Book Image

Unity Game Development Essentials

By : Will Goldstone
Book Image

Unity Game Development Essentials

By: Will Goldstone

Overview of this book

Game engines are central to the video games we know and love. From the artwork to the mathematics that underpin the frames onscreen, the engine calls the shots. Aside from offering one of the leading 3D game engines, Unity also provides a superlative development tool ñ a tool that can produce professional standard games for Mac, PC, and the Unity Web Player. This book is a complete exercise in game development covering environments, physics, sound, particles, and much more, to get you up and working with Unity quickly. 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. From creating 3D worlds to scripting and creating simple game elements you will learn everything you'll need to get started with game development for the PC, Mac, and Web. 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. 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!
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Unity Game Development Essentials
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Preface
Index

Interfaces and menus


Menus are most commonly used to set up controls and to adjust game settings, such as graphics and sound, or to load saved game states. In any given game, it is crucial that the accompanying menu does not hinder access to the game or any of its settings. When we think of a great game, we always remember it for the actual game itself, rather than the menus — unless they were especially entertaining, or especially badly designed.

Many games seek to tie the menu of their game with the game's design or themes. For example, in 2D Boy's excellent World Of Goo, the cursor is changed to the form of a goo ball with a trail that follows it in the menus and game, tying the game's visual concept with the game interface. This is a good example, as the game itself is already giving the player something to toy with as they navigate through the opening menu.

In Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, this concept is taken to another level by giving the player a menu that requires them to learn...