My Unity [book] project!

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd share a few pics from the game you will get to create in my new book, Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity (Apress, publishers).

As an artist, I wanted to make sure people had enough nice art assets to feel like they were making a real game while learning to script the functionality.

The book's project is a classic first person adventure game, complete with inventory, load/save, state management and of course, a maze (because any adventure game worth its lantern has to have a maze )

A - The Temple of Tizzleblat (with Harvey and Harriet on guard... what will it take to get past them- and that weird light?...)




B - The Maze (complete with 'Easter egg' - wait! did that just change configuration????)



C- The Inventory screen (yes, there's a bit of Ferengi in all of us... I'm sure this stuff will be useful for something...)



D- Temple, the Inner Chamber (yep, that's a photo op shot- even made it onto the book's cover in place of the usual Apress slice of fruit )



I made the art assets in 3ds Max and used V-Ray to bake lightmaps (UV Channel 2) for people who don't have Unity Pro yet. I created a few extra shaders with the Strumpy Shader Editor, (thanks guys, for the help with the version upgrade) including one to have lightmaps and specular (yes, I want it all!).

I've started a thread on the Teaching forum for the book in case anyone wants more info.

Oh, yeah, I've made a more complex version of the book's game which I will eventually post a link to- I just couldn't stop myself from adding more stuff.


Sue

 

Got the book and am working through it. Sue is an awesome teacher, someone who knows the stuff and most importantly, can teach it. The entire book is 1 project. Very detailed and organized. For those who are looking to create their own classic adventure, this book is a lifesaver. I look forward to finishing the project.

 

Hi

I purchased the book as soon as it came out. Sadly after contacting Apress they said the assets are not yet available. Are you now saying the assets are now available ?

disaldo

 

Will you teach jscript or csharp?

 

hi Disaldo,

I contacted the publisher yesterday and they told me the assets would be up this week (I will keep checking up on them).
besides the art assets, you will also be able to download the unity projects start and finished per chapter, the finished scripts for each chapter, and I've also included a bonus version of the finished game with a few new goodies that are explained in the gameNotes
You will also get the post-publish fixes for the bits pieces that sneaked by the edits- keep an eye on the book's thread in Teaching where I will update that whenever necessary.

With the exception of one of the Unity standard C# scripts you make a slight change to, all the scripts are written in JavaScript

-Sue

 

Sue thanks for a quick response, looking forward to making an adventure game.

disaldo

 

just a quick note here for non-adventure game fans-

the adventure game format is just a vehicle for presenting concept and implementation of things like state management, inventory and load/save, so don't let the project genre scare you off if classic adventure games are not your thing

I always recommend that people work through all of the tutorials and books you can- there's always something useful to be found in even the most unlikely places and knowledge is power!

-Sue

 

Purchased

Edit: Got the book. There is a heck of alot of info in here. Nice job!

Waiting patiently for the asset links...

zipper

 

Sue, greetings. Really good news about the assetts etc

I have the book and am always interested to see how certain things are done, it's always a great jumping off point.

However, in this one, there are lots of elements that I know I can incorporate into my designs, so thank you and I look forward to getting into this

Regards

Graham

 

Hey Sue, I would be interested in obtaining a copy. Can I order off of Amazon or do you have your own website I can order from?

 

Amazon, Borders, Barnes Noble- the usual places that carry Apress books

 

Loving the book so far. Tons of info! =)

Thanks,
-Eric

 

Looks very nice! I would definitely check it out if its available here!

 

I got a reply from the publisher- the assets will go up on Thursday.
If there are any more delays, we will go to plan B where I will at least make sure the art assets are available.

Sue

 

News flash!

The assets and e-book are now up on the Apress website, http://www.apress.com/9781430234227

The download is 3.2 GB and includes art assets, finished code by chapter, Unity projects start and finish per chapter, and the post-publish doc file.

Be sure to visit the book's thread on the Teaching forum if you have an questions, or just want to chat- http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/93775-Beginning-3D-Game-Development-with-Unity

-Sue

 

I love Unity3D, and this book is genius!! Just purchased!! Even though its 1150pm and I should go to bed, I think I will check this out first.. Good release Sue, I know books like this aren't easy. Greatly appreciate the time that looks to have gone into this project. Thanks

 

Nice, I will definitely buy this Book soon!

