Rider for Game Development
Built to keep your whole game project in one place
A modern game project lives across the engine editor, generated code, shaders, assets, build pipelines, debugging tools, and tests, worked on by a whole team. Rider keeps that context together.
In-house engines
Built around your engine
Each engine has its own project model, generated code, debugging flow, and tooling conventions. Rider is aware of them all, so you stay in one environment whether you're shipping on Unreal, Unity, Godot, or proprietary tech.
Deep C++ and engine-model awareness for Unreal workflows.
- Open .uproject files directly with no extra setup.
- Get completion and validation for reflection macros and meta-specifiers like UPROPERTY, UFUNCTION, and UCLASS.
- Debug with LLDB, Live Coding, and Hot Reload workflows.
- Work with HLSL shaders and Unreal automation tests.
Built for the way professional game development actually happens
Most tools handle one slice of the process and hand you off to the next. Rider is built to hold the whole thing, from gameplay scripting down to engine internals.
Why Rider excels
Game-aware AI assistance
Rider gives AI the engine context it can't infer from source code alone – so it can explain where a Blueprint or a prefab uses your class, tell you what a rename affects in serialized data, or trace a crash through generated code.
Speed in large projects
Code analysis runs in a separate process to keep the UI responsive in large codebases. By default, engine code is indexed in the background after non-engine code is parsed, so you can start typing or navigating through your project seconds after you open it.
Gamedev debugging and profiling
Debug gameplay and engine code and investigate runtime behavior without losing development context.
Safe refactorings
Change code confidently with refactorings that understand engine APIs, project structure, generated code, and the assets that reference it.
Studio workflows
Work with Perforce, Git, code reviews, CI/CD, and build automation out of the box. Add JetBrains Qodana to run the same inspections and security checks you get in the editor across the whole codebase in CI.
Built-in testing
Run, debug, and profile tests from NUnit, xUnit, MSTest, Google Test, and Boost.Test, plus tests written with the Unreal Engine Automation Test Framework and Unity Edit Mode and Play Mode tests, without leaving the IDE.
What game development spans
Gameplay
Write game logic, UI code, input handling, and ECS systems with engine-aware completion and inspections.
Engine internals
Navigate, debug, and refactor engine systems, low-level C++, generated code, and build logic.
Tools and pipelines
Build and maintain editor extensions, importers, asset pipelines, and studio automation.
Shaders and rendering code
Navigate, edit, and review ShaderLab and HLSL shader files alongside the rest of your game project.
Assets and resources
Understand where your code is used, including Blueprints, serialized assets, scenes, prefabs, and engine or editor references.
Production systems
Work on game services and servers, telemetry, live-ops tools, CI and build infrastructure, and internal production workflows.
One workflow for every platform you ship to
Build, deploy, and debug across desktop, mobile, web, and console from the same IDE.
Desktop
Windows, macOS, and Linux
Mobile
iOS and Android
Consoles
Platform-specific console workflows via plugins and verified access
Web
Browser-based and web platform games
VR
Standalone and PC VR through Unity and Unreal Engine
Trusted by teams building the games people play
Combining feature-rich code completion and refactoring tools with deep integration to the Unreal Engine toolset is fertile ground for transformative workflow improvements.
Ben Marsh
Lead Programmer at Epic Games
34% of AAA teams and 46% of indie and mid-size studios use Rider.
Tristan Louet
Lead Programmer
at Tarsier StudiosVisual Studio kept freezing on the Little Nightmares team's Unreal codebase. After switching to Rider, the studio cut its tooling costs by 50%.
Kevin Le
Principal Software Engineer
at Second DinnerThe studio behind Marvel Snap switched to Rider for speed on a huge Unity codebase. Now it's the default editor for most of the team.
Reinaldo Vieira
former Project Director
at SURREAL EventsSURREAL Events' project director asked Junie in Rider to solve a quaternion problem. He then went to play the piano and came back to a compiled, tested solution.
Game-aware AI for professional development
Rider understands your engine, your project model, and the code your engine generates. Through MCP and skills, it hands that context to AI agents wherever they run, so they work on your game as a game – not as a generic C++ or C# repo.
General AI agents treat an Unreal project as a generic C++ repository. Unreal Engine workflows cover assets, generated files, Blueprints, editor state, build targets, logs, packaging, and platform configuration. With Rider, agents can get all this information, preventing buggy code, long prompts, manual corrections, and constant supervision.
- Junie
- Claude Agent
- Codex
JetBrains Junie, Anthropic Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, or any ACP-compatible agent of choice – the same intelligence keeps working, no matter which model or vendor you switch to.
Game-specific skills expose Rider's understanding of engines, project structure, and generated code to any agent. This includes debugging and runtime investigation.
You can use AI directly in the IDE via JetBrains AI, third-party providers, or local models when privacy matters.
Learn faster. Ship sooner.
Tutorials, documentation, migration guides, and community support to get your team productive in Rider faster.
Tutorials
Guided workflows for Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, and custom engines.
Documentation
Information about setup, engine support, debugging, testing, platform workflows, and reference material.
Migration guides
Resources to help you move from existing tools and workflows with less friction.
Community forum
A place to ask questions, compare workflows, and learn from other game development teams.
Ready for your next project?
Start free for non-commercial use, or explore commercial plans for studio workflows.
Free for non-commercial use
Commercial licensing for teams
Available as part of dotUltimate and All Products Pack