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Beginning
3D Game Development
with
Unity
World's most widely used multi-platform game engine
Sue Blackman
For your convenience Apress has placed some of the front
matter material after the index. Please use the Bookmarks
and Contents at a Glance links to access them.
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CONTENTS
Contents at a Glance
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About the Author .........................................................................................................................
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About the Technical Reviewer ....................................................................................................
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Acknowledgments .....................................................................................................................
Introduction..............................................................................................................................
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Chapter 1: Exploring the Genre......................................................................................................
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Chapter 2: Unity UI Basics—Getting Started ...............................................................................
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Chapter 3: Scripting: Getting Your Feet Wet ................................................................................
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Chapter 4: Terrain Generation: Creating a Test Environment ...................................................
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Chapter 5: Navigation and Functionality ..................................................................................
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Chapter 6: Cursor Control ..........................................................................................................
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Chapter 7: Action Objects ..........................................................................................................
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Chapter 8: Managing State ........................................................................................................
Chapter 9: Object Metadata .......................................................................................................
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Chapter 10: Message Text .........................................................................................................
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Chapter 11: Inventory Logic ......................................................................................................
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Chapter 12: Managing the Inventory .........................................................................................
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Chapter 13: Finishing the Basic Functionality ...........................................................................
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Chapter 14: Getting Down to Game............................................................................................
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Chapter 15: A Maze and the Final Level ....................................................................................
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Chapter 16: Menus and Levels ..................................................................................................
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Chapter 17: Beyond the Basics..................................................................................................
Appendix A: SSE Shader Graphs ................................................................................................
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Appendix B: Key Codes ..............................................................................................................
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Appendix C: Final Sequence ......................................................................................................
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Index..........................................................................................................................................
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CONTENTS
Introduction
Why Write This Book
Real time 3D games have been around for well over ten years now. We’ve played them, created assets in
the style of our favorites, and maybe even “mod”ed a few of them. But until recently, the cost of licensing
one of the premier game engines has ranged from several hundred thousand to several million dollars
per title (!), relegating the dream of creating your own 3D game to an unattainable fantasy.
Times have changed. 3D has become affordable not only in the movie industry, as seen by the
number of titles featuring CG (computer graphics), but also in the game industry where we’ve seen a
shift in casual games from 2D to a 3D format. With Unity’s bold move to offer a robustly featured free
version of their engine, a radical change in the pricing models of the high-end engines has rocked the
industry. The cost of the engine is no longer a barrier to taking your game from a nebulous idea to a
working prototype and even on to a marketable product.
Whether your interest is in casual games or you have more ambitious aims, if you have no previous
scripting experience but are eager to bring your art assets and story to life, this may be just the book to
get you underway. In today’s modern game engines, the heavy programming is handled by the engine
itself, so the logic and game play can be scripted by those with more creativity than traditional
programming knowledge.
In this book, I will approach game creation and design decisions from a 3D artist’s view, taking the
logic and scripting in small pieces, while introducing artists, budding game designers, and novice
programmers to real-time game engine concepts at the same time.
This book is written in a project-based format so you will not only end up with a playable game and
scripting resources you can reuse for other games, but you will experience typical design decisions that
need to be addressed throughout the process. You will create your game by starting with the basics and
refining it as you add functionality; I will explain the logic behind certain choices and real-time game
concepts as you go along.
The project for this book is based on a first person point and click adventure game, complete with
inventory, state management, load/save functionality, and a strong emphasis on the visual aspects of
game creation. Even if you are more of a first person shooter-type game enthusiast, you will be able to
see how including entertaining or interesting tasks and features can enhance your favorite genre.
The aim of this project is to introduce you to a logical progression of design decisions and problem
solving that will be of value well beyond the scope of the adventure game genre. It provides a framework
and a methodology for creating and, more importantly,
finishing
your own game. You will be going
beyond the basic Unity functionality and use of standard assets to investigate topics rarely covered in
online tutorials or books. All of the necessary art assets to complete the project are provided.
Author’s Note
In a recent game class, after working through a race game, a first person shooter, and a platform jumper,
I decided that the last project would be a classic adventure game. Much to my surprise, the class got
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INTRODUCTION
quite motivated with all of the design decisions and logic involved. As there were no existing tutorials at
the time on this genre, we created the game from the ground up, borrowing scripts from the previous
projects, creating several of our own, and drawing heavily on the knowledge base of the Unity
community. This book grew out of that experience, both to fill a need and to share the adventure with
others.
Classic Adventure Game
For this project you will be creating a variation on the classic point and click adventure game. The
adventure genre, of which there are many variations, is an ideal starting place for artists and others with
little or no scripting experience. The story, art assets, and animation are major components of this type
of game, and the slower pace allows more freedom from script optimization as split-second player
reaction time is not required.
One of the most enjoyable components of the adventure game is the collection and usage of an odd
assortment of objects. Because of the importance of inventory and state management, several chapters
are dedicated to their design and implementation. Neophyte Unity developers often ask how to
implement these features in community forums, but they rarely receive answers due to the scope of the
topic. By the end of this book, you will be armed with the scripts, concepts, and experience to be able to
take the knowledge beyond this genre.
Interactive adventure games are also ideal for indie developers, and they appeal to a broad range of
players. Tell Tale Games’
Tales of Monkey Island
was one of the top selling casual games of the year,
proving once again their appeal, established by the original LucasArts series.
About the Unity Game Engine
Unity is the perfect choice for small studios, indie developers, and those of us who have always wanted
to make our own games. Its large user base (over 400,000 as of April 2011) and extremely active user
community allows everyone from newbies to seasoned veterans to get answers and share information
quickly.
Unity provides an excellent entry point into game development, balancing features and
functionality with price point. The free version of Unity allows people to experiment, learn, develop, and
sell games before committing any of their hard-earned cash. Unity’s very affordable, feature-packed Pro
version is royalty free, allowing people to make and sell games with the very low overhead essential to
the casual games market.
The market for multi-platform games—especially casual games for iPhone—is extremely popular at
the moment, and Unity’s commitment to cross platform delivery is well proven. Originally a Mac-based
authoring application that could publish to Mac and Windows, Unity unveiled its Windows version in
the spring of 2009. As expected, it has opened up opportunities for PC-based developers and artists.
Since that time, Unity has continued to add support for iPhone, Android, iPad, and Wii and is developing
support for Xbox 360 and PS3. The free Unity Web Player has surpassed 35 million installations.
Early adapters of the Unity engine tended to migrate from Flash and Director, making the scripting
environment easily adoptable. While many Unity users have an ActionScript background in making
Flash games, it is by no means a prerequisite. There is a lot of material for creating games in Unity,
including first person shooters, racing games, platform jumpers, and the like. Even if your interest lies
elsewhere, there are plenty of helpful tips and tricks to be gleaned from even the most unlikely sources.
Don’t be afraid to take advantage of the resources available on the Unity web site (
e
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