Build Your Own Metaverse with Unity E-Book

David Cantón Nadales

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 453

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Build Your Own Metaverse with Unity is a practical guide for developers with step-by-step explanations, practical examples, and screenshots to guide them through essential concepts.

You’ll start by learning how to install Unity and create a character that can move around the virtual world. Next, you’ll learn how to integrate multiplayer functionality, user identification, and registration in your game universe. You’ll explore how to create interactive characters dealing with different attributes of the virtual world, including acquiring homes and decorating them with various features. Additionally, you’ll understand how to use Firebase tools to make your Metaverse unique. By following the expert advice, you’ll be able to create a feature rich Metaverse where players can interact with NPCs, acquire homes, and interact with other players online. Finally, you’ll discover how to compile and distribute the finished project to various platforms, while acquiring with necessary skills and knowledge to create a unique and groundbreaking Metaverse.

By the end of this book, you’ll be well-equipped to create a Metaverse with infinite possibilities.

Leseprobe

Build Your Own Metaverse with Unity

A practical guide to developing your own cross-platform Metaverse with Unity3D and Firebase

David Cantón Nadales

BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI

Build Your Own Metaverse with Unity

Copyright © 2023 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

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First published: September 2023

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Packt Publishing Ltd

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ISBN 978-1-83763-173-5

www.packtpub.com

To my sons, Leo and Luca, the best of my life. To my wife, Nerea, for always believing in me and supporting me at all times. To my parents, José and Reyes, who have always worked so hard to bring us forward. To my in-laws, Chary and Manuel, who are like my second parents, always there, in the best and worst moments. To all my family, my blood brothers and sisters at Bluekiri, the best workmates I have ever had. But above all, I would like to dedicate this book to all the people who never believed in me.

– David Cantón Nadales

Contributors

About the author

David Cantón Nadales is a software engineer from Seville, Spain, with more than 20 years of experience. He is currently a technical leader at Grupo Viajes El Corte Inglés, a leading travel company in Europe. He has worked on a multitude of projects and games with Unity, VR with Oculus/Meta Quest 2, HoloLens, HTC VIVE, Daydream, and Leap Motion.

He was an ambassador of the Samsung community Samsung Dev Spain and organizer of Google Developer Group Sevilla. He has led more than 100 projects throughout his career. As a social entrepreneur, he created the app Grita, a social network that emerged during the confinement of COVID-19 that allowed people to talk to others and help each other psychologically. In 2022, he won the Top Developer Award by Samsung.

I would like to dedicate this book to my colleagues, the Bluekiri BSE team, Nacho, Jesús, Jordi, Asier, Ferran, Alberto (Zhuo Han), and Sebas.

About the reviewer

Mohit Chandrashekhar Attarde is an XR Metaverse developer with a passion for 3D graphics and a focus on gamification principles in XR Metaverse applications. His dedication to advancing learning and training within XR has resulted in significant contributions to various metaverse projects.

With expertise in Unity, C#, and Visual Studio, Mohit enjoys building cross-platform metaverse experiences that push the boundaries of immersive technology. Additionally, his proficiency in WebGL and other web frameworks further enhances his ability to create captivating virtual experiences on the web. Through mentorship and community support, he inspires others to delve into the vast potential of XR technology.

His commitment to innovation continues to shape the landscape of virtual reality and its applications.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Getting Started

1

Getting Started with Unity and Firebase

Technical requirements

Installing Unity Hub

Installing the Unity editor

Creating and managing Unity projects

Basics of using the Unity editor

Creating a new scene

Organizing your project assets

Choosing an input handler

Understanding the different Firebase services

What is Firebase for?

