Book Image

OUYA Game Development by Example

By : John Donovan
Book Image

OUYA Game Development by Example

By: John Donovan

Overview of this book

The OUYA console and development kit gives you the power to publish video games for the players, creating a console marketplace of the gamers, for the gamers, and by the gamers. Using the OUYA developer kit and the Unity3D game engine, even beginners with a captivating game idea can bring it to life with a hint of imagination. OUYA Game Development by Example uses a series of feature-based, step-by-step tutorials that teach beginners how to integrate essential elements into a game engine and then combine them to form a polished gaming experience.

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OUYA Game Development by Example
John Donovan
May, 2014 | 268 pages
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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
OUYA Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide
OUYA Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Experiencing the OUYA
Experiencing the OUYA
Setting up the console
Networking
Displaying games
Time for action – installing your first game
Playing the OUYA
Touch controls
Summary
2
Installing Unity and the OUYA ODK
Installing Unity and the OUYA ODK
Installing the game engine
Time for action – setting up Unity
Downloading and configuring additional packages
Time for action – downloading Java, the Android SDK, and the ODK
Modifying the PATH variable
Time for action – editing PATH on Mac OS
Time for action – editing PATH on Windows
Time for action – installing Android packages
Configuring the USB connection
Time for action – configuring the USB driver on Windows
Time for action – exporting OUYA packages from Unity
Time for action – importing packages into a new workspace
Summary
3
Diving into Development
Diving into Development
Creating a 3D text prototype
Time for action – manipulating the scene
Time for action – creating and scripting 3D text
Creating a custom function
Time for action – writing a function
Time for action – capturing data with return values
Time for action – controlling functions with parameters
Making our scripts interactive
Time for action – adding keyboard interaction to scripts
Deploying our code on OUYA
Time for action – running your first test on OUYA
Summary
4
Moving Your Player with Controller Input
Moving Your Player with Controller Input
Creating an interactive marble prototype
Time for action – setting the scene
Time for action – importing a Unity input script
Time for action – turning input into movement
Time for action – movement with the OUYA SDK
Adding additional functionality to our marble
Time for action – adding button features
Time for action – improving the camera
Completing our game
Time for action – adding a goal zone
Summary
5
Enhancing Your Game with Touch Dynamics
Enhancing Your Game with Touch Dynamics
Using the touchpad to interact with buttons
Time for action – creating a cannon prefab
Time for action – creating an interactive button
Time for action – adding an impulse force to a rigidbody component
Using cursor data to add touch input to games
Time for action – reading mouse position in Unity
Time for action – creating a vector from cursor movement
Incorporating touch data into your mechanics
Time for action – hiding the cursor on the screen
Time for action – creating a target for the cannon
Summary
6
Saving Data to Create Longer Games
Saving Data to Create Longer Games
Creating collectibles to save
Time for action – creating a basic collectible
Time for action – scripting the collectible
Time for action – accessing the scripts on other objects
Saving data with the Unity engine
Time for action – saving data with PlayerPrefs
Time for action – setting up a GUI Text object
Time for action – counting cannonballs
Time for action – checking high scores in a new scene
Time for action – displaying high score values
Saving data with the OUYA API
Summary
7
Expanding Your Gameplay with In-app Purchases
Expanding Your Gameplay with In-app Purchases
The different kinds of in-app purchases
Setting up a product on the OUYA developer portal
Time for action – preparing your game for in-app purchasing
Coding in-app purchasing in your game
Time for action – creating a purchase screen
Time for action – creating your first purchase function
Time for action – saving and loading successful purchases
Time for action – reflecting unlocked functionality in games
Adding polish with Unity Asset Store packages
Time for action – adding explosions to your cannonballs
Pricing your in-app purchases
Picking a monetization model
Summary
8
Polishing and Prepping Your Game for Deployment
Polishing and Prepping Your Game for Deployment
Meeting the OUYA content guidelines
Time for action – containing game elements within the safe zone
Time for action – creating icons for your game
Polishing Unity projects in depth
Time for action – creating a title screen
Time for action – creating a loss screen
Time for action – creating a tutorial scene
Time for action – linking your tutorial to your game
Creating a following camera in Unity
Time for action – creating a following third-person camera
Time for action – adding audio to your game
Packaging your project for submission
Time for action – creating your game on the developer portal
Summary
9
Blazing Your Own Development Trail
Blazing Your Own Development Trail
Expanding your skills with advanced challenges
Time for action – creating a custom font with a text shader
Time for action – creating a fire effect with a particle shader
Time for action – saving the player's position
Time for action – creating a reusable GUI Skin
Time for action – making an automatically scaling GUI texture
Time for action – adding realism to your scene with lightmapping
Time for action – applying an ice Physics Material
Popular game development methodologies
Basic design patterns for larger code projects
Getting started with version control
Time for action – creating a BitBucket repository
Time for action – preparing Unity for version control
Time for action – making your first commit and push
Finding your own answers to questions online
Summary
Pop Quiz Answers
Pop Quiz Answers
Chapter 2, Installing Unity and the OUYA ODK
Chapter 3, Diving into Development
Chapter 4, Moving Your Player with Controller Input
Chapter 5, Enhancing Your Game with Touch Dynamics
Chapter 6, Saving Data to Create Longer Games
Chapter 7, Expanding Your Gameplay with In-app Purchases
Chapter 8, Polishing and Prepping Your Game for Deployment
Chapter 9, Blazing Your Own Development Trail
Index
Index

Time for action – creating a fire effect with a particle shader

Basic Particle System objects in Unity don't look very distinct; by default, they emit white particles in an inverted cone shape that slowly travel upwards, as shown in the following screenshot:

Before you knew about shaders, it was impossible to change the color or graphical effects on any Particle System object. However, you now know how to create materials with custom shaders that can be applied to any game object, including Particle System objects:

  1. Create a Particle shader with an Additive effect so that the particles look brighter when they overlap.

  2. Use this in combination with the Particle System properties in the Inspector window to create a semi-realistic fire effect, as demonstrated in the following screenshot:

The torch effect in the preceding example makes use of the Emission, Shape, and Color over Lifetime properties of the Particle System objects. The more you enable, the more you can customize your effect to look just...

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