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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Master everything you need to build a 2D game using Unity 5 by developing a complete RPG game framework!
Key Features
- Explore the new features of Unity 5 and recognize obsolete code and elements
- Develop and build a complete 2D retro RPG with a conversation system, inventory, random map battles, full game menus, and sound
- This book demonstrates how to use the new Unity UI system effectively through detailed C# scripts with full explanations
Book Description
The Unity engine has revolutionized the gaming industry, by making it easier than ever for indie game developers to create quality games on a budget. Hobbyists and students can use this powerful engine to build 2D and 3D games, to play, distribute, and even sell for free!
This book will help you master the 2D features available in Unity 5, by walking you through the development of a 2D RPG framework. With fully explained and detailed C# scripts, this book will show you how to create and program animations, a NPC conversation system, an inventory system, random RPG map battles, and full game menus. After your core game is complete, you'll learn how to add finishing touches like sound and music, monetization strategies, and splash screens. You'll then be guided through the process of publishing and sharing your game on multiple platforms. After completing this book, you will have the necessary knowledge to develop, build, and deploy 2D games of any genre!
What you will learn
- Create a 2D game in Unity 5 by developing a complete retro 2D RPG framework
- Effectively manipulate and utilize 2D sprites
- Create 2D sprite animations and trigger them effectively with code
- Write beginning to advanced-level C# code using MonoDevelop
- Implement the new UI system effectively and beautifully
- Use state machines to trigger events within your game
Who this book is for
This book is for anyone looking to get started developing 2D games with Unity 5. If you're already accomplished in Unity 2D and wish to expand or supplement your current Unity knowledge, or are working in 2D in Unity 4 and looking to upgrade Unity 5, this book is for you. A basic understanding of programming logic is needed to begin learning with this book, but intermediate and advanced programming topic are explained thoroughly so that coders of any level can follow along. Previous programming experience in C# is not required.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 434
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
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Table of Contents
Mastering Unity 2D Game Development - Second Edition
Mastering Unity 2D Game Development - Second Edition
Copyright © 2016 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 authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be 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.
First published: August 2014
Second edition: October 2016
Production reference: 1071016
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham
B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78646-345-6
www.packtpub.com
Credits
Authors
Ashley Godbold
Simon Jackson
Copy Editor
Sameen Siddiqui
Reviewer
Claudio Scolastici
Project Coordinator
Ulhas Kambali
Commissioning Editor
Amarabha Banerjee
Proofreader
Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor
Smeet Thakkar
Indexer
Rekha Nair
Content Development Editor
Prashanth G
Graphics
Kirk D'Penha
Technical Editor
Sushant S Nadkar
Production Coordinator
Aparna Bhagat
About the Authors
Dr. Ashley Godbold is a programmer, game designer, artist, mathematician, and teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, a Master of Science in Mathematics, a Bachelor of Science in Game Art and Design, and a Doctor of Computer Science in Emerging Media, where her dissertation research focused on educational video game design. She works full-time as a game developer and also runs a small indie/passion studio. She teaches college courses in Unity, 3ds Max, Adobe Flash, game design, and mathematics.
I would like to thank my husband, Kyle, and my daughter, Claire, for supporting me after I made the crazy decision to write a book and a dissertation at the same time. I would also like to thank my good friend, Danny Rich, for being the person with whom I initially set out to learn Unity and for helping me with character art in this book.
I'd also like to thank everyone at Packt Publishing for helping me through this process, particularly Smeet Thakkar, Prashanth G Rao, and Sushant Nadkar for all of their help through this process.
Simon Jackson has been a tinkerer, engineer, problem solver, and solution gatherer ever since his early years. In short, he loves to break things apart, figure out how they work, and then put them back together; usually better than before.
He started way back when with his first computer, the Commodore Vic20. It was simple, used a tape deck, and forced you to write programs in Basic or assembly language; those were fun times. From there, he progressed through the ZX Spectrum +2 and the joyous days of modern graphics, but still with the 30-minute load times from a trusty tape deck. Games were his passion even then, which led to many requests for another gaming machine, but Santa brought him an Amstrad 1640, his first PC. From there, his tinkering and building exploded, and that machine ended up being a huge monstrosity with so many add-ons and tweaked fixes. He was Frankenstein, and this PC became his own personal monster crafted from so many parts. Good times.
This passion led him down many paths, and he learned to help educate others on the tips and tricks he learned along the way; these skills have equipped him well for the future.
Today, he would class himself as a game development generalist. He works with many different frameworks, each time digging down and ripping them apart, and then showing whoever would listen through his blog, videos, and speaking events how to build awesome frameworks and titles. This has been throughout many generations of C++, MDX, XNA (what a breath of fresh air that was), MonoGame, Unity3D, The Sunburn Gaming Engine, HTML, and a bunch of other proprietary frameworks—he did them all. This gives him a very balanced view of how to build and manage many different types of multiplatform titles.
He didn't stop there as he regularly contributed to the MonoGame project, adding new features and samples, and publishing on NuGet. He also has several of his own open source projects and actively seeks any new and interesting ones to help with.
By day, he is a lowly lead technical architect working in the healthcare industry, seeking to improve patients' health and care through better software (a challenge to be sure). By night, he truly soars! Building, tinkering, and educating while trying to push game titles of his own. One day they will pay the bills, but until then, he still leads a double life.
I would like to thank my family above all, my wife, Caroline and my four amazing children (Alexander, Caitlin, Jessica, and Nathan), for putting up with me and giving me the space to write this title as well as my other extravagances—they truly lift me up and keep me sane. They are my rock, my shore, my world.
I would also like to thank Jamie Hales of PixelBalloon who generously donated some content for the Appendix and gave me new ideas and insights to look into.
A big shout out to all the guys who ran and helped me out with the Unity porting events, which I supported throughout the course of this book, namely Lee Stott, Simon Michael, Riaz Amhed, