Read Online Unity from Zero to Proficiency Beginner A Stepbystep guide to coding your first game 9781091872028 Computer Science Books
Third Edition updated for Unity 2019, Published in March 2019
Content and structure of this book
In this book, the second book in the series, you will become comfortable with C# programming and Unity by creating three games one 3D survival game, a word-guessing game, and an infinite Runner.
The book includes
- A list of the learning objectives at the start of each chapter.
- Step-by-step activities.
- Opportunities to engage in deeper learning and problem-solving skills through challenges at the end of each chapter.
- Quizzes to test your knowledge.
- Full project and code solutions (in C#) for each chapter.
- Cheat-sheets (i.e., shortcuts, best practice, etc.) that you can download.
The content of each chapter is as follows
- Chapter 1 gives an introduction to C# and to core principles that will help you to get started with coding. You will learn key programming concepts such as variables, variable types, or functions.
- Chapter 2 helps you to code your first script. You will learn how to code following best coding practices, debug your code, and also avoid common errors.
- Chapter 3 gets you to improve your scripting skills, enhance your game and add more interaction. You will learn to implement a scoring system, to detect collisions, and to load new levels.
- Chapter 4 explains how you can create and update a user interface for your game (e.g., displaying images and messages onscreen) using scripting.
- Chapter 5 explains how you can polish-up your game. You will add a splash-screen, a simple inventory system, sound effects, as well as a mini-map.
- Chapter 6 explains how to add Non-Player Characters (NPCs) with Artificial Intelligence (AI). You will configure each NPC and get them to either follow the player or walk along a simple path of your choice, and also detect collision with them.
- Chapter 7 explains how to create a word-guessing game using Unity's 2D features. You will use arrays, and read files to create a list from which a random word will be picked and that the user will have to guess. You will also learn to detect and process the user's key entries.
- Chapter 8 will show you how you can create some other 2D features offered by Unity to create an entertaining infinite runner where the player can control a character that needs to jump over randomly generated obstacles.
- Chapter 9 provides answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) (e.g., scripting, audio, AI, or user interface).
If you want to start C# programming with Unity, using a tried-and-tested method download this book now
Read Online Unity from Zero to Proficiency Beginner A Stepbystep guide to coding your first game 9781091872028 Computer Science Books
"Numerous typos along with a couple of missing steps makes it hard to follow. The file you download for the examples is going to be from an older version of Unity, which will give you some issues in regards to older code. You can still use it, but be aware your console log will be showing it all the time.
It would have been nice if it also showed C# along with Javascript. Translating it is not that difficult though.
Issues with Kindle version on images in where you can't really see it (no way to enlarge). Environment Ambient Lighting has been renamed in newer versions, and the Bake option is now a tab."
Product details
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Tags : Unity from Zero to Proficiency (Beginner) A Step-by-step guide to coding your first game 9781091872028 Computer Science Books @ ,Patrick Felicia,Unity from Zero to Proficiency (Beginner) A Step-by-step guide to coding your first game,Independently published,1091872023,COMPUTERS / Programming / Games,Education / Computers Technology
Unity from Zero to Proficiency Beginner A Stepbystep guide to coding your first game 9781091872028 Computer Science Books Reviews :
Unity from Zero to Proficiency Beginner A Stepbystep guide to coding your first game 9781091872028 Computer Science Books Reviews
- I purchased this book because I wanted to learn more about using C# for scripting in Unity. However, in the very first chapter the author makes an egregious error. Explaining how to define a class, he declares several member variables and member methods as private. So far not a problem. Then he declares an object of the class and accesses the private members with a dot operation. You absolutely can not do this. It is why you make the members private to begin with is to make this type of behavior impossible. I normally do not write reviews, but I felt I needed to write this to warn absolute beginners that you will be led astray from chapter 1. I am going to complete the book and possibly update this review. However, just be warned the the author either does not know what he is doing or he had a terrible technical editor.
- Numerous typos along with a couple of missing steps makes it hard to follow. The file you download for the examples is going to be from an older version of Unity, which will give you some issues in regards to older code. You can still use it, but be aware your console log will be showing it all the time.
It would have been nice if it also showed C# along with Javascript. Translating it is not that difficult though.
Issues with version on images in where you can't really see it (no way to enlarge). Environment Ambient Lighting has been renamed in newer versions, and the Bake option is now a tab. - I found this to be a good quick read to learn some of the basics of the Unity API/UI, and how to use the scripting API to accomplish many different basic tasks.
I did see that other reviews mentioned an issues with the first chapter discussing C#, which I unfortunately skipped, though I agree throughout the book there seems to be a misunderstanding of member access levels (and naming conventions). There are other various practices in Unity I did question, like duplicating initialized objects, lack of prefabs/interfaces, or dynamically finding GameObjects instead of assigning via public members, but this may be from the author trying not to go to deep too quick. Either way, these are all very minor criticisms which can be overlooked and remedied with some minor doc research, it doesn't take away from the overall mission of the book.
If you are learning game development with C#, you are going to learn many different coding styles over your career, and it will be up to you and your understanding to pick the best practice. As long as you make sure to make it a habit to visit the API documentation (which the author even mentions), you will learn proficiently. For the money, it's not a bad purchase, especially since it's not an extremely UI-heavy book like many others. - If you, like me, are torn between one of a few books to buy on a particular topic at any given time, and you're looking through the reviews to decide which is the correct choice, look no further.
This book is excellent whether you're new to Unity or a beginner. When I first delved into game design, this book is what made me feel comfortable with Unity's layout and menus. After the first couple of books, I dare say I know my way around Unity about as well as Microsoft Word.
At the price, it's a steal and more than worth your investment. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn Unity. If you have any questions regarding the book itself, the author answers e-mails as well! - This series of books has step by step instructions that are easy to follow. There are lots of pictures to verify you are doing things correctly. I have done three books in this series so far (Foundations, Beginner, and Platform). Before starting the books, I had some coding background, but no experience with Unity. Each book covers a manageable amount of information. There is so much to learn, but the author does well to stick to key points to not make the reader feel overwhelmed.
- I'm an adjunct instructor for several institutions where I teach adults how to design and develop software using various IDEs and languages. As a former military officer, I've come to appreciate the idea of ensuring my troops have all the training and gear they'll need to get the job done. Patrick exemplifies that spirit in his series, "From Zero to Proficiency." After reading his first two books in the series, I've decided that I'll use them in the Fall term to teach my students game development with Unity. The lessons are easy to follow, yet provide powerful impact upon game development. I've never come across any other author who continues to provide weekly support to his readers and Patrick Felicia does. He even solicits us to learn what we'd like for him to teach next. If you want to learn Unity from someone who actually knows how to teach it, I recommend his books. I read a lot of technical books, so I seriously appreciate it when an author can clearly convey knowledge in an easy-going manner that is technically correct. I'm very happy with these books and am sure my students will be too.
- I learned allot from his tutorials. But it is not polished. So expect to wrestle through some of the lessons. His Web site can be frustrating. For example, i registered there and it said it would send me am email with a direct link to download the source files. No link is included in his email and you are forced to contact him to get the link and password.
- I would recommend for people who want to study unity generally, to take a quick basic programming course before starting with this book because i am not sure if this book was easy for me because i have a basic knowledge about programming, or it's just easy.
One thing is for sure, it makes things way easier.
There are many websites for free online basic courses like Codeacademy and Sololearn which give free basic introduction tutorial for JavaScript and more.
Since i am familiar with programming, i didn't need to start focusing on how programming works (which is explained in this book) but only on how programming with unity work.
Highly recommended book nonetheless.