Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials: If you have an idea for a game but lack the skills to create it, this book is the perfect introduction. There’s lots of handholding through all the essentials, culminating in the building of a full 3D game.

Will Goldstone

Dec 2011 · Packt Publishing Ltd

About this ebook

If you have an idea for a game but lack the skills to create it, this book is the perfect introduction. There’s lots of handholding through all the essentials, culminating in the building of a full 3D game.Key Features

• Kick start your game development, and build ready-to-play 3D games with ease.
• Understand key concepts in game design including scripting, physics, instantiation, particle effects, and more.
• Test & optimize your game to perfection with essential tips-and-tricks.
• Written in clear, plain English, this book takes you from a simple prototype through to a complete 3D game with concepts you‚Äôll reuse throughout your new career as a game developer.
• Learn game development in Unity version 3 and above, and learn scripting in either C# or JavaScript

Book DescriptionGame Engines such as Unity are the power-tools behind the games we know and love. Unity is one of the most widely-used and best loved packages for game development and is used by everyone, from hobbyists to large studios, to create games and interactive experiences for the web, desktop, mobile, and console. With Unity’s intuitive, easy to learn toolset and this book – it’s never been easier to become a game developer. Taking a practical approach, this book will introduce you to the concepts of developing 3D games, before getting to grips with development in Unity itself – prototyping a simple scenario, and then creating a larger game. From creating 3D worlds to scripting and creating game mechanics you will learn everything you’ll need to get started with game development. This book is designed to cover a set of easy-to-follow examples, which culminate in the production of a First Person 3D game, complete with an interactive island environment. All of the concepts taught in this book are applicable to other types of game, however, by introducing common concepts of game and 3D production, you'll explore Unity to make a character interact with the game world, and build puzzles for the player to solve, in order to complete the game. At the end of the book, you will have a fully working 3D game and all the skills required to extend the game further, giving your end-user, the player, the best experience possible. Soon you will be creating your own 3D games with ease!What you will learn

• An understanding of the Unity 3D Engine and game development
• Write code for game development in either C# or JavaScript
• Build a 3D island and set of mini-games for your players
• Incorporate terrains and externally produced 3D models to get your game environment up and running
• Create player character interactions
• Combine scripting and animation to transform your static objects into dynamic interactive game elements
• Add realistic effects to your games by using particle systems
• Create a stylish and efficient menu, and animate other interface elements
• Use Lightmapping to make your game environments look more professional
• Deploy your game to the web and desktop and share it with the wider world for testing and feedback.

Who this book is for

If you’re a designer or animator who wishes to take their first steps into game development or prototyping, or if you’ve simply spent many hours sitting in front of video games, with ideas bubbling away in the back of your mind, Unity and this book should be your starting point. No prior knowledge of game production is required, inviting you to simply bring with you a passion for making great games.

Ratings and reviews

I'm about halfway through the book and I have to say that it is incredibly intuitive and useful. The author takes time to explain what you will be working on before going step by step through the process. The only issues I ran into were during scripting but this was due to user error. Overall very excellent starting point for those interested, I only wish I could find more books by the author on Google play.

I have read about two thirds of the book and I found it pretty good. The only cons is that it is a bit redundant at some parts, and I find some things on the code a bit weird and/or arbitrary. Also one chapter (8) is almost fully outdated, but the author has published a video with the steps necessary for doing the same with newer versions of Unity (3.5+). Also part of chapter 11 is outdated, thought he has published a reasonable workaround. I found no more problems working with Unity 4, even when the book states that it is for 3.x, so that's great. As a whole is an EXCELLENT book for starting into Unity and it is worth for the money.

Perfect for beginners. It took me about 50% of the book before it clicked. I can now say I know and understand a fair amount about c# and JavaScript. I suggest choosing one to learn then re read with the other as the author uses both in examples. Well worth the money. Vv

About the author

Will Goldstone is a longstanding member of the Unity community and works for Unity Technologies as a Technical Support Associate, handling educational content and developer support. With an MA in Creative Education, and many years experience as a lecturer in higher education, Will wrote the first ever Unity book, the original Unity Game Development Essentials, and also created the first ever video tutorials for the package. Through his sites http://www.unity3dstudent.com and http://learnunity3d.com Will helps to introduce new users to the growing community of developers discovering Unity every day.