Rive for games
Build HUDs, menus, inventories, and characters in one Rive file, then ship it in Unity, Unreal, Defold, or your own engine. Your agent builds with the Rive CLI. Designers and animators shape the same file by hand in the Rive Editor, as many rounds as you need.
Game engines
The same .riv file plays in each engine, drawn by the Rive Renderer. The Unity, Unreal, and C++ runtimes are open source under the MIT license, with no royalties or runtime fees.
Unity
Install from the Unity Asset Store or GitHub, then show Rive in a uGUI Canvas or on a mesh. Works with Unity 2021 LTS and later, including Unity 6.
Unreal Engine
A plugin for Unreal Engine 5.7.3 and later. Show Rive in UMG or on in-world surfaces, on PC, macOS, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
Defold
Rive support is built into Defold and drawn by the Rive Renderer. The Defold team maintains it.
Your own engine
The C++ runtime loads .riv files, runs state machines, and draws with the Rive Renderer on D3D11, D3D12, Metal, Vulkan, or OpenGL, or through your own renderer.
What you build
One Rive file holds the design, motion, and logic. Your game sets values and listens for changes, and the file handles the rest. Developers and agents load the file and bind data to it.
State Machine
Connect animations and logic visually, so states like hover, select, and low health live in the file.
Data Binding
Bind health, ammo, and player names to a view model, and use lists for inventories and other repeating items.
Responsive Layouts
Build menus and HUDs that resize and reflow to fit the screen.
Joysticks
Map timelines to a handle’s X and Y to rig head turns, eyes, and poses for characters.
Timeline
Professional timeline tools for menus, HUDs, and transitions. Animation plays live and blends at runtime.
Scripting
Write logic, procedural motion, and custom drawing in scripts that live inside the file.
Audio Events
Trigger sound effects from a keyframe, a state transition, or a listener.
Scrolling Lists
Scroll long inventories and leaderboards with momentum. Virtualized lists only build the rows on screen, so long lists stay fast.
Text Input
Add fields for player names, chat, and search. Players click or tab in, type, select, and paste.
Gamepad
Drive menus with a controller. Gamepad listeners react to buttons and sticks, and Focus moves through the menu in order.
Localization
Swap every string per language through Data Binding. Layouts flip for right-to-left languages, and fallback fonts cover missing glyphs.
Rive Renderer
The Rive Renderer draws a huge number of vectors with analytic antialiasing, so shapes and text stay crisp at any size and resolution. Vector Feathering adds soft edges and glows without the cost of a blur. Your UI ships as one compact .riv file instead of video or image sequences.
Vector Feathering
Joseph Riedel, CTO, Pocketwatch Games
Pocketwatch Games built Monaco 2’s UI in Rive and runs it in their own engine, with a HUD that scales to any aspect ratio. In Unity, Patriots Division shipped Pay 2 Win on Steam with nearly a hundred Rive artboards.
Why Rive
Designers and animators build every screen by hand in the Rive Editor. Developers and agents load the same file in the engine and drive it with game data.
For designers and animators
Build the states and motion yourself, in the same file that ships. Players see exactly what you animated.
Animate with real tools: timelines, the Graph Editor, bones and constraints, Joysticks, and Vector Feathering.
Make menus work with every input. Text Input, Focus, and Gamepad listeners are built into the Rive Editor.
Keep every screen consistent. Components and Libraries share buttons, panels, and icons across the whole game.
For developers and agents
Ship one file to Unity, Unreal, Defold, and your own engine. Port the game without rebuilding its UI.
Drive every screen with Data Binding. Set health, ammo, and inventories from game code, and listen for changes from the file.
Keep the HUD sharp at any resolution. Vector UI scales to any aspect ratio, from a handheld to a big screen, in a small file.
Build screens with your coding agent through the Rive CLI, then hand the same file to your artists to refine.
FAQ
Can Rive be my game engine?
Yes. You can build the whole game in Rive, not only its UI. One file holds vector, raster, and 3D with cameras, lights, and shaders, plus State Machines, Data Binding, audio, and scripts in AnimaScript. It plays on the web, mobile, desktop, and consoles.
Which game engines does Rive support?
Unity, Unreal Engine, and Defold, plus any C++ engine through the Rive C++ runtime. Unity and Unreal use Rive’s own plugins, and Defold has Rive built in, maintained by the Defold team. The feature support page lists what each runtime supports today.
Can I use Rive with a custom engine?
Yes. The C++ runtime loads .riv files, runs state machines, and draws through the Rive Renderer or your own renderer. Pocketwatch Games integrated Rive into their own engine for Monaco 2. The Enterprise plan adds support for custom runtimes on your own platforms and hardware.
How do I connect game data to Rive UI?
Use Data Binding. Add a view model to the file with properties like health or ammo, bind them to the UI, and set those values from your game code. The state machine reacts to the new values, and your game can listen for changes made in the file. Use list properties for inventories and other repeating items.
Does Rive UI work with gamepads?
Yes. Gamepad listeners and Focus are built into the Rive Editor, so players move through menus with a controller or a keyboard. The C++ runtime supports both today, and Unity and Unreal support lands soon. Check feature support for your runtime.
Is the Rive runtime free to ship?
Yes. The runtimes are open source under the MIT license, with no royalties, revenue share, or runtime fees. The free plan covers building in the Rive Editor and the Rive CLI, with usage limits. Free exports play a Rive splash screen, and exporting without it needs a paid plan.
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