Unity 2021 Cookbook: Over 140 recipes to take your Unity game development skills to the next level, 4th Edition - Softcover

Matt Smith; Shaun Ferns

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1839217618 ISBN 13: 9781839217616

Publisher: Packt Publishing, 2021

Synopsis

Discover practical solutions to everyday problems in developing 2D and 3D games and AR/VR applications using the latest features of Unity 2021

Key Features

• Discover the latest features of Unity 2021 in this updated fourth edition including coverage of AR/VR development
• Focus on 2D and 2D character development with Unity GameKits
• Learn powerful techniques and expert best practices in building 3D objects, textures, and materials

Book Description

Unity is the most widely used game development platform worldwide. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, Unity is a powerful and easy-to-use one-stop solution for creating games for mobile, web, desktop and games consoles.

This fourth edition of the Unity Cookbook series is updated with the latest features of Unity 2021 and modern game development practices, and will help you address common hurdles faced by Unity game developers. The cookbook helps you work through a wide variety of recipes relating to the essential features of the Unity game engine. You will get to grips with shaders and Shader Graph, before exploring animation features to enhance your skills in building games. As you progress, you will gain insights into Unity's latest editor which will help you in laying out scenes, tweaking existing apps, and building custom tools for augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) experiences. The book also guides you through many Unity C# gameplay scripting techniques, teaching you how to communicate with database-driven websites and process XML and JSON data files.

By the end of this Unity book, you will have gained a comprehensive understanding of Unity game development and built your development skills.

What you will learn

• Discover how to add core game features to your projects with C# scripting
• Create powerful and stylish UI with Unity's UI system, including power bars, radars, and button-driven scene changes
• Work with essential audio features, including background music and sound effects
• Discover Cinemachine in Unity to intelligently control camera movements
• Add visual effects such as smoke and explosions by creating and customizing particle systems
• Understand how to build your own Shaders with the Shader Graph tool

Who this book is for

This book is for existing Unity developers who want to explore a wide range of Unity scripting and multimedia features using ready-to-use recipes in the Unity engine. Programmers looking to explore multimedia features will also find this book useful. Beginner-level knowledge of Unity and C# programming is required before getting started with this Unity engine book.

Table of Contents

1. Displaying Data with Core UI Elements
2. Responding to User Events for Interactive UIs
3. Inventory and Advanced UIs
4. Playing and Manipulating Sounds
5. Creating 3D Objects, Terrains, Textures and Materials
6. 2D Animation and Physics
7. Characters, GameKits, and Starter Assets
8. Web Server Communication and Online Version Control
9. Controlling and Choosing Positions
10. Navigation Meshes and Agents
11. Cameras and Rendering Pipelines
12. Shader Graphs and Video Players
13. Advanced Topics – Gizmos, Automated Testing, and More
14. Particles Systems and Other Visual Effects
15. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR)

About this title

About the Author

Matt Smith is computing academic at TUDublin (Technological University of Dublin) Ireland, where he leads the DRIVE Research Group (Digital Realities, Interaction, and Virtual Environments). Matt started computer programming on a brand new ZX80 and submitted 2 games for his computing O-level exam. After nearly 10 years as a full-time student on a succession of scholarships, he gained several degrees in computing, including a Ph.D. in computational musicology. In 1985, Matt wrote the lyrics and was in the band whose music appeared on the audio cassette carrying the computer game Confuzion. Matt is a documentation author for the open-source Unity Fungus visual scripting and dialogue system.

Shaun is a lecturer at Technological University Dublin. He is currently teaching on the BA (Hons) in Creative Digital Media where he is lead in the delivery of the Multimedia Stream. He is currently exploring serious games for construction-related training as well as the opportunities transmedia provides in improving user experience and engagement in cultural archive artifacts. His educational research is currently driven by his interest in self-determined learning (heutagogy), rhizomatic learning theory, micro-credentialing /digital badging, and curriculum development.

Edition details

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Publication date: 2021
• ISBN 10: 1839217618
• ISBN 13: 9781839217616
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 816