Book: Unity Game Coding Using C#

<EDIT, Nov 24, 2014>

Due to popular demand (okay, really due to the advice of one or two smart individuals) the book will be sold as one complete set. To reduce the size of the downloads, the accompanying "expand as you go" examples and assets will be provided free. I'm leaving this post as-is, since, otherwise, the next few replies would be out of context.

Also, I've added a Facebook page for readers:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unity-Game-Coding-Using-C/1379558322319166?ref=tn_tnmn

Finally, I guess this is important, the book can be found here:
http://u3d.as/8YT

-m

</EDIT>

Announcing a book that was over two years in the making, Unity Game Coding Using C# - Volume1 at the Asset Store!

This book was designed for practitioners (and advanced students) who want a more comprehensive approach to using C# in the Unity environment. It was going to be published on October 15, 2014 by A K Peters/CRC Press but I decided that a better approach would be to stay electronic so that I could update the book as changes in Unity occur - as a purchaser you will of course have access to these free upgrades since I'm using a edition/version approach that keeps pace with major unity versions.

To keep the assets to a reasonable size, I've split it into four volumes. The first volume is now going through the submittal process and includes chapters 1-3. If you are interested in checking it out now, you can get the first chapter for free now at the support site, http://www.coloradogamecoders.com/book.html.

Key Features

• Advances (gradually at first) through a series of actual game development scenarios
• Includes 3D and 2D scenes that allow readers to "play" with the engine
• Covers both object-oriented and component-oriented development
• Important API's, events and paradigms are detailed in depth
• Tips and best-practices help the reader become comfortable with Unity

Volume 1 should be on the store soon, and is composed of the first three chapters: Introduction, World Creation and OOP the Unity Way.

The other three volumes will be sold separately and are beginning their final stages of editing and testing. These others include more specific areas, such as Movement, Interaction, 2D, Animation, Mecanim, AI, Physics, UI (new!), and more.

Thank you for your support,

Mike Croswell

 

This is a great idea I've spent quite a few $ on buying books and end up having to spend more every time a new version/edition comes out which ends up being very expensive. I would really like to support this, but the $15 for two chapters (since 1 is released free) is a little pricey, especially considering that they are introduction level. I have the bad habit of wanting to collect an entire set and so I have a few questions:
a) any chance of lowering the price for the first release a little?
b) will the future releases also be kept to bundles of 3 chapters at a time?
c) how many chapters are planned and what will it cover?
d) more value for money to buy each sub-section as it is released or will there be a 'bundle' pack available with all chapters at a better price?

I would really like to support this initiative and think it has a lot of potential to help better quality C# as well as dynamic learning.

 

First, thanks so much for the feedback!!

a) I'd pondered long on the price. My original publisher was going to sell the book for around $50, so, since I am going to be doing free updates I figured $15 for what is 1/4 of the book is fair. Still, you are correct, it is the intro stuff, and I did give the one chapter away free. I will attempt to put it on sale, I just don't know how to do this yet. That is, while not new to buying assets (for sure!) I am new to selling them.

b) Yes, three chapters per volume.

c) So, yes, twelve are done, but currently being updated and accompanying packages being tested, etc. I'll post a more detailed table of contents here, but the titles of the chapters for the next volumes are: Volume 2 ( Interaction Mechanisms, Movement, Audio), Volume 3 (Animation, Mecanim, AI) and Volume 4 (2D, GUI, Extra). The last chapter, "Extra" includes creating Custom Editors, and other stuff - honestly, I haven't finished it yet - it's kind of a "kitchen sink".

d) I've gone back and forth on this in my own mind, many, many times. The problem is the whole book is over two gigs on my drive. I was concerned that it would be too big to bundle together. It takes a long time to upload, too. So, I think I should keep it as four parts. For now, price-wise, I will ask Unity if there is a way to drop the price without having to go through the review process again for this first volume. I will also ask if they can sell all of them as a bundle but still allow for separate downloads.

As far I know, this is the first book on the Asset Store, and so we're breaking new ground. Bare with me and I'll try to get you reading soon, for a good price!

Thanks again for your great and timely feedback,

-Mike

 

Just saw that the price update and will be supporting you. Not being a coder by trade has resulted in me skipping over a lot of the important basics which makes understanding more complex scripts a challenge. Looking forward to see what you will release in your future chapters.

 

@LadyAth, I've been upgrading the book so that all chapters will be sold together. So, really, I'm just removing the "Volume 1" from this asset and adding the other book chapters to this existing asset. The only thing different will be that I'm packaging all the examples (per chapter) as free assets - so, moving them out of this asset, but making them free and accessible. This makes it an even better value for the few who have bought it already - you'll get all the chapters with no additional expense! Also, makes it even easier to download the parts, since they'll all be listed more logically. Sound good?

 

That is great news indeed Thank you very much!

 

Where is complete TOC or at least chapter names?

 

@LadyAth: Welcome!

Chapter 4 has been approved and has been appended to the book/pdf at the regular place (http://u3d.as/8YT). Also, the accompanying assets for chapter 4 has been reviewed, but I submitted it as one big zip and you can see it here (http://u3d.as/adX). This was for a few reasons: The layers and tags need to be set up correctly, and since the files are all blends, it really was the only way - blend files are not accepted by the asset store. Either way, the accompanying asset is free as we discussed.

 

@im,

Thanks for that question!

Yes, the TOC is not complete since I am changing some of the content.

Still, the chapter names are fairly fixed and here's that list:

Chapter Titles

1 - Introduction
2 - World Creation
3 - OOP the Unity Way
4 - Interaction Mechanisms
5 - Movement (includes 3D Physics)
6 - Audio
7 - Animation
8 - Mecanim
9 - AI
10 - 2D (appending additional content including new sprite examples and 2D Physics)
11 - GUI (appending additional content for 4.6+ new GUI)
12 - Miscellaneous

Thanks again,

-Mike

 

just bought it ! looking forward to it

 

Hi mcroswell,

I like the sound of this, just wondering if you will be updating for Unity 5? Or will it still run without hitch?

Thanks,

Richard.

 

Richard,

Have you heard of the old excuse of not having enough "time and money"? Well, I've been working on the latter. As a result, I've had little time to work on the book. Regardless, I am currently editing Chapter 5. To answer your question: Yes, the code that goes along with it will run with Unity 5.

-Mike