Book description
A seat-of-your-pants manual for building fun, groovy little games quickly with Unity 4.x
- Learn the basics of the Unity 3D game engine by building five small, functional game projects
- Explore simplification and iteration techniques that will make you more successful as a game developer
- Take Unity for a spin with a refreshingly humorous approach to technical manuals
In Detail
Unity is one of the biggest game engines in the world, providing the user with a range of important tools that they need to bring their ideas into reality. Beginner game developers are optimistic, passionate, and ambitious, but that ambition can be dangerous! Too often, budding indie developers and hobbyists bite off more than they can chew. Games like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Fruit Ninja are fun, simple games that have delighted players and delivered big profits to their creators. This is the perfect climate for new game developers to succeed by creating simple games with Unity, starting today.
This book teaches you the ins and outs of the unique Unity game engine interface. Clear and concise code examples written in both Unity Javascript and C# take you through the step-by-step process of building five small, functional games. With this understanding you can start making your own mark on the game industry!
With absolutely no programming or game development experience, you will learn how to build five simple games in Unity by following step-by-step instructions, peppered with amusing analogies and anecdotes from an experienced indie developer. Following a primer on simplifying your game ideas to that single “something” that keeps players coming back for more, dive into the Unity game engine by creating a simple bat-and-ball game. From there, you'll build a complete memory game using only the Unity GUI system. After building a 2.5D mouse avoider game, you'll learn how to re-skin the project to completely change the game's theme. Incorporating everything you've learned, you'll return to complete the bat-and-ball game by adding scoring, replay flow, sound effects, and animations. Finally, in the new bonus chapter, you'll program some simple AI (Artificial Intelligence) for a tic tac toe game.
"Unity 4.x Game Development by Example" is a fun and light-hearted exploration of one of the most powerful game engines on the market today. Find out what all the fuss is about by getting up to speed using this book!
Table of contents
-
Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide
- Table of Contents
- Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide
- Credits
- About the Author
- About the Reviewers
- www.PacktPub.com
- Preface
-
1. That's One Fancy Hammer!
- Introducing Unity 3D
- The engine, the tool, and the all-weather tires
- Unity takes over the world
- Why choose Unity?
- Why burn this book and run away screaming?
- Browser-based 3D – welcome to the future
- Time for action – install the Unity Web Player
- Welcome to Unity 3D!
- What can I build with Unity?
- Completely hammered
- Should we try to build FusionFall?
- Another option
- I bent my Wooglie
- Unity Technologies – "Made with Unity" page
- Kongregate
- The iOS App Store
- Walk before you can run (or double jump)
- There's no such thing as "finished"
- Stop! Hammer time
- The wonders of technology!
- The Scene window
- Don't stop there – live a little!
- Summary
-
2. Let's Start with the Sky
- That little lightbulb
- The siren song of 3D
- Features versus content
- A game with no features
- Mechanic versus skin
- Trapped in your own skin
- That singular piece of joy
- One percent inspiration
- Motherload
- Heads up!
- Artillery Live!
- Pong
- The mechanic that launched a thousand games
- Toy or story
- Redefining the sky
- Summary
-
3. Game #1 – Ticker Taker
- Kick up a new Unity project
- 'Tis volley
- Keep the dream alive
- Slash and burn!
- The many faces of keep-up
- Creating the ball and the hitter
- Time for action – create the Ball
- A ball by any other name
- Time for action – rename the Ball
- Origin story
- Time for action – move the Ball Into the "Sky"
- Time for action – shrink the Ball
- Time for action – save your scene
- Time for action – add the Paddle
- Keeping yourself in the dark
- Time for action – add a light
- Time for action – move and rotate the light
- Are you a luminary?
- Time for action – test your game
- Let's get physical
- Add physics to your game
- Understanding the gravity of the situation
- More bounce to the ounce
- Time for action – make the Ball bouncy
- Summary
-
4. Code Comfort
- What is code?
- Time for action – write your first Unity Script
- A leap of faith
- Lick it and stick it
- It's all Greek to me
- You'll never go hungry again
- With great sandwich comes great responsibility
- Examining the code
- Time for action – find the Mesh Renderer component
- Time for action – make the ball re-appear
- Ding!
