Book Image

Getting Started with Unity 2018 - Third Edition

By : Dr. Edward Lavieri
Book Image

Getting Started with Unity 2018 - Third Edition

By: Dr. Edward Lavieri

Overview of this book

The Unity game engine has revolutionized the gaming industry with its complete set of intuitive tools and rapid workflows, which can be used to create interactive 3D content. With Unity, you can scaffold your way from the basics and make make stunning interactive games. This book will guide you through the entire process of creating a 3D game, from downloading the Unity game engine to publishing your game. It not only gives you a strong foundation, but puts you on the path to game development. Beginning with an overview of the Unity engine and its interface, you will walk through the process of creating a game environment and learn how to use built-in assets, as well as assets created with third-party 3D modeling tools such as Blender. Moving on, you will create custom scripts to control non-player character behaviors and gameplay. You will master exciting concepts such as Heads-Up-Displays, mini-maps, game navigation, sound effects, and lighting effects. Next, you’ll learn how to create your first VR experience, right from setting up the project to image effects. You'll be familiarized with all the tools that Unity has to offer to create your own immersive VR experiences. Each section is a stepping stone toward the completion of the final game. By the end of the book, you'll have learned advanced topics such as cross-platform considerations which enable your games to run on multiple platforms.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Optimizing scripts


Unity games run several frames per second and many of our scripts are executed each frame. Even uncomplicated games, such as the Cucumber Man, can have several scripts running every frame, causing the computer's CPU to stay very busy. The goal is to ensure our scripts are not causing any unnecessary CPU load.

Our game has 145 scripts, but most of them are part of the standard asset package and are not assigned to any game objects. The scripts we want to review are the ones we put in the Assets | Custom Scripts folder. Reviewing that folder reveals that there are only 14 scripts:

  • BeetleManager
  • BeetleNPC
  • BeetlePatrol
  • CameraFollower
  • CherryControl
  • CherryManager
  • CucumberManager
  • CucumberManManager
  • HealthManager
  • PlayerController
  • PlayerMotor
  • PointsManager
  • ThrowCherry
  • VictoryManager

Our goal is to reduce the number of instructions the CPU has to execute, especially when we are dealing with several executions per frame and multiple frames per second. Here are some things to check when reviewing...