-by-step plan

1. Audit current infrastructure. Assess asset volume (50 GB to 2 TB), team size, tools used.
2. Choose a solution. Git LFS for small projects (up to 5 artists), Perforce for medium and large.
3. Set up server. Install and configure storage, users (1–2 days).
4. Integrate with DCC. Plugins for Maya, Blender, Substance Painter (2–4 days).
5. Configure pipeline. Auto-conversion scripts and CI hooks (3–5 days).
6. Train the team. Conduct training sessions, write documentation (1–2 days).
7. Launch and support. First days — monitoring, rule adjustments (2 days).

Get an engineer consultation and a precise implementation plan in one day. Contact us to request it.

What is included in the work

Our team provides:

• Audit of current infrastructure and recommendations.
• Deployment of Perforce server or setup of Git LFS + DVC.
• Integration with DCC tools (Maya, Blender, Houdini, Substance Painter).
• Development of asset pipeline with auto-conversion.
• Documentation on naming and workflow.
• Team training and support for two weeks.

Implementation timelines

Our track record

Our experience: 6 years in game dev, over 20 version control system implementations for assets. We are certified Perforce partners. Average artist time savings after implementation: 30%, complete elimination of conflicts during parallel work. We guarantee quality at every stage.

You can implement a version control system for your assets. We'll assess your project in one day. Contact us for a consultation.

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