Table Of ContentUnity Apprentice
i What You Need
To follow along with this book, you’ll need the following:
The Unity Hub: The latest version will work. At the time of writing, this was
version 3.0.0.
The Unity Editor: Choose to install the latest 2020.3.x LTS Release. All the
sample projects will work with this version.
Any Code Editor or IDE: Ideally, this should be able to understand and
format C#. Since C# was originally written by Microsoft, a good choice would
be Visual Studio Community (if you’re using Windows) or Visual Studio Code
(if you’re using macOS or Linux). But, you can use whatever editor you’re
most comfortable with if you prefer!
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Unity Apprentice
ii Book Source Code & Forums
Where to download the materials for this book
The materials for this book can be cloned or downloaded from the GitHub book
materials repository:
https://github.com/raywenderlich/uapp-materials/tree/editions/1.0
Forums
We’ve also set up an official forum for the book at
https://forums.raywenderlich.com/c/books/unity-apprentice. This is a great
place to ask questions about the book or to submit any errors you may find.
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Unity Apprentice
iii Dedications
“To Bonnie, Merlijn and Harvey. Thanks for all the support and the
laughs. This wouldn’t be possible without you.”
— Eric Van de Kerckhove
“To my two sons, Felix and Leif, and all the games we will play
together.”
— Matt Larson
“In memory of Ian Quin, who taught me better English long before I
would ever write a page worth reading. You will be missed, Grampa.”
— Ben MacKinnon
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Unity Apprentice
iv About the Team
About the Authors
Eric Van de Kerckhove
is a hobbyist
game developer and 3D printing enthusiast from
Belgium. Most days, you can find him at his desk while
tinkering on scripts to automate tasks and creating 3D
models to use in games or to print.
Matt Larson
is a software developer for the life
sciences and scientific visualization. He was an author
on Unity AR & VR by Tutorials and is a believer in new
technologies for engaging with 3D content. When he is
not working on software, you’ll find him fixing up old
synthesizers, kayaking and spending time with his
wife and kids.
Ben MacKinnon
has been a Unity Developer
for as long as he has been a father, with both playing a
huge part in his life. He spent a large part of his career
Augmenting Architecture, but more recently has
focussed on VR in development of the virtual
communications platform ENGAGE.
About the Editors
Toby Flint
is a tech editor of this book. Toby is a
software developer inspired by a love of games. When
he’s not programming or otherwise staring at a
screen, you can find him exploring the backcountry,
tasting a new crispy beverage, poking at a piano, or
staring at a wall, absent-mindedly absorbed in his own
thoughts.
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Unity Apprentice About the Team
Srikar Mutnuri
is a tech editor of this book.
Srikar is a software developer who loves building
things. When the git commits are done, you can
mostly find him reading a book, practicing music, or
simply bingeing that new series.
Megan Mallicoat
is the editor of this book.
She’s a university journalism instructor and has
professional experience in communications
management, web design and graphic design — but
she’s most devoted to pointing out grammar and
spelling errors. In her “free time,” you’ll most likely
find her on the sidelines of some kind of kids sports
practice, holding a book.
Adrian Strahan
is the final pass editor for
this book. Adrian is a lead iOS developer working for a
leading UK bank. When he’s not sat in front of a
computer building apps or playing games, he enjoys
long walks, streaming movies, building Lego models,
listening to music and trying to keep fit and healthy.
About the Artists
Jake Nolt
is a 3D artist, indie game developer
and game development professor. When not
developing or teaching, Jake enjoys spending time
with family, gaming and being outdoors.
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Unity Apprentice
1 Getting Started
Written by Eric Van de Kerckhove
Welcome to the start of your game development journey with the help of Unity
Apprentice!
By opening this book, you’re already on your way to becoming a game
developer. The four sections within these pages will teach you how to create
games using the Unity game engine. From navigating the editor and adding
objects to a scene to creating complex animations and using advanced scripting,
it’s all in here for you to discover.
This book assumes you have no experience with Unity or the programming
language C#. That means if you’re completely new to Unity, you’ll feel right at
home. Even if you’re a veteran, this book is full of useful tips and techniques the
authors have learned over the years.
What is Unity?
Unity is a cross-platform game engine, which is a software framework designed
for creating video games with a lot of tools geared toward making the process
easier and more comfortable. It’s developed by Unity Technologies and has been
regularly updated since its introduction in 2005. There’s a good chance you’ve
played at least one game developed using Unity — some of the more popular
titles include Among Us, Cities: Skylines, Hearthstone, Hollow Knight and Cuphead.
