Unity for Absolute Beginners

Unity for Absolute Beginners

Released June 2014
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781430267799

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Book description

Unity for Absolute Beginners walks you through the fundamentals of creating a small third-person shooter game with Unity. Using the free version of Unity to begin your game development career, you'll learn how to import, evaluate and manage your game resources to create awesome third-person shooters. This book assumes that you have little or no experience with game development, scripting, or 3D assets, and that you're eager to start creating games as quickly as possible, while learning Unity in a fun and interactive environment.

With Unity for Absolute Beginners you'll become familiar with the Unity editor, key concepts and functionality. You'll learn how to import, evaluate and manage resources. You'll explore C# scripting in Unity, and learn how to use the Unity API. Using the provided art assets, you will learn the fundamentals of good game design and iterative refinement as you take your game from a simple prototype to a quirky, but challenging variation of the ever-popular first-person shooter. As can be expected, there will be plenty of destruction, special effects and mayhem along the way.

Unity for Absolute Beginners assumes that you have little or no experience with game development, scripting, or 3D assets, but are eager to get up-to-speed as quickly as possible while learning Unity in a fun and interactive environment.

What you'll learn

  • How to use the Unity editor, including key concepts and functionality
  • How to use import, evaluate and manage resources for use in your Unity games
  • How to use the Unity API and script in Unity using C#
  • The fundamentals of good game design and the process you need to use to make good games

Who this book is for

This book assumes that you have little or no experience with game development, scripting, or 3D assets, but are eager to get up to speed as quickly as possible while learning Unity in a fun and interactive environment.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents at a Glance
  6. Contents
  7. About the Author
  8. About the Contributor
  9. About the Technical Reviewer
  10. Acknowledgments
  11. Introduction
  12. Chapter 1: The Unity Editor
    1. Installing Unity
      1. Unity User Account
      2. Installing
    2. General Layout
      1. Menus
      2. Getting Started
      3. Exploring the Views
      4. Hierarchy View
      5. Scene View
      6. Game View
      7. Project View
      8. The Inspector
    3. Layout
    4. Project Structure
      1. File Structure
      2. Project Management
      3. Load/Save
    5. Summary
  13. Chapter 2: Unity Basics
    1. Unity GameObjects
      1. Creating Primitives
      2. Transforms
      3. Duplicating GameObjects
      4. Arranging GameObjects
      5. Parenting
      6. Components
    2. Creating Environments
      1. Designing Smart
      2. Creating Terrain
      3. Populating the Terrain
      4. Environment
      5. Shadows
    3. Summary
  14. Chapter 3: Scene Navigation and Physics
    1. Scene Navigation
      1. First Person Controller
      2. Colliders
    2. Physics
      1. Rigidbody
      2. Cloth
      3. Interacting with the First Person Controller
    3. First Build
    4. Summary
  15. Chapter 4: Importing Static Assets
    1. Supported Formats
      1. 3D Assets
      2. Textures
      3. Audio
    2. The Importer
      1. Importing Assets into Your Project
      2. Asset Optimization
    3. Improving Generated Materials
      1. Shaders
    4. Creating Prefabs
    5. Unity’s Asset Store
      1. The Asset Acquisition Process
    6. Summary
  16. Chapter 5: Introduction to Scripting with C#
    1. Scripting for Unity
    2. The Script Editor
    3. Writing Scripts
      1. Introducing Variables
      2. Creating Comments
      3. Exploring Functions
    4. Summary
  17. Chapter 6: Mecanim and Animation
    1. The Story
    2. Importing Animated Assets
    3. Legacy Animation
    4. Adding Audio
    5. Mecanim
      1. Generic Rigs
      2. The Mecanim State Engine
      3. Humanoids
      4. BlendShapes
    6. Native Animation
    7. Summary
  18. Chapter 7: Populating the Game Environment
    1. Design Strategies
    2. Creating the Environment
      1. Utilizing the Prefabs
    3. Revisiting the Gnomatic Garden Defender
    4. Occlusion Culling
    5. Game Functionality
      1. Camera Refinements
      2. Adding the Zombie Bunnies
      3. Investigating Instantiation
      4. Spring Planting
    6. Summary
  19. Chapter 8: Weaponry and Special E f fects
    1. Weaponry
      1. Simple Projectiles
    2. Particle Systems
      1. Legacy Particle System
      2. Dead Replacements
      3. Shuriken Particle System
    3. Advanced Weaponry
    4. Post-Processing Effects
    5. Summary
  20. Chapter 9: Incorporating Unity 2D
    1. Finalizing the Game Play
      1. Legacy GUI Text
    2. Unity 2D
      1. Basics
    3. Summary
  21. Chapter 10: Menus and Levels
    1. Ending the Game
      1. Unity GUI
    2. Starting the Game
      1. Start Screen
      2. Adding the New Level to the Build
    3. Options and Player Settings
      1. The Main Menu
      2. The Settings Menu
      3. Credits
    4. Retaining Data
      1. DontDestroyOnLoad
    5. Player Settings
      1. Adjusting the Ambient Sound Volume
      2. Adjusting Difficulty
    6. Final Build
    7. Summary
  22. Chapter 11: Bonus Features
    1. Creating a Zombie-Bunny Locator
      1. Spy Map
    2. Adding a Power-Up
    3. Upgrading the Armaments
      1. Mecanim Masks and Layers
      2. Creating a Laser Beam
    4. Summary
  23. Appendix A: Rigging with Mixamo
    1. Before Starting Mixamo
    2. Rigging a Character with Mixamo
  24. Index

Product information

  • Title: Unity for Absolute Beginners
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: June 2014
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781430267799