 

This review is long overdue, and although I have not completed the book, it is already worth the price of admission for me. I have been interested in computer adventure game programming for some time and have worked with several engines, but all of them have been lacking. The truth has always been, I have wanted to work in 3D, but I have not been able to afford a 3D engine that met my criteria.

My granddaughter's boy friend attended a community college class on game development using Unity 3D. When he said there was a free version (the price is right), I decided to look into the game development engine. There are a number of excellent tutorials and the reference manual is sufficiently technical and there were a number of books out there, but it was beginning to look like what I wanted wasn't available.

Finally I did an internet search and discovered “Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity: All-in-one, multi-platform game development” by Sue Blackman. Now that is a mouthful for a book title. I read it's description, and some reviews and I decided to invest in the e-book version in PDF format. When I got the book, I had no problem in down loading it and I had no problem in finding the assets and downloading them. I realize that some have complained about that process, but it was seamless for me and I have been working with the book for a couple of months now.

With regards to my background, I am a JavaScript programmer, I have some graphics skills, but I am not an artist. This book has been excellent in bringing me up to speed in Unity and the game building walk through has been easy to understand and use. Sue Blackman has done an outstanding job explaining the issues of 3d game programming, how to use Unity3D, and how to apply it to adventure game programming.

There are three ways to approach how to use this book, and the following is my recommendation on how to follow through. First have an “E” version of the book. Think of it as a tool. Have the PDF version open and have Unity 3D open side by side on your computer. Sue Blackman provides the JavaScript as you move through the book, and it is a simple matter to copy the script from the pages of the PDF as you progress through the book. Follow through the chapters and pretty much do everything by rote. You may wish to back up and review parts as you progress, but after reviewing whatever you need to, continue on step by step.

My second approach, at some point you will become comfortable enough with Unity that you will want to strike out on you own, at that point you may want to work on the book projects and you own. I do not recommend this, unless you have a game design already in place, if you do, than go ahead and continue on the book projects while developing your own game.

If you do not have a game design in place continue through the book and finish the projects as she provides them.

In phase three you may wish to, in fact you should purchase the paperback version of the book. I realize you are buying the book twice, but it will be worth it. Once you get a game design in place, start your own project, and use the PDF version of the book for quick snippets of code, use the assets as the fit your needs, and use the paperback as a quick reference to access the index and the subject of whatever topic you need to look up as you build your own game.

This is the mode I am currently in and I have found the book to be an invaluable asset.

Although the book does focus on the adventure game genre, it is applicable to a number of different genre's and the knowledge the book supplies in applicable in all of the different game genres.

Gene Poschman

 

Sue: Love this book...Have it in my NookColor and getting the paperback in a day or so. I have already run into a problem. I've download Unity 3.4 with the Mono Editor and am just on the beginning scripting chapter. Why can't I see the SimpleRotate and SimpleMove variables in the Inspector? I have saved and exited Unity and still cannot see any of them. Just point me in a direction. Thanks so much. Robin

 

NEVER MIND....it was me trying to program when I was braindead.....I was dopey and placed the variable 'inside' the function not above it...Duh! Thanks. Robin

 

Hello. I have a slow DSL connection and downloading the content (3.2GB) at one time would not be feasible for me. Is there a way download the content chapter-by-chapter?

Thank You

 

Got the book a while ago, found a number of things in it very useful.

Cheers and thanks for the hard work

 

So far I think the book is great and got a good deal on Barnes and Noble. Which works good because I am a digital book guy!

I think if your like me and are still new, this book can greatly improve your knowledge, because the number 1 way to learn something is by doing it. The problem is you got to know how to do it, its like a catch 22.

Luckily I know how to read and can learn from a book! Making these self-taught demonstrations perfect...at least for me!! Even though I can learn from reading, I can learn much more from doing!

 

This is ome great news. I really want to put my hands on this book!!

 

After working through the book, I started using what I learned on my own adventure game which had been under construction in several genres and a number of different engines. Here is a video I published at KickStarter to get my development into high gear.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/genep/booh-and-babbot-in-a-3d-adventure-game?ref=category

Under faqs I have an acknowledgement to Sue, I wouldn't have gotten this far without her book.

Gene

 

Hi!,
Do you want to translate it in to spanish?
If you do it, i'll buy the book, because my english is bad

Wong Wong!!

 

why it goes windowed after building and pressing new game