Why use Unity?
Unity is the most popular game engine to date and loved by beginners and
experts alike for a lot of reasons. Here are some reasons why Unity is great:
Unity is free to use for hobbyists and small game studios.
Unity’s editor runs on Windows, macOS and Linux — making it a true cross-
platform tool.
The Unity editor is easy to use and navigate, and the way you manipulate
objects in a scene is intuitive.
Unity uses the “create once, deploy anywhere” principle. This means you can
create a game and distribute it to all standalone platforms, mobile devices,
consoles and the web without needing to maintain multiple projects or code
bases.
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Unity Apprentice Chapter 1: Getting Started
The scripting language driving Unity games is C#, which is one of the most-
used programming languages around the globe. This makes it easy to learn
the language because the web is full of articles and tutorials on the subject.
There’s a helpful community spread across the forums, Unity Answers and
its Discord server that are friendly toward beginners.
Most parts of Unity are well-documented with clear explanations and
examples.
If you’re still not convinced, check out some of the stories by game studios that
use Unity for their development. Some of these stories offer unique behind-the-
scenes perspectives that are worth a read.
Requirements and expectations
Getting into making games nowadays is easier than ever! All you need to follow
along with this book is a computer, an internet connection and some time. Unity
and the tools used throughout the book — like Visual Studio (Code) — are free.
This book covers some mechanics and ideas used in popular indie games like
Night In The Woods and Overcooked. The resulting games provide basic gameplay
and artwork to complete a concept and get important ideas across. They aren’t
full-featured games like you would buy from Steam or the Epic Games Store.
Each of the final projects provides a great starting point to learn from and build
upon to create something truly unique yourself.
What’s ahead
This book is divided into four sections:
Section 1 covers why and how you should use Unity. The goal of this
section is to give you a broad overview of the Unity editor. You’ll build a
sample project to learn all about GameObjects, Prefabs and even some C#
scripting.
Section 2 goes over Unity’s essential features. This includes setting up a
scene and its lighting, handling input and user interfaces. At the end of it,
you’ll have a charming game with an easily extendable conversation system.
Section 3 is all about pathfinding and AI. This section will teach you how to
make AI-controlled characters find their way around an arena and use
advanced camera techniques. This section concludes with a fun shooting
game to use as a base.
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Unity Apprentice Chapter 1: Getting Started
Section 4 shows you the ropes when it comes to animations. From lerps to
tweens, this section teaches you how to make your games more dynamic and
lively by using Unity’s scripting API and animation system. As a cherry on
top, it shows you how to use scriptable objects in interesting ways. At the end
you’ll have a cooking game that’s ready for you to expand upon.
By the end of this book, you’ll be able to create your own games and make them
run on Windows, macOS and Linux!
Key points
You don’t need any experience with Unity or C# to follow along with this
book.
Unity is a free cross-platform game engine.
The documentation for Unity and its scripting API can be found online.
With Unity, you can create games for a lot of different platforms — including
Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and even the web.
Scripting is done with C#, a popular programming language.
The projects in this book are starting points to create your own games.
Where to go from here?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of windows, components and
settings Unity provides. If you’re unsure what something does or how to use it,
you can take a look at Unity’s manual. And, you can take a peek at the scripting
reference when you want more information about a certain class or method
while scripting.
In case you can’t find what you’re looking for in the sources above, there’s the
forums and Unity Answers, both of which contain a treasure trove of
information and give you a place to ask your own questions. There’s also Unity’s
Discord server, where you can share your creations and ask for feedback and
help.
Finally, there’s the raywenderlich.com website, which is full of articles about
game development for Unity and tools to help you on your journey.
9
Unity Apprentice
2Installing & Using the Unity
Editor
Written by Matt Larson
Introduction
It’s time to develop your first Unity game! The Unity Hub is your gateway to
install the Unity Editor, manage all your projects and find tutorial resources.
Be aware there are different versions of the Unity Editor as updates and
improvements are continually released. However, the Unity Hub will help you
install and manage editor versions. It acts as a single overall manager for
downloading the latest Unity Editors, keeping track of your projects and
launching the Unity Editor.
Installing the Unity Hub
Start by downloading the Unity Hub installer for either Windows or Mac from
https://unity.com/download:
You should install the latest version of the Unity Hub (3.0.0 at the time of
writing) to have an up-to-date listing of sample starter content. After
installation, start the Unity Hub and you’ll see this:
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