Gamification with Unity 5.x

Gamification with Unity 5.x

by Lauren S. Ferro
Released November 2016
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781786463487

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Book description

Build exhilarating gaming experiences using a wide range of game elements in Unity 5.x

About This Book

  • Achieve your goals in a fun-filled way by creating gamification projects from scratch

  • Leverage the Unity 5.X toolkit to create stunning and appealing projects

  • Make your transition towards a pro project manager/ developer by learning tricks and techniques

    • Who This Book Is For

    If you are a project manager, game developer, or programmer who wants to create successful end-to-end gamification projects from scratch, then this is the book for you. You do not need any previous experience of working with Unity 5.X. All the details required to make the most of gamifying your projects are provided in the book.

    What You Will Learn

  • Assess your learners’ abilities by setting up challenges and quests

  • Implement the game elements that relate to the project into Unity

  • Publish your own task management application to better engage readers

  • Improve your design using methods of playtesting and iteration

  • Issue OpenBadges to recognize achievements and set up an online database to store your users achievements.

    • In Detail

    Are you looking at implementing gamification techniques for your business and wondering where to get a complete rundown of all the tricks and techniques? Well, you have come to the right place!

    This book will start right from the basics such as gameplay elements and their functionalities before gradually moving onto creating your first gamification project from scratch.

    You’ll be given the tools and shown how to perform various techniques for creating gamified applications in different contexts. Finally, you will implement various game elements into Unity, publish your own task management application, and get to know the best practices and approaches when designing gamified experiences.

    Style and approach

    This book takes a real-world case studies approach, moving ahead in a step-by-step tutorial manner. You will create your own project from scratch, and the practical examples will help you create a successful gamification project.

