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 JavaScript and master the Unity development environment with easy to follow stepwise tasks. The printed version of the book is in black and white, but a full color version of the images is available for download here. The eBook version, available from Packt, is in full color. If you're a designer or animator who wishes to take their first steps into game development, 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.
Unity Game Development Essentials
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Will Goldstone
Will Goldstone is an Interactive designer and tutor based in the south west of England. Spending much of his time online, he focuses on web design and game development, specializing in online tutoring of many interactive disciplines. Having discovered Unity in its first version, he has been working to promote its 'game development for everyone' ethic ever since. He spends his free time on graphic design, writing loud music and playing Frisbee on the beach.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For those of you wishing to join the growing ranks of Game Developers, this book is for you. The author assumes no prior game development knowledge and guides you straight through the trenches. Using the Unity Game Engine as the development platform, the author really does prove that game development is not only for the elite or professional programmers. As a Unity game developer myself, I highly recommend this book to not only those who have been toying around with the idea of creating a game, but also those who want to learn a new trick or two with Unity.
25 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Tim R
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is a solid offering, actually the ONLY offering, of paper references for the Unity engine. It is a clear, reasonable, well executed book that goes step by step from infancy to toddler stage in learning Unity. It thankfully doesn't spend a lot of time teaching common game programming concepts, but does cover them just enough to keep readers oriented in the right direction.
Much of the book is covered in the documentation available online, but in a sensible and orderly and readable fashion. The writer uses clear, understandable examples in most cases.
As a beginner book, it is stellar. What it begs is for another book to be written which covers intermediate and advanced topics. For professional development, there are quite a few topics that merit coverage (Asset pipeline, dynamic loading, professional code structure, advanced UI, advanced animation, render targets, build pipeline, advanced optimization and profiling, asset server, etc.) These are still untouched topics that could fill a second volume.
Much of the book is covered in the documentation available online, but in a sensible and orderly and readable fashion. The writer uses clear, understandable examples in most cases.
As a beginner book, it is stellar. What it begs is for another book to be written which covers intermediate and advanced topics. For professional development, there are quite a few topics that merit coverage (Asset pipeline, dynamic loading, professional code structure, advanced UI, advanced animation, render targets, build pipeline, advanced optimization and profiling, asset server, etc.) These are still untouched topics that could fill a second volume.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By John Tripodo
Format:Paperback
I wish all development books were written in this style. The author starts from ground zero using Unity and keeps building on the previous chapter until you end up with a complete game with physics, menus, sounds, animations, game play ... After completing this book I had the confidence to move on to start making my first Unity game!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you were ever interested in learning how to get get started with he unity toolset, you could do a lot worse than this book. This is a from the ground up approach to teaching unity, which for advanced readers may find a little dull, I think most people would benefit by having flipped through the pages.
Pros:
Very clean, focused, writing which walks the reader through all the steps necessary to make a basic game in unity. UI, scripting, and editor usage are all covered and when coupled with the unity documentation leaves very little ambiguity.
Cons:
There is nothing in this book that you could not get out of the official documentation.
It is a short book that leverages unity in the simplest way possible and avoids covering the guts to the point that many people may feel lost at how to apply the concept in a broader way.
This book shows you the bare essentials, as the title implies, but it is still the responsibility of the reader to play and learn the details of the unity engine in order to leverage it for their own purposes. Making a non-FPS, side scroller, fixed camera, puzzle game, etc - this book will show you how the scripting language works, how to put objects in a scene, how to use the UI system: but it won't do much more than that.
Conclusion:
If you've tried to learn unity but got lost in all the documentation, didn't know where to start, or were just overwhelmed (even a little bit) this book is a great idea. It will ground you back by giving you a little focus and direction, as well as an ordered approach to using the unity tools.... Read more ›
Pros:
Very clean, focused, writing which walks the reader through all the steps necessary to make a basic game in unity. UI, scripting, and editor usage are all covered and when coupled with the unity documentation leaves very little ambiguity.
Cons:
There is nothing in this book that you could not get out of the official documentation.
It is a short book that leverages unity in the simplest way possible and avoids covering the guts to the point that many people may feel lost at how to apply the concept in a broader way.
This book shows you the bare essentials, as the title implies, but it is still the responsibility of the reader to play and learn the details of the unity engine in order to leverage it for their own purposes. Making a non-FPS, side scroller, fixed camera, puzzle game, etc - this book will show you how the scripting language works, how to put objects in a scene, how to use the UI system: but it won't do much more than that.