Configuring a new Firebase project

Installing the Firebase SDK

Summary

2

Preparing Our Player

Technical requirements

Creating a third-person controller

Testing our player

Working with colliders

Changing the default avatar

Adding Mobile Support

Summary

3

Preparing Our Home Sweet Home: Part 1

Technical requirements

Understanding the Hub concept

Designing the scene

Customizing the floor

Downloading the buildings

Assembling the buildings

Customizing sidewalks

Customizing the sky

The village fountain

Expanding the horizon

A greener town

Order and cleanliness

Summary

4

Preparing Our Home Sweet Home: Part 2

Technical requirements

Case study on the need for optimization

Understanding optimizations

Static/dynamic GameObjects

Camera occlusion (culling)

Light baking

Colliders

Adding the first world to the Firebase database

Summary

5

Preparing a New World for Travel

Technical requirements

Designing the Scene

Creating the scene

Creating the floor

Creating houses

Applying order

Limiting the Scene

Adding sidewalks

Adding trees

Customizing the sky

Adding the world to the Firebase database

Adding objects dynamically

Identifying ourselves in the system

Optimizing a dynamic Scene

Summary

Part 2: And Now, Make It Metaverse!

6

Adding a Registration and Login Form for Our Users

Technical requirements

Creating a sign-up screen

Understanding Vertical Layout Group

Creating a sign-in screen

Placing the player

Summary

7

Building an NPC That Allows Us to Travel

Technical requirements

Choosing an aspect

Bringing the NPC to life

Triggering when we are close

Showing the available worlds in a window

Mobile support

Traveling to the selected world

Canvas

NPC

PlayerInstance

Summary

8

Acquiring a House

Technical requirements

The concept of home

Enabling a user to obtain a home

Adding a trigger to the Prefab of the house

Programming script to acquire a house

Linking a house to a player

Understanding what an NFT is

Converting a house to an NFT

IPFS

Goerli

ChainSafe

MetaMask

Mining cryptocurrencies

Programming the generation of the NFT

Summary

9

Turning Our World into a Multiplayer Room

Technical requirements

Getting started with Photon SDK

Pricing

Signing up for Photon SDK

Creating a new application

Installing Photon SDK

Photon life cycle

Regions

Rooms

Lobby

Synchronizing movements and animations in the network

Preparing the player Prefab

Disabling other players’ scripts

Creating the network logic script

Adapting login for multiplayer support

Adapting world navigation for multiplayer support

Testing the changes

Testing synchronization with another user

Introducing ParrelSync

Installing ParrelSync

Summary

10

Adding Text and a Voice Chat to the Room

Technical requirements

Getting started with Photon Chat

Introduction to the Photon Chat SDK

Creating a Photon Chat project

Configuring the project connection in Unity

Creating a chat window

Copying the essentials

Getting started with Photon Voice

Introduction to the Photon Voice SDK

Creating a Photon Voice project

Installing the Photon Voice SDK

Configuring the project connection in Unity

Transmitting your voice to the network

Summary

Part 3: Adding Fun Features Before Compiling

11

Creating an NPC That Allows Us to Change Our Appearance

Technical requirements

Choosing an aspect

Bringing the NPC to life

Triggering the NPC when we are close

Showing the available avatars in a window

Persisting the new appearance

Summary

12

Streaming Video Like a Cinema

Technical requirements

Introducing the VideoPlayer class

Designing our screen

Playing videos

Online reproduction

Local reproduction

Summary

13

Adding Compatibility for the Meta Quest 2

Technical requirements

Understanding what Meta Quest is

Technical requirements for the VR goggles

Cost of the Meta Quest 2 goggles

Getting started with the Meta Quest SDK

Preparation of the glasses

Developer Mode

Configuring our project

Adding VR compatibility to our project

Testing in Meta Quest 2

Preparing the other scenes

Summary

14

Distributing

Technical requirements

Optimizing textures

Compiling for different platforms

Windows, Mac, and Linux

Android

iOS

Summary

Next steps

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Part 1: Getting Started

In this part of the book, we will start exploring the Unity 3D editor, from its installation to the creation of a first scene, as well as getting to know each part that makes up this impressive video game engine. We will also learn how to create a player controller, which will allow us to move in the three-dimensional space of any scene in our project.

We will design and create virtual worlds, full of houses, pavements, and trees, and optimize performance for a smooth experience. Throughout all the chapters that make up this part of the book, we will learn in depth about all the services that make up Firebase. In addition, we will practice how to integrate the Firestore database into our project.

This part has the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Unity and FirebaseChapter 2, Preparing Our PlayerChapter 3, Preparing Our Home Sweet Home: Part 1Chapter 4, Preparing Our Home Sweet Home: Part 2Chapter 5, Preparing a New World for Travel

1

Getting Started with Unity and Firebase

The metaverse and the future are a combination of increasingly united concepts, a new formula that was born to stay and lay the foundations for new forms of communication in the coming years. A metaverse is a shared, three-dimensional virtual world where people can interact with each other and with digital objects in real time. Its utility lies in providing an expansive space for creativity, collaboration, and entertainment.

It allows users to explore immersive virtual environments, engage in social, commercial, and educational activities, and experience new forms of expression and experiences. In addition, the metaverse can serve as a platform for developing innovative solutions in a variety of areas, such as remote work, distance learning, product design, and simulation, offering endless possibilities for human interaction and imagination.

In the coming years, the way we attend work meetings, concerts, training courses, and even dating to find a partner may occur in the metaverse. This book will help you get started with programming a metaverse by using the Unity 3D video game engine, the Google Firebase suite, and other amazing tools.

In this first chapter, you will learn the first steps of configuring your computer so that you can start developing virtual worlds in Unity 3D. We will start by laying down the basics about the Unity 3D video game engine, introducing the services offered by Firebase and explaining how they will help us in our project, and covering what other tools we will need.

Once we have reviewed all the concepts and technologies we will use, we will install Unity 3D on our computers. This chapter’s mission is to ensure we completely configure our work environment for satisfactory project development.

We will cover the following topics:

Installing UnityOrganizing your project assetsChoosing an input handlerUnderstanding Firebase services

Note for advanced readers

If you have previously worked with Unity, you will know how to install it correctly on your system. If you already have it installed, you can skip the following steps – just keep the version of Unity that we will use as a base in this project in mind to avoid incompatibilities in future chapters.

Technical requirements

For the Unity 3D game engine, you will need a Windows or Mac computer. Normally, Unity can be run on most computers nowadays, but if you want to have a look at the minimum requirements for a computer to run Unity, go to https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/system-requirements.html.

If you plan to compile your metaverse for iOS or Mac, you must have a Mac, with the latest version of macOS and also a current Apple developer account. If you only want to compile for Android, Windows, or Linux, you can use a Windows or Mac computer indifferently. In this book, the screenshots provided have been taken from a Mac, but this should not affect you in any way, even if you have Windows.

Fortunately, our project can be tested by running the scene directly from Unity. This will make it much easier for you to progressively see small changes with just one click. Only when we get closer to the end of this book will we need an Android and/or iOS device to test compilations on mobile devices, but the latter is optional if you want to compile for mobile devices.

You must follow this first chapter in detail to make sure that your computer uses the same version of Unity and other dependent plugins that we will show throughout.

Almost certainly, the project that we will be creating throughout this book will be compatible with future versions of Unity 3D. So, if, for any reason, you need to use another version of Unity that’s different from the one recommended here, it will not be a problem.

This book’s GitHub repository contains the complete project that we will work on: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Build-Your-Own-Metaverse-with-Unity/tree/main/UnityProject.

Installing Unity Hub

To develop our metaverse, just like a video game, we will need to install Unity on our computers. In this section, we will follow all the necessary steps to do so. We will install Unity Hub, which will allow us to manage multiple versions of Unity in a simple and orderly way, create a project from scratch, and explore the fundamental parts of the editor to get familiar with the graphical interface.

Unity Hub is an application that allows us to manage and install multiple versions of the Unity editor on our computer. Also, for each version, it allows us to install different build platforms and tools in an isolated way. It is very common that throughout our professional careers developing video games, we need different versions of Unity to support different projects, which, for whatever reason, cannot be updated or do not work quite right in later versions of Unity.

This is where Unity Hub comes into play – it allows us to easily install any version of Unity in isolation without it conflicting with other versions. It also allows us to load existing Unity projects on our computers and configure which version of Unity it should use when opening.

To install this tool, execute the following steps:

Please download and install the Unity Hub program from https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download. It is recommended that you use Unity Hub to manage the Unity versions on your computer instead of downloading and installing the Unity editor directly.

