Beginner on unity - many doubts, please read post

Hi there!
I am starting out with unity and I have a lot of doubts. Perhaps it would be better if I made one topic for each one of them, perhaps not. Tell me if you think I should, but for now, I'll just put them all here, on a list, and hope for some enlightenment.
Those doubst came up while watching these videos, so knowing them will help you to understand my questions, but I'll try to make them in a way anyone can understand, even without knowing the videos.
There's a chance that much of the problems I had are just a version matter.

1 - The script editor in the video has a bunch of function highlitenings that I don't have. Actually my editor has no highlights at all. I'd like to have, so how do I add them? I moved to notepad++, to get at least SOME highlitening of the javascript functions, but I realized that most of the functions used are really unityScript functions.

2 - While watching the videos, I sometimes paused and tried to do the next step for myself. One of those times, I coded without using "gameObject." to refer to the enemy's position (like "enemy.Transform.y", instead of "gameObject.enemy.transform.y"). It worked anyway, so I'm curious as what does "GameObject" mean, exactly.

3 - There is a code in which TheLorax addresses a variable from another object. He did that addressing to the SCRIPT, not the OBJECT. As a former game maker user, that confused me a lot. Could you get deeper into that matter and explain how unity works internally? I mean, is that variable being updated all the time at the script? Not on the object? Does it mean that if I have more objects using the same script, all of them would have the same variable value? (that's more than one question, I know).

4 - Again as a former game maker user, I got confused on the variable declaration. TheLorax declared "var playerLives: int;" on the script and that variable popped up to be editted on unity's HUD. Ok, I can imagine how the program does it, but how does the script read what you put in? Is it added to the scipt internally? If so, can I do it (define variable values) inside the script instead of doing that on unity?

5 - The particles' HUD is completely different from the one we see in the videos. My version of unity is 3.5. Where can I find the options TheLorax used? Specially the "destroy the particles system" and the "increase speed on the X axis (if going left, increase to the left and if going right, to the right)".

6 - Finally, how can I walk with my own feet from now on? I mean, I couldn't find any not-online help and the online help I did find was always focused on this or that. Where is the manual? Is there some kind of list of functions and built-ins?

 

1 - Did you use the option "Sync with MonoDevelop" in Unity menu bar ?

 

No, I haven't. I can guess what it does. I'm far from my computer right now, but I'll check it out as soon as I can and tell how it goes. Thanks!

 

For 2, 3, and 4, see the documentation here: http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/GameObjects.html

For 5 and 6 browse around the rest of the user manual - I guess you may not have found it before. http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/index.html

 

For 5, I'm guessing he's using the old particle system. In the help manual for 3.5, it will be under something like "Legacy Particles". In many ways, the new particle system is superior, but the legacy particle system still has a few advantages, so it's good to know about both.

 

Hi, guys!

I'm sorry for the delay, it is a lot of information to go through.
I just want to thank everyone for the input. I still don't know if this is going to solve all the doubts (couldn't check everything yet), but I'm thankful.

Besides, I laid my hands on Will Goldstone's book and decided to restart from scratch. The book is great and I'm sure to get to the point I stopped. It seems to covers pretty decently the scripting part, which is where I think most of my doubts are.

I'll get back to this topic once I solved all my doubts or spent all the information you and the book gave me.
Thanks again!