Conclusion:
If you've tried to learn unity but got lost in all the documentation, didn't know where to start, or were just overwhelmed (even a little bit) this book is a great idea. It will ground you back by giving you a little focus and direction, as well as an ordered approach to using the unity tools.... Read more ›
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Tom Higgins
Format:Paperback
Will has done a great job writing a book that covers all the important bases. Anyone wanting to use Unity as their new game development tool would be wise to get this book!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unity Game Development Essentials is here. Now Read the F***ing Manual
November 19, 2009
By diamondtearz
Format:Paperback
Will Goldstone's Unity Game Development Essentials</a> (UGDE) has arrived. It's the first book about the [...] Unity Game Engine</a> by the person whose videos were the first and most comprehensive Unity videos to date. Will also runs [...] and [...] is a crisp and detailed primer into the powerful Unity engine, 3D programing and game development all at once. Will shares his hard-earned insight and productivity tips as he guides you through learning the Unity IDE. In the early chapters you will learn the various tools available for developing realistic terrains complete with varied trees and grass. You'll take a deep dive into the First Person Controller and its components including the CharacterController. As Will puts it, "If you know how something is put together then you're able to fix it when something goes wrong".
Unity Game Development Essentials guides the learner through importing a 3D model into Unity with animations intact. You can then control the animations from the code. Speaking of code. You'll cover how to use Javascript to add functionality to your game from requiring the player to have met conditions to earn rewards to deciding if he'll be warm by bonfire for the night. Will explains it in such a way that developers coming from a Flash background will feel at home enough to reach for Control-Enter. Everything from making your variables accessible from the Unity workspace to manipulating your public static variables from other objects and updating your Heads-up display receives a generous yet concise coverage. Subtle reminders and reviews of key procedures help you walk away from the book with a habits that will make you productive and a foundation that prepares you for exploring the Unityverse.... Read more ›
Unity Game Development Essentials guides the learner through importing a 3D model into Unity with animations intact. You can then control the animations from the code. Speaking of code. You'll cover how to use Javascript to add functionality to your game from requiring the player to have met conditions to earn rewards to deciding if he'll be warm by bonfire for the night. Will explains it in such a way that developers coming from a Flash background will feel at home enough to reach for Control-Enter. Everything from making your variables accessible from the Unity workspace to manipulating your public static variables from other objects and updating your Heads-up display receives a generous yet concise coverage. Subtle reminders and reviews of key procedures help you walk away from the book with a habits that will make you productive and a foundation that prepares you for exploring the Unityverse.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect for starter
If you have no clue about Unity and game development then this is it.
Obviously, if you already release a AAA game or have been working 10 years in the industry, then... Read more
Obviously, if you already release a AAA game or have been working 10 years in the industry, then... Read more
Published 8 days ago by fafase
4.0 out of 5 stars
**BUY THE NEWER EDITION**
PLEASE NOTE - A NEW EDITION WAS RELEASED IN 2011.
It's a good book, but you probably want the newer edition:... Read more
It's a good book, but you probably want the newer edition:... Read more
Published 1 month ago by HomeSchooler100
4.0 out of 5 stars
BeLow me but good for others
I didnt get much out of it, but wish I had it while beggining, would have been good if I read it before readin ALL the documentation.
Published 2 months ago by Charlie Sutro
5.0 out of 5 stars
Noobs should buy this.
I rarely review books. However, this book is a great introduction to learning unity. Lots of different topics covered and a good amount of detail in the explanations. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Matty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book to hit the ground running
I've tried to read online tutorials and Unitiy's documentation, but nothing ever clicked with me until I read this book. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Chris Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book
i have self taught myself many game engines but this book helped me even more i mostly use cryengine for my projects and i am a former emloyee of the world of eden online team... Read more
Published 5 months ago by chris kennedy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
Great book!
Examples are so clear and smart.
Language / grammar is very simple. And i love it. Read more
Examples are so clear and smart.
Language / grammar is very simple. And i love it. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Richard K.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essentially Perfect
Will Goldstone has created a little masterpiece with this book. Now, two years after it was published, it is still applicable and has aged well. Read more
Published 19 months ago by MLC
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing book
look no further... this is the book you are looking for to learn unity 3d... sure there is no advance techniques or a complex game to build... but man... Read more
Published 20 months ago by kulture
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Clear & Concise Book
I wouldn't bore you with a long review. To put it plain and simple, this is a very good book and well paced. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. O. M. Odutola