    Table of contents

    1. Gamification with Unity 5.x
      1. Gamification with Unity 5.x
      2. Credits
      3. About the Author
      4. About the Reviewer
      5. www.PacktPub.com
        1. Why subscribe?
      6. Preface
        1. What this book covers
        2. What you need for this book
        3. Who this book is for
        4. Conventions
        5. Reader feedback
        6. Customer support
          1. Downloading the example code
          2. Downloading the color images of this book
          3. Errata
          4. Piracy
          5. Questions
      7. 1. The Anatomy of Games
        1. Not just pixels and programming
          1. Finding your preferred type
        2. Playing to learn
          1. Minecraft
          2. Kerbal Space Program
          3. Sid Meier's Civilization
          4. Stop kidding around, be serious!
            1. America's Army
            2. Foldit
            3. Moonbase Alpha
          5. Keeping it real with simulations
            1. Virtual Heroes
            2. SimCity
            3. From Dust
        3. Gamify all things with gamification
          1. Language learning with DuoLingo
            1. Game elements and mechanics
          2. Becoming a better human with Habitica (HabitRPG)
            1. Game elements and mechanics
          3. Shop till you drop with AliExpress (mobile application)
            1. Game elements and mechanics
        4. What is game design?
          1. Conjuring the elements
            1. Getting elemental
            2. Getting mechanical
          2. Difference between gameplay and game mechanics
        5. Competency and complacency; where do we draw the line?
          1. Examples of feedback and reinforcement
            1. The internal flame for doing...anything
            2. Read this and you'll get candies
            3. A little bit of conditioning to control user behavior
              1. Classical conditioning
              2. Operant conditioning
            4. Avoid spoiling the player
        6. Summary
      8. 2. Who or What Am I? Understanding the Player
        1. The players - who are they and where do they come from?
          1. Getting contextual
        2. Who is our application targeting?
        3. The user
          1. The amount of dedication
          2. Defining the role of your player
        4. Deciding on what you want your users to achieve
          1. Getting the player to achieve it
          2. Engaging the player
            1. Getting loopy about engagement
              1. Engagement loops
              2. Progression loops
        5. Creating a user profile system in Unity
          1. Setting up the Unity project
            1. Getting personal with some profile information
            2. Showing off that beautiful smile
        6. Summary
      9. 3. An Engaged Player is a Happy Player
        1. Keeping 'em engaged
        2. How am I doing?
          1. Keeping it visual
          2. What's that noise?
        3. Someone call a doctor!
          1. Circular health bar
          2. Lives counter
        4. On point!
        5. You've come this far, keep going
          1. Making progress
        6. Showing off how awesome you are
          1. Badges, badges, badges
          2. Achievement unlocked!
          3. Implementing an achievement system
            1. Example of usage
        7. Taking in the view with dashboards
        8. There is no I in team
          1. Adding an element of fun to agile frameworks
        9. Summary
      10. 4. Organized Chaos - Getting Ideas Out of Your Head and on to Paper
        1. Brainstorming - getting it all out on the table
        2. Tools and methods for getting ideas out and organizing thoughts
          1. Start pinning with Pinterest
          2. Starting with a fresh slate
          3. Never forget with Evernote
        3. Brainstorming activities
          1. Spinning the wheel of randomness
          2. Getting in and among it
          3. Game on with Gamicards
          4. The great exchange
          5. Getting moody with mood boards
          6. Creating the ideal ideation sessions
        4. Implementing a brainstorming tool in Unity to shuffle ideas
          1. Making a new friend with editor scripts
          2. Creating an editor script
          3. Opening a new editor window
          4. Drawing something inside our editor window
          5. Adding a scrollable text area
          6. Inserting a button and implementing the shuffle function
          7. Showing the extracted idea
          8. Testing our brainstorming tool
        5. Summary
      11. 5. Sculpting the Conceptual Beast
        1. Creating a Game Design Document
          1. Google Drive
          2. Word (and Microsoft Office)
          3. InDesign
        2. Creating a prototype - what you'll need
          1. Gathering your humans
          2. Having a plan!
          3. Setting a date
          4. Scoping it out
          5. Keeping it short and to the point
          6. What's your poison?
          7. Getting your jam on!
          8. Failing is an option
          9. Touching base
        3. Methods of prototyping
          1. Paper prototyping
          2. Rapid prototyping
        4. Tools for prototyping in Unity
          1. Placeholder sprites
            1. Composing figures
              1. Arrow
              2. Star
              3. Assets mock-up
            2. Substituting the temporary assets
          2. Using labels
          3. Gizmos
        5. Getting basic core concepts into Unity
          1. Quick navigation
        6. Revisiting the prototype
          1. Testing with the closest people
          2. Testing with external people
          3. How to test
          4. Revisiting your prototype and iterating
        7. Summary
      12. 6. Breathing Life into Your First Creation - Creating and Importing Assets for Your Application
        1. Designing the application
        2. Creating the game elements
          1. Adobe Illustrator
          2. Vector graphics
        3. An introduction to Illustrator
          1. Creating badges in Illustrator
            1. Getting all rounded
              1. Using the Shape tool
              2. Using the effect
            2. Showing the best of you with badges
          2. Aiming above the bar
          3. Putting it all together with sprite sheets
        4. Importing and setting our assets in Unity
          1. Importing assets
          2. Import Settings
          3. The Sprite Editor
          4. Testing our settings
            1. Testing the packing tag
            2. Testing the dimensions of the sprites
        5. Summary
      13. 7. Get Your Motor Running
        1. Designing our application
        2. Getting started
        3. Creating the application interface
          1. The lateral menu
            1. The interface
            2. Opening and closing the menu
            3. Adding items to the menu
          2. The Home page
          3. The Tasks page
          4. Navigating through the different screens
        4. Defining tasks
          1. Object-oriented
          2. The Task class
        5. Dealing with tasks
          1. A prefab as Task panel
          2. The Task manager
          3. Allowing the user to create new Tasks
            1. Create Task button
            2. Delete task button
            3. Adding the icon
            4. Inserting the title
            5. Inserting the Due date
            6. Selecting the Task priority
          4. Setting up the Tasks page
        6. Summary
      14. 8. Break, Destroy, and Rebuild - the Art of Playtesting and Iteration
        1. Playtesting
          1. Methods of playtesting
            1. Going solo
            2. Group testing
            3. Open or controlled
            4. Getting the info - have a plan!
          2. Recruiting the chosen ones!
            1. People you know
            2. People you don't know
            3. The people who you are targeting
          3. Setting up the play-date for playtesting
            1. A little goes a long way
            2. Getting everyone on the same page
            3. Play time!
        2. Methods of playtesting - game time!
          1. Observing how testers are playing
          2. Asking the right questions
          3. During the playtest
        3. After the game
          1. Asking them to explain the game to you
          2. Keeping it balanced with rules
          3. Interacting and the interface
          4. Post-mortem - evaluating the playtest
          5. Reflecting at the end of it all
        4. Iteration
          1. The iteration cycle
          2. When to stop?
        5. Data persistence in our application
          1. PlayerPrefs in Unity
            1. The Set function
            2. The Get function
            3. Erasing an entry
            4. Erasing all the data
          2. Saving local data in a custom file
          3. Using a database
        6. Connecting our application to a database
          1. Why are databases important for playtesting?
          2. Services for databases
          3. Playfab in Unity
            1. Downloading the SDK from the website
            2. Importing and setting the SDK in Unity for databases
            3. Creating a login system for your users
            4. Exchanging data
        7. Summary
      15. 9. Graduating Your Project to Completion
        1. Finishing the application
        2. Optimizing the project for a mobile platform
          1. Processing the power
            1. For 2D games
            2. For 3D games
            3. Other considerations
          2. Test, test, and test again
            1. Don't have access to many devices? Not a problem
        3. Getting it ready to publish
          1. Don't be modest, promote your game!
          2. Sharing is caring
            1. Facebook
            2. Twitter
            3. LinkedIn
            4. Instagram
            5. Snapchat and Vine
            6. YouTube
            7. Blogs and websites
            8. Documenting the process
              1. Describing updates
              2. MailChimp
            9. Paying attention to statistics
            10. Engaging with your audience
              1. Rewarding engagement
            11. It's a hoot! Managing social networks
              1. Remembering time zones
              2. Tag! You're it
          3. Getting commercial
            1. Terms, conditions, policies, and agreements
          4. The publishing checklist
          5. Now it's time to press the Build button
        4. Where do I begin?
          1. Short-term
          2. Long-term
        5. Towards new horizons
        6. Summary
      16. 10. Being the Best That You Can Be!
        1. Getting your game on without overdoing it
          1. Understand what gamification is and what it is not
          2. Kids see through chocolate covered broccoli, and so do adults
          3. Using gamification in moderation
          4. Getting tangential
          5. Be prepared to fail
          6. Test it!
          7. The iterative cycle
          8. Backup...everywhere
          9. Teamwork...play nice
        2. New and future directions
          1. Uses within education
            1. Homework management
          2. Who wants to be a knowledge-aire?
          3. Hide and seek
          4. The ultimate race
          5. Uses within business
          6. Uses within personal life
        3. Improving your skills once you have finished this book
          1. Become a researcher
          2. Make design a daily habit
            1. Redesigning your favorite games as board games
          3. Never. Stop. Learning
          4. Play to win and play to explore
          5. Read game guides
          6. Participate, compete, and get together
        4. Summary

    Product information

    • Title: Gamification with Unity 5.x
    • Author(s): Lauren S. Ferro
    • Release date: November 2016
    • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
    • ISBN: 9781786463487