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.

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Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Title Page
Dedication
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Contributors
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Downloading and Installing Unity
Downloading and Installing Unity
Game engine overview
Unity – past, present, and future
The case for Unity
System requirements
Downloading Unity 
Installing Unity
Summary
2
The Unity Interface
The Unity Interface
Screen real estate 
Menu
Scene view
Game view
Project window
Hierarchy window
Inspector window 
Toolbar
Layouts
Summary
3
Designing the Game
Designing the Game
Game concept
Game characters
Gameplay
The difficulty balance
Project organization 
Summary
4
Creating Our Terrain
Creating Our Terrain
Creating the terrain
Shaping the terrain
Painting the terrain
Adding water
Adding vegetation
Summary
5
Lights, Cameras, and Shadows
Lights, Cameras, and Shadows
Working with cameras
Using multiple cameras
Working with lighting
Implementing reflection probes
Understanding shadows
Summary
6
Creating and Importing 3D Objects for Our Game
Creating and Importing 3D Objects for Our Game
Understanding assets and GameObjects
Creating 3D objects in Unity
Using the Unity Asset Store
Incorporating custom assets in our game
Working with imported assets
Summary
7
Implementing Our Player Character
Implementing Our Player Character
Working with Unity's standard asset package
Importing the game character
Configuring a player controller
Fine-tuning our character
Animating our player character
Terraforming the terrain for our Cucumber Man
Summary
8
Implementing Our Non-Player Characters
Implementing Our Non-Player Characters
Understanding the non-player characters
Importing the non-player characters into our game
Animating our non-player characters 
Incorporating the non-player characters into our game
Terraforming the terrain for our Cucumber Beetles 
Adding cucumber patches to our terrain 
Adding cucumbers to our terrain
Scripting our non-player characters
Summary
9
Adding a Heads-Up Display
Adding a Heads-Up Display
Designing our Heads-Up Display
Working with a canvas
Creating a mini-map
Scripting for dynamic content
Summary
10
Scripting Our Points System
Scripting Our Points System
Collecting cherries from trees
Adding the cherry-throwing capability
Adding points based on cherry collection and combat hits
Summary
11
Scripting Victory and Defeat
Scripting Victory and Defeat
Designing victory and defeat conditions
Updating the player's health
Implementing victory
Implementing defeat
Updating the HUD with lives remaining
Scripting the player character's respawning 
Summary
12
Adding Audio and Visual Effects to Our Game
Adding Audio and Visual Effects to Our Game
Discovering Unity's audio system
Planning our game's audio
Implementing our game's audio
Introduction to Unity's lights and shadows
Discovering Unity's special effects
Adding visual effects to our game
Summary
13
Optimizing Our Game for Deployment
Optimizing Our Game for Deployment
Using the Profiler window
Optimizing scripts
Optimizing graphics rendering
Additional optimizations 
Creating builds
Summary
14
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality
Welcome to virtual reality
Enabling virtual reality in Unity
Starter content
Summary
Other Books You May Enjoy
Other Books You May Enjoy
Leave a review - let other readers know what you think
Index
Index

Contributors

About the author

Dr. Edward Lavieri, is a veteran game designer and developer with a strong academic background. He earned a Doctorate in Computer Science from Colorado Technical University. He has taught and been a curriculum developer since 2002. In 2008, he started a software design and development studio, focusing on educational games. He currently serves as the Founder and Creative Director of that studio. Edward authored several books on adaptive learning, Java, Unity, AWS Lumberyard, and LiveCode.

Thank you to Packt Publishing for your continual support and belief in me. There are so many great people at Packt that I worked with on this project, including, Larissa, Yusuf, the reviewers, technical editors, proofreaders, the indexer, and the marketing team. It is a pleasure to have worked with such an amazing team.

About the reviewers

Andreas Oehlke is a professional full-stack software engineer. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and loves to experiment with software and hardware. His trademark has always been his enthusiasm and affinity for electronics and computers. His hobbies include game development, building embedded systems, sports, and making music. He currently works full-time as a senior software engineer for a German financial institution. He has also worked as a consultant and game developer in San Francisco, CA. He is also the author of the book Learning LibGDX Game Development.

 

 

 

Ludovico Cellentani is a senior engine programmer at King AB, and he has been working as a professional game programmer for almost 20 years. During this time, he has worked on a number of games released on various platforms, spanning PC, consoles, and mobile.

During the past 6 years, he has worked on a considerable number of games, VR experiences, and gamification projects released for PC, mobile, and custom-built computer installations, all powered by the Unity game engine.

He is currently living with his wife and son in Stockholm, Sweden.

 

 

 

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