- Time for action – journey to the Unity Script Reference
- The Renderer class
- What's another word for "huh"?
- It's been fun
- Time for action – unstick the Script
- Gone, but not forgotten
- Why code?
- Equip your baby bird
- Time for action – create a new MouseFollow Script
- A capital idea
- Animating with code
- Time for action – animate the Paddle
- Why didn't the Paddle animate before?
- Pick a word – (almost) any word
- Screen coordinates versus World coordinates
- Move the Paddle
- Worst. Game. Ever.
- See the matrix
- Time for action – listen to the paddle
- A tiny bit o' math
- Tracking the numbers
- Futzing with the numbers
- Time for action – Log the New Number
- She's a-work!
- Somebody get me a bucket
- Time for action – declare a variable to store the Screen midpoint
- Using all three dees
- Time for action – follow the y position of the mouse
- A keep-up game for robots
- Once more into the breach
- Time for action – re-visit the Unity Language Reference
- Our work here is done
- Time for action – add the sample code to your Script
- One final tweak
- Educated guesses
- Right on target
- Keep it up
- C# Addendum
-
5. Game #2 – Robot Repair
- You'll totally flip
- A blank slate
- You're making a scene
- Time for action – set up two scenes
- No right answer
- Time for action – prepare the GUI
- The beat of your own drum
- Time for action – create and link a custom GUI skin
- Time for action – create a button UI control
- Want font?
- Cover your assets
- Time for action – nix the mip-mapping
- Front and center
- Time for action – center the button
- The waiting game
- The easiest button to button
- To the game!
- Time for action – add both scenes to Build List
- Set the stage for robots
- Time for action – prepare the game scene
- The game plan
- Have some class!
- Time for action – store the essentials
- A matter of great import
- Building a better bucket
- How big is your locker?
- Start me up
- Going loopy
- The anatomy of a loop
- To nest is best
- Seeing is believing
- Time for action – create an area to store the grid
- Build that grid
- Now you're playing with power!
- C# addendum
-
6. Game #2 – Robot Repair Part 2
- From zero to game in one chapter
- Finding your center
- Time for action – centering the game grid vertically
- Time for action – centering the game grid horizontally
- Down to the nitty griddy
- Time for action – preparing to build the deck
- Time for action – building the deck
- Time for action – modifying the img argument
- What exactly is "this"?
- Random reigns supreme
- Second dragon down
- Time to totally flip
- Time for action – making the cards two-sided
- Time for action – building the card-flipping function
- Time for action – building the card-flipping function
- Pumpkin eater
- Stabby McDragonpoker rides again
- Game and match
- Time for action – ID the cards
- Time for action – comparing the IDs
- On to the final boss
- Time for action – checking for victory
- Bring. It. On.
- C# Addendum
-
7. Don't Be a Clock Blocker
- Apply pressure
- Time for action – preparing the Clock Script
- Time for more action – preparing the clock text
- Still time for action – changing the clock text color
- Time for action rides again – creating Font Texture and Material
- Time for action – what's with the tiny font?
- Time for action – preparing the clock code
- Time for action – creating the countdown logic
- Time for action – displaying the time on-screen
- Picture it
- Time for action – grabbing the picture clock graphics
- Time for action – Flex those GUI muscles
- The incredible shrinking clock
- Keep your fork – there's pie!
- How they did it
- Time for action – rigging up the textures
- Time for action – writing the pie chart script
- Time for action – commencing operation pie clock
- Time for action – positioning and scaling the clock
- Unfinished business
- C# Addendum
-
8. Hearty Har Har
- Welcome to Snoozeville
- Model behavior
- Time for action – exploring the models
- Time for action – hands up!
- Time for action – changing the FBX import scale settings
- Time for action – making the mesh colliders convex
- Time for action – making the hands and tray follow the mouse
- Time for action – getting your heart on
- Time for action – ditching the Ball and Paddle
- Time for action – material witness
- This just in – this game blows
- Time for action – multiple erections
- Time for action – creating a font texture
- Time for action – create the HeartBounce script
- Time for action – tagging the tray
- Time for action – tweaking the bounce
- Time for action – keeping track of the bounces
- Time for action – adding the lose condition
- Time for action – adding the Play Again button
- Ticker taken
- C# Addendum
-
9. Game #3 – The Break-Up
- Time for action – bombs away!
