Is it possible to run a game built in Unity (executable for linux) in a Ubuntu 16.04 VM on Google Cloud Platform?

It really depends on what's running on the remote server. There are a few options:

Running VNC Server on the remote server

Here's a tutorial for running vnc on Google Cloud Engine

Running using ssh -X (will probably not work)

Sometimes, it's possible to bring a UI from a server to another if it supports X-Server, example using ssh -x, as shown in the manual:

 -X      Enables X11 forwarding.  This can also be specified on a per-host basis in a configuration file.

But I don't think it's possible to run a unity game under X11 ;)

Running the game using xvfb

If for some reason, you don't need the built executable to display anything (Ex: a game server built under Unity), invoking it from the command line could work, but usually, Unity builds need a connected display. You can start the application by specifying a virtual display on the remote server when, ex; when connected over ssh:

 xvfb-run --auto-servernum --server-args='-screen 0 640x480x24' \
 path/to/your/unity-game

You can get the xvfb-run command by installing xvfb package on Ubuntu:

 sudo apt install -y xvfb

Have a look to xvfb-run man pages for more details.

I just tried with the following sample unity game built for StandaloneLinux64:

 wget https://gitlab.com/gableroux/unity3d-gitlab-ci-example/-/jobs/80079334/artifacts/download -O build-StandaloneLinux64.zip
 unzip build-StandaloneLinux64.zip

And here's what happens when running it:

 ./Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName

Output:

 Set current directory to /root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64
 Found path: /root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName
 Mono path[0] = '/root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Managed'
 Mono config path = '/root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Mono/etc'
 Unable to preload the following plugins:
     ScreenSelector.so
 Player data archive not found at `/root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/data.unity3d`, using local filesystem
 PlayerPrefs - Creating folder: /root/.config/unity3d/DefaultCompany
 PlayerPrefs - Creating folder: /root/.config/unity3d/DefaultCompany/ThirdPersonControlOrbitCam
 Logging to /root/.config/unity3d/DefaultCompany/ThirdPersonControlOrbitCam/Player.log
 Stacktrace:


 Native stacktrace:

     /root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x92456) [0x7f39fa7da456]
     /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x1166f) [0x7f39fdde966f]
     /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(gsignal+0x9f) [0x7f39fcf9677f]
     /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(abort+0x169) [0x7f39fcf98379]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0xa32f2b]
     /root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0xd1582) [0x7f39fa819582]
     /root/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Mono/x86_64/libmono.so(+0x3510d) [0x7f39fa77d10d]
     /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0(+0x1166f) [0x7f39fdde966f]
     ./ExampleProjectName(SDL_GL_GetAttribute_REAL+0x1e3) [0x14a5a23]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0x133dd5e]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0x133c51b]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0x133c5e7]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0x130e3eb]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0x45a989]
     /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf0) [0x7f39fcf813f0]
     ./ExampleProjectName() [0x466828]

 Debug info from gdb:


 =================================================================
 Got a SIGABRT while executing native code. This usually indicates
 a fatal error in the mono runtime or one of the native libraries
 used by your application.
 =================================================================

 [1]    5329 abort (core dumped)  ./ExampleProjectName

tldr; you need a screen.

 xvfb-run --auto-servernum --server-args='-screen 0 640x480x24' \
 ./Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName

Output:

 Set current directory to /
 Found path: /Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName
 Mono path[0] = '/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Managed'
 Mono config path = '/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/Mono/etc'
 Preloaded 'ScreenSelector.so'
 Player data archive not found at `/Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName_Data/data.unity3d`, using local filesystem
 Logging to /root/.config/unity3d/DefaultCompany/ThirdPersonControlOrbitCam/Player.log

And it keeps running!

Running a unity3d game inside docker

Note: I actually tested this, here's a minimal Dockerfile:

 FROM ubuntu:16.04

 RUN apt-get update -qq; \
   apt-get install -qq -y \
   xvfb \
   wget \
   zip \
   && apt-get clean \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Here are the commands that confirms you can run a Unity3d game:

 docker build . -name gableroux/unity3d-game-example
 docker run --rm -it gableroux/unity3d-game-example bash
 # once iside the docker image:
 wget https://gitlab.com/gableroux/unity3d-gitlab-ci-example/-/jobs/80079334/artifacts/download -O build-StandaloneLinux64.zip
 xvfb-run --auto-servernum --server-args='-screen 0 640x480x24' \
     ./Builds/StandaloneLinux64/ExampleProjectName

So in the end, yes, I'm sure it's possible, you could even bake a docker image with the game inside and deploy it somewhere in the cloud. Good luck and have fun! :)

If that helped you and you're curious about the game used in the example, have a look to this neat project which lets you build and test Unity games in the cloud using a CI:

• https://gitlab.com/gableroux/unity3d-gitlab-ci-example

Thank you for your answer @GabLeRoux ! I just realized that my question is incomplete, what I wanted to ask: Is it possibles it possible to run a game built in Unity in a Ubuntu 16.04 VM with only CPU on Google Cloud Platform? .

I can put whatever is necessary on the VM to make it work.

I already have implemented this but when I run it I get Segmentation fault (core dumped)

Thank you in advance for your help!

If I want to run Unity exe in docker. I just need to run a ubuntu docker and put the exe file in it. Then another question is, do I also need nvidia docker?