Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials

by Will Goldstone

This book follows an informal, demystifying approach to the world of game development with the Unity game engine. With no prior knowledge of game development or 3D required, you will learn from scratch, taking each concept at a time working up to a full 3D mini-game. You'll learn scripting with C# or JavaScript and master the Unity development environment with easy-to-follow stepwise tasks. If you're a designer or animator who wishes to take their first steps into game development or prototyping, or if you've simply spent many hours sitting in front of video games, with ideas bubbling away in the back of your mind, Unity and this book should be your starting point. No prior knowledge of game production is required, inviting you to simply bring with you a passion for making great games.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Games

488 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2009

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice overview of Unity development and provides a nice starting point for further learning. I found that adding extra functionality to the developed project was a logical next step and added some environmental effects such as rain and wind. I would have liked to have seen some of the pro features such as occlusion culling and light nodes covered, but understand and appreciate wanting to keep the book accessible to those without the pro license.

Be sure to check out the companion site for an update to the particle systems tutorial as that was reworked for version 4.

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book would be better if it didn't focus on only making one high-fidelity game. To make such a nice good-looking game you have to use some Unity features that aren't really that practical. With the Unity terrain editor you can easily point-and-click a game together but it doesn't really have anything to do with real game development.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm only a few chapters into the book at the moment, but so far its been really easy to follow and understand, the step by step approach to the scripting is very good (though sometime do need to read it a few times as it does over off at a tangent then back).

Will update review once i've read and done some more, but so far I feel this is a good buy for anyone starting out.

[Anand K · Rating 4 out of 5]

It serves as an excellent introduction to Unity; the only issue was that I was working with the latest version 5.x while this book deals with 3.x and a number of things have changed since 3.x. A neat introduction to scripting as well since the author doesn't assume any previous expertise but only basic programming skills. Overall, a fun exercise.

[Marcus Mattsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to the basics of Unity 3D. The book also tries to explain basic programming, and I would suggest that readers have some experience in this field beforehand.

[Jessi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read this for class :P

[Mariam Seleem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear step-by step guide with exciting examples. It was very interesting to read too, unlike most development guide books.

[Maras · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a greatly written and educative book, but it is quite old and could use huge update for Unity 5.X.