- Time for action – poke those particles
- Time for action – creating a spark material
- Time for action – prefabulous
- Time for action – lights, camera, and apartment
- Time for action – adding the character
- Time for action – registering the animations
- Time for action – scripting the character
- Time for action – open the pod bay door, Hal
- Time for action – collision-enable the character
- Time for action – apocalypse now?
- Time for action – go boom
- Time for action – kill kill murder die
- Time for action – the point of impact
- Time for action – hook up the explosion
- Summary
- C# addendum
-
10. Game #3 – The Break-Up Part 2
- Time for action – amass some glass
- Time for action – create a particle system
- Time for action – make it edgier!
- Time for action – contain the explosion
- Time for action – let's get lazy
- Very variable?
- Terminal velocity is a myth – bombs fall faster
- Time for action – tag the objects
- Time for action – write the collision detection code
- Time for action – animation interrupts
- Time for action – add facial explosions
- Time for action – make some noise
- Time for action – add sounds to FallingObject
- Silent 'Splosion
- What's the catch?
- Time for action – mix it up a bit
- Summary
- C# Addendum
-
11. Game #4 – Shoot the Moon
- Time for action – duplicate your game project
- Time for action – space the shooter up a bit
- Time for action – enter the hero
- Time for action – it's a hit!
- Time for action – bring on the bad guys
- Time for action – do some housekeeping
- Time for action – fixing the fall
- Time for action – tweak the hero
- Time for action – give up the func
- Time for action – itchy trigger finger
- Time for action – futurize the bullet
- Time for action – building Halo
- Time for action – fire!
- Time for action – code do-si-do
- Time for action – the maaagic of aaaarguments
- Time for action – add the most important part of any space shooter
- Summary
- C# Addendum
-
12. Game #5 – Kisses 'n' Hugs
- Computers that think
- Time for action – haul in the hallway
- Time for action – hash it out
- One Script to rule them all
- Time for action – it's hip to be square
- Squaring the Square
- Time for action – now you see it...
- Family values
- Time for action – X marks the spot
- Time for action – boy O boy
- Time for action – bottoming out
- Here comes the drop
- Time for action – +9 accuracy
- Time for action – solve for X
- Time for action – it takes two to Tic Tac Toe
- Time for action – designer to player. Come in, player.
- Slowly building to a climax
- Read after thinking
- On deaf ears
- Time for action – pretty maids all in a row
- Winner is coming
- Codesplosion
- Need-to-know basis
- Need-to-know basis
- Clean-up on aisle code
- Shave and a haircut
- Time for action – check for a win
- Sore loser
- Time for action – notify the winner
- Time for action – you win. Now what?
- Nice moves
- Time for action – the final bug
- All done but for the shouting
- C# addendum
-
13. AI Programming and World Domination
- Take it away, computer
- Time for action – add computer control
- Herpa derp derp
- Unpacking the code
- Time for action – code consolidation
- Tic Tac Toe at the speed of light
- Sore loser
- Click-spamming for fun and profit
- Artificial stupidity
- Time for action – winning is everything
- It's a trap!
- The leftovers
- Time for action – pseu pseu pseudocode
- Time for action – begin at the end
- Time for action – the final four
- Code one, get one free
- The actual intelligence behind artificial intelligence
- Time for action – score!
- Time for action – to catch a competitor
- Time for action – programming fallibility
- Summary
- C# addendum
-
14. Action!
- Open heart surgery
- Time for action – haul in the hallway
- Time for action – meet me at camera two
- Time for action – adjust Main Camera
- Time for action – deck the halls
- Time for action – turn on the lights
- Time for action – set up the camera rig
- Time for action – animate the bouncer
- Time for action – I like to move it move it
- Time for action – animate the runner
- Time for action – how to "handle" Nurse Slipperfoot
- Time for action – you spin me right round
- Time for action – deploy your game
- Time to grow
- Beyond the book
- A. Appendix
- Index
Product information
- Title: Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide
- Author(s):
- Release date: December 2013
- Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
- ISBN: 9781849695268
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