The screenshots in this book were taken in Unity Hub version 3.0.0. The functions and buttons in earlier or future versions should not change.

You will need to activate a license for Unity if you have not already done so. The Unity User license has free plans for Students and Community; you can decide if you need to upgrade your plan to Plus or Pro in the future. For our project, a free plan is sufficient since all Unity features are open in the free license.Press the Download For Mac or Download For Windows button, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 1.1 – Installing Unity Hub instead of downloading Unity directly

If this is your first experience with Unity or you want to expand your knowledge, I recommend that you take a look at the Learn and Community menus that you will find in Unity Hub when you open it.If this is the first time you are using Unity Hub, you will need to create a new account for free. You can also log in with your Google, Facebook, or Apple account and accept the terms and conditions of use.

Once we have downloaded Unity Hub, we can proceed to install it on our computers. Unity Hub allows us to manage multiple installations of different versions of the Unity editor on our computers. This will allow us to maintain compatibility with all previous projects that we have or those that we will create in the future. Next, I will guide you through the process of installing a new instance of the Unity editor step by step.

Installing the Unity editor

As a recommendation, whenever you start a new project in Unity, it is interesting to download the latest version available. That is why, in our metaverse, we will do it this way.

When starting a new engine installation, Unity will show us different options, such as the recommended LTS version, other recent versions, and a history of previous versions, all of which are very useful when you have a legacy project that needs a specific version to work.

To start a new installation, execute the following steps:

On the Unity Hub main screen, select the Installs tab and click on the Install Editor button:

Figure 1.2 – The Install Editor button in Unity Hub

Click on the Archive tab and then click on the downloadarchive link, a tab will open in your browser that will show the Unity version catalog. If you wish, you can also go to the url https://unity.com/releases/editor/archive in your browser:

Figure 1.3 – Archive tab in Unity Hub

This project has been built from version 2021.1.14f1. Once you are on the Unity version catalog page, you can search for the desired version. Click on the Unity 2021.X tab to find the 2021.1.14f version, finally click on the Unity Hub button, this action will launch the download in Unity Hub.

About the Unity version

In this book, we have built the project on version 2021.3.14f1. This version will most likely be lower than the version Unity recommends at the time of installation. We cannot guarantee that the project will work in future versions of Unity. To use a particular version of Unity or if the version you are looking for is not listed in Unity Hub, you can access the version history at https://unity.com/releases/editor/archive.

The next step is very important: to configure the installation, we must select the components that will be installed initially. Do not worry if you have skipped this step – you will be able to reinstall other components in the future. For the correct course of our project, we will need to check the following:If you are working on Mac, you will have to select Visual Studio for Mac, whereas if you are on Windows, the Microsoft Visual Studio Community 20xx option will appear.In Chapter 14, Distributing, we will learn how to compile and export our project on different platforms. To successfully carry out this part, at this point (or later if you wish) we need to install the necessary components to compile for Android, iOS, and Windows.Check the following components:Android Build Support, with OpenJDK and Android SDK and NDK ToolsiOS Build SupportLinux Build Support (IL2CPP)Mac Build Support (IL2CPP) (Mono) if you are using WindowsWindows Build Support (Mono) (IL2CPP) If you are using Windows

Some of the components are heavy and may take a while to download and install; it’s a good time for a coffee!

Changing Unity’s installation location

Using the Unity Hub gear icon, you can change the location where the Unity version you have selected will be installed. You can change the path from the Installs tab:

Figure 1.4 – Setting the default installation folder

Well, after knowing the main requirements to be able to work with Unity3D without problems, we will see in detail how to create new projects from Unity Hub.

Creating and managing Unity projects

The Unity Hub tool also serves to manage our projects, regardless of the version of Unity in which they were conceived. We can have an infinite number of projects, old and new, and each of them can be configured to be edited in a different version of Unity. You can easily add the projects you have in some directory on your computer using the Open button.

Don’t worry if you have loaded a project that uses a version you don’t have installed in Unity Hub. As you can see in Figure 1.5, a warning icon will appear to warn you that the project uses a version of the engine that you do not have installed and allows you to install that particular version by clicking on the button specifying the version number:

Figure 1.5 – Managing multiple projects with different versions of Unity

To begin, we will need to create a new project. Each project that we’ll create from Unity Hub will be created in a specific folder that we create. Don’t worry about this – the project creation wizard will ask us each time where we want to create it.

If you always want to create them in the same directory and you want to avoid configuring this every time you create a new project, you can configure it at a general level in the same window that appears in Figure 1.4.

In the Projects tab, you will see which directory is used by default for each new project. Just click and select the new destination and click Accept.

Now, to create our new project, execute the following steps:

With Unity Hub open with the Projects tab active, click on the New Project button, located at the top right. Once the new project creation wizard opens, it will ask us to update the initial configuration we want to have (template), the name of our project, and the location where it will be created:

Figure 1.6 – The New project button in Unity Hub

Scroll down and select the 3D (URP) template. We will see why we have selected this item and not another one shortly. It is possible that you may not have used the 3D (URP) template before and you need to download it; in this case, click on the Download template button:

Figure 1.7 – Creating a new project

Once you have downloaded the template, you can fill in the title of your new project and its location. In my case, I am going to call this project MyMetaverse and I will save it in my default directory.Remember that you can choose the directory you prefer as this will not influence the development of the project. In my case and for your reference, I have used the /Users/davidcantonnadales/Projects/MyMetaverse path. If you’re using Windows, it can be something like C:Projects/MyMetaverse:

Figure 1.8 – Setting up the name and location of the new project

Things to consider when choosing your project name

In some projects I have done, I have had problems with the spaces in the project creation directory. Keep in mind that Unity will create a folder with the same name as the project you have chosen. For example, if we had chosen My Metaverse instead of MyMetaverse, it would create a directory with a blank space. To avoid possible problems later on, I recommend that you avoid blank spaces.

You may have some doubt in your mind as to why we have used the URP rendering method instead of the default one. I have specified the technical benefits we have obtained by selecting the URP rendering method for our project in the following note.

Why did we choose the 3D template (URP)?

Unity allows you to create Universal Render Pipeline (URP) or High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) projects so that you can focus on performance or quality rendering.

URP offers better graphics quality than the default Standard Render Pipeline (SRP) built-in system in Unity. URP is designed for casual games for mobile and PC/Mac, offering great compatibility between different devices. On the other hand, there is a superior render pipeline called High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) that’s oriented to AAA games for consoles and PC with great features.

If you want to learn detailed technical information about the differences between URP and HDRP in Unity, I recommend that you check out this blog post: https://vionixstudio.com/2022/02/12/urp-vs-hdrp-in-unity.

Once you have clicked the Create button, Unity will take a few seconds to configure and create the new project. It will also load the default plugins. Once everything has finished loading, the editor will open with a default scene. When this whole process is finished, you will see something similar to Figure 1.9:

Figure 1.9 – The appearance of the Unity editor after creating a new project

With that, we have created our first project. As you can see, Unity has created our first blank scene called SampleScene. Before we move on to the next point, let me briefly explain something about the target platforms that Unity offers.

As I commented at the beginning of this book, our project will be compatible with multiple platforms – that is, it can be compiled and exported for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux. At the end of this book, we will learn how to do this for each of the platforms.

In Unity, when we create a new project, by default, it is configured to be exported for Mac/Windows. You can view the target platform’s settings by opening the Build Settings menu. On Mac and Windows, you can access this menu by clicking on File in the toolbar and then on the Build Settings menu:

Figure 1.10 – The Build Settings window

For now, and until we finish most of the chapters and get to the Cross Platform compilation part, we will not need to change these settings. We will dig into this later.

Basics of using the Unity editor

If this is the first time you’re using Unity, do not skip this section as we will briefly review all the parts that comprise Unity. We will explore the most important menus and begin to learn the basic actions that will lay the foundations of the knowledge necessary for you to advance to the following chapters.

The first and most basic thing to know about Unity is its organization. By default, when we create a new project, we see the Unity editor with five clear divisions called layouts. There are several predefined layouts that we will see later. In addition, we can customize this aspect to our taste and save the configuration.

If we pay attention to the Unity editor, we can distinguish mainly five sections in the layout that load by default. To learn about other layouts, take a look at Windows | Layouts, as shown in the following figure:

Figure 1.11 – The default layout in the Unity editor

Let’s review what the divisions we have numbered in the preceding screenshot are for:

Hierarchy window: All the objects that appear in our scene (GameObjects) are organized as a tree, and they can be relocated and grouped in parent-child mode. There is a root node with the name of the scene; the rest will hang from here. It is here where we will select the object we are going to work with so that we can move it, enlarge it, edit it, and so on.Scene window: This is the three-dimensional representation of the world we are building. This is where the objects that we have in the Hierarchy window will be represented graphically. When you select an object of the hierarchy, it will be marked in the scene, as shown in the preceding screenshot with the GameObject called Main Camera.Inspector window: This section displays information about the position, rotation, and scale properties of the selected object in the Hierarchy window. The changes we make to these values will affect the visual representation of the Scene window. Also, in this Inspector window, we can manage the components of an object.

By way of summary, it can be said that components are pieces with unique functionality, which are attached to a GameObject and cause it to acquire a new functionality or feature. These components can also be scripts that we make in C#. We will start programming our own scripts in Chapter 5, Preparing a New World for Travel.

Project window: Here, you will find the folders of the added resources and the assets or plugins that have been installed in our project. For example, here, we will find the images, audio, or 3D objects that we will be using in some of the scenes.Project window in detail: As a master detail view, this window shows the contents of the folders that were selected in the Project window. The assets that we select here will have their information displayed in the Inspector window.

We already know how a layout is composed in Unity; inside each window of the layout, we can find other functionalities that we can access by changing tabs, as shown in the following figure:

Figure 1.12 – Tabs with other functions in the layout

If we look at the Scene window in Figure 1.12, we will see that there are two tabs called Scene and Game (1). The Scene tab, which is checked by default, as we mentioned previously, shows the 3D representation of the objects placed in the Hierarchy window. Here, we can move freely with the mouse and keyboard to explore the scene.

In the Game tab, we will see what is focusing and rendering the camera in our scene – in this case, the Main Camera GameObject.

In the Project window, there are two tabs – Project and Console (2). In Project, as we have seen previously, the folders of the resources and assets that we have in our project are shown. In the Console tab, we will see information about errors and logs when we run our project.

On the other hand, we have the main menu bar of Unity, in which we can find the following options:

Figure 1.13 – The Unity editor’s main menu bar

Let’s take a closer look:

File: Here, you can find the options to create a new scene, save the changes of the current scene, or open another one. You also have options to open or close a project. Finally, in Build Settings, you can change the Target Platform settings, as we saw previously.Edit: Here, we can see different actions, such as ordering or copying and pasting, that we can use for the GameObject of the current scene. Another very important menu that you can access from here is Project Settings, which contains all the settings applicable to our project.Assets: This menu allows you to search, import, and manage your project assets.GameObject: This menu allows you to add new items to your scene. It also gives you advanced options to create them as parents or children of others. There is a list of GameObjects that comes with Unity by default, such as lights, particle systems, cameras, and others.Component: This menu shows a list of built-in components that you can add to your selected GameObject.Window: This menu includes very important options, such as layout management, which we talked about previously. There are also actions to organize the editor panels.

A very important menu that we will see later is called Package Manager. This is an asset manager. When you acquire a new asset or when you want to acquire a new asset, this is where you can find it and add it to your project.

Last but not least, we have the main tools for manipulating the GameObject in the scene, as shown in Figure 1.14:

Figure 1.14 – The main toolbars in the Unity editor

Let’s take a look:

Tools: These are the buttons you will use the most in any project you create in Unity. These five buttons are used to rotate, move, transform, and scale the currently selected GameObject.View options: This bar has display options that affect the current scene, such as enabling or disabling the lighting, changing the camera rendering to 2D/3D, disabling the sound, and so on.Gizmo: This cross is used to change the viewing perspective in the scene. Here, you can view the scene from above, left, right, or below... just click on the different orientations.

Creating a new scene

Now that we’ve covered a lot of the theory regarding Unity and its interface, it’s time to get down to business. For this, we are going to create our first scene. For now, this scene will only have a floor, but it will serve as a base for the following chapters.

Follow these steps to create a new scene from scratch:

Create a new scene from the File menu by selecting New Scene.The New Scene creation window will appear. Since our project is being created with URP, select the Standard (URP) option. This will create the scene with the appropriate settings:

Figure 1.15 – Creating a new scene with URP configuration

Upon clicking the Create button, you will need to choose the name of your new scene. The scene we are creating will be our main scene, so you could call it MainScene, for example.

The Where option allows you to specify the directory inside the project where you will create the scene. For the moment, you can leave it as-is. We will learn more about how assets are organized in the project later:

Figure 1.16 – Choosing a name for the new scene

After clicking the Save button, the new scene will be created and opened. By default, Unity adds a Camera object, a Light object, and a GameObject called Global Volume, which is in charge of adding post-processing settings to our camera and will make everything look much better.Now, to create our floor, we will use a Plane object. Click GameObject | 3D Object | Plane.We already have a floor; you can see that it has been created in the Hierarchy window. Now, you can change the name of the newly created object. For example, you can call it Floor instead of Plane.Make sure that the ground is at the lowest part of the scene and in the center. For this, modify the position values by clicking on the GameObject from the Hierarchy panel and changing the X, Y, and Z positions to 0, 0, and 0. This can be seen in Figure 1.17:

Figure 1.17 – Changing the position of the floor

The floor we’ve created is too small – we would like it to be wider so that the character we create later can walk several steps before falling into the void. You can modify the floor’s size by manipulating the Scale values in the Inspector panel.

By default, the panel is created with 1, 1, 1 values; we will change these to 10, 10, 10. As you change these values, you will see how the floor is enlarged.

Finally, save the changes you’ve made to the scene via the File | Save menu. The scene will now look like this:

Figure 1.18 – The new scene with a floor

Getting familiar with Scene View controls

At this point, we already know the basics of the Unity interface, including how to create a new scene and change the Position and Scale properties of a GameObject. At this point, I recommend that you explore the controls to navigate the scene with the mouse and keyboard.

For example, using right-click to pivot the view, press Alt + left-click (Option + left-click on Mac) to orbit the view around the center of the view and center-click the mouse to move the view.

You can also use Alt + right-click (Option + right-click on Mac) or the mouse scroll wheel to move closer or further out. For more detailed information about keyboard and mouse combinations, you can visit https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/SceneViewNavigation.html.

Advanced object positioning documentation

You can find extended information on how to change the position, rotation, and scale properties of a GameObject at https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/PositioningGameObjects.html.

Now that you have learned everything you need to install Unity to create new projects and scenes, you know the most important points of the user interface, as well as how to place objects and modify their properties in a scene. Next, we’ll look at a very important technique that will lay the foundation for efficiently organizing files, folders, and assets in your project.

Organizing your project assets

When we talk about organizing assets and resources in our project, we are referring to how we want the folder structure in the Project panel to look. There is not a single established way to do this – it depends on how we like and feel more comfortable working. Unity recommends a series of points you should take into account when doing this, as well as to avoid file problems.

The following are recommendations for organizing our project:

Establish a folder and file naming guide before starting.Don’t lose track of the folder naming throughout the project. On many occasions, we will add files and resources and forget to rename them.Do not use blank spaces in folders or individual files.Separate the files to be used in testing from the production files by creating another folder dedicated to them.Always use the Assets root folder; everything you create should hang from this folder. Avoid creating other folders at the same level as the Assets folder.Keep your private files separate from downloaded assets or Unity’s resources.

As we have said before, there is no standard way to organize projects in Unity. I use a technique that helps me have good order and be more efficient when working. Figure 1.19 is the default structure that can be seen when creating a project:

Figure 1.19 – Detailed view of the Project panel

As shown in the preceding figure, under the root Assets folder, we have MainScene, Scenes, Settings, and TutorialInfo. At first sight, this seems like a good form of organization, but in reality, it is not quite like that. Let me explain why.

As the project grows, you will be downloading assets and installing them in the project. This will cause an infinite number of new folders that hang from the Assets folder to be created. These folders are sorted alphabetically, and this can become chaotic if you try to locate your own folders, mixed in among the folders of third parties.

A widespread technique among Unity programmers is to identify your folders with the underscore symbol (_) so that they always appear at the top, as shown in Figure 1.20:

Figure 1.20 – Custom organization

This way, you will no longer care that third-party plugins can create an infinite number of folders in your Assets root folder since you will always have yours at the top of your _App folder.

Within the _App folder, you can create the folder relationship that suits you best. From my experience, most assets can be perfectly organized into materials, scenes, scripts, sounds, or textures.

To finish organizing the project as a whole, we will move the scene we have created to its new location and delete what Unity has created:

Move the MainScene scene file, along with its configuration folder, inside _App | Scenes:

Figure 1.21 – Reorganizing our assets

Delete the TutorialInfo folder from the root Assets folder.Delete the old Scenes folder located in the root Assets folder. Inside this is the SampleScene example scene, but don’t worry, we don’t need that either.

Once we have reorganized our assets and removed the sample material, our Project panel will look something like Figure 1.22:

Figure 1.22 – Screenshot of what the new organization should look like

Note

If you want to dive deeper into this matter, I recommend https://unity.com/how-to/organizing-your-projectand https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/SpecialFolders.html.

Good job! With that, you have learned everything you need to have your work well organized. Over time and when you have worked on multiple projects, you will notice the difference if you have your files well organized. As projects grow, if we don’t apply some technique to keep everything organized, we will lose a lot of time looking for the assets we need. Next, we will cover a very easy and interesting point regarding how to configure our project so that later, in Chapter 2, Preparing Our Player, we can move our character with the keyboard and mouse.

Choosing an input handler

The Input Manager in Unity is the area where you define the keys or axes of the keyboard and mouse that will be detected when the user plays the game. These keys and axes can be related to a name and then accessed via code. For example, in one of our scripts, we can ask if the user has made a jump because they have pressed the spacebar.

A few years ago, Unity used an Input Manager system that is now obsolete due to the arrival of a new system called the new Input System.

Unity’s new Input System was created to unify the controls on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and other systems.

Let’s start by adding the new Input System to our project:

Open Package Manager. This can be found under Window | Package Manager:

Figure 1.23 – Locating the new Input System plugin in Package Manager

Change the source of Packages: In Project to Packages: Unity Registry (1).Scroll down the list and look for Input System (2) and click the Installbutton (3).Unity will display a warning that for the changes to activate the new Input System, the project must be restarted. Click the Yes button to restart the editor.

If you have unsaved changes in the scene, you will see a popup, warning you of this so that you can save it before the editor closes:

Figure 1.24 – Unity notice about applying changes to the project

Note

You can find detailed information about the differences between the old and the new system at https://blog.unity.com/technology/introducing-the-new-input-system. This is recommended reading.

Perfect! Our project has been configured to work. Now, it’s time to get to know Firebase and learn about all the services that it offers.

Understanding the different Firebase services

Firebase is a cloud platform for web and mobile application development that’s owned by Google. It has SDKs for a wide range of platforms and technologies, which help you use it in virtually any environment, whether it is on the web with JavaScript, a desktop application written in .NET, a native mobile app on Android or iOS, and so on. Most importantly, it has a huge community, which makes this suite a great ally in any project.

It was created in 2011 and Google acquired it in 2014. Initially, it was only a real-time database. Due to its success, more and more features were added, which, in part, allows us to group the SDKs of Google products for different purposes, making it easier to use.

What is Firebase for?

Its essential function is to simplify the creation of web applications and mobile, desktop, and even REST API projects and their development, allowing for high productivity or helping to make the work faster, but without sacrificing quality.

Its tools cover practically any technical challenge that a complete application must overcome, considering that its grouping simplifies the management tasks to the same platform. The functionalities of these tools can be divided into four groups:

CompilationLaunch and monitoringAnalyticsParticipation