Tech Insights
Roshan Chaminda
October 10, 2018

Introduction to Unity Game Engine

Introduction to Unity Game Engine

Have you heard aboutthis technology?

In 2015 I got an opportunity to be involved in a Game Development project and that was my first ever. The game concept was Coral Conservation.
Since I’m a .Net developer, I tried to choose a game development tool which is based on .Net technologies and found a Game Enginecalled “Unity”. If you have free time just try out Zooxanthellae game which ishosted as a 3D game on facebook (My first game).

What is most importantis that even if you are familiar with C#/ Javascript, you are welcome to start this game and stimulation development with “Unity Game Engine”

 

Why I chose Unity ?

Now you may think that,among a lot of game development tools in the industry, why should I choose unity?

1. I did that because It is a Cross-platform - you can build same game for almost any platform (27platforms for now- 06–2018) through single click.

2. It is totally freefor Personal usage

3. Asset Store- Thereare lot of free assets(3D Objects, Textures , etc.)

4. Good Documentation

What we can do withUnity?

1. Game Development(2D/3D)

2. Create AugmentedReality Apps

3. Create VirtualReality Apps

4. Windows MixedReality(Holography)

5. Create 360 videos

6. Asset Store- Make continuous income based on your creativity

Above are some of the features and there are lot of interesting usages on the official unity sitethat you can take a look at.

 

Would you like to try out Unity ?

1.Minimum requirements — Will depend on complexity on your game

As a startup, OS- Windows7 SP1 or above(64 bit)/ Mac OS X 10.9+

RAM- 6 GB (minimum) andprocessor should be 2.5 or above, Intel HD graphic card

2. Download &Install Unity, Create a account for you (Free)

3. About Unity Editor

 

You should have basicidea regarding Five main windows

a). Hierarchy window — is list of game objects used in the game.

b). Scene View — isprimary view of all game objects in “Hierarchy” window

c). Project Window — isallow to manage all the assets belongs to the project

d). Inspector Window — isdisplay currently selected game object properties

e). Game View — isplayer view of the game (Final out put)

You can get more detailsabout above windows using below link.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UsingTheEditor.html

Now you are ready forstart your First Game !

First you have to getfamiliarized with basic game development concepts. Here is the recommendedfirst tutorial for beginners. It is not required to explain step by step sinceall the steps are clearly described in below tutorial.

Roll-a-ball tutorial

This is the “HelloWorld” programme for beginners who are willing to use “Unity” Game Engine. This tutorial may take around 30 minutes to complete.

Most of the basic game development concepts (described below) are covered in this

https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/roll-ball-tutorial/introduction-roll-ball?playlist=17141

1. Create a new game and add game objects(Cube/Sphere , Add c# script, set values and properties)

2. Apply physics on game objects

3. Get user input throughthe key board

4. Pickup game objects

5. Use Assets store

6. Display score on game board

Once done, you are readyto start even an advanced game/ application with Unity, such as “AugmentedReality” application which is shown in the above video.

There are lot more videos you can find on YouTube. I used this to complete above “Augmented Reality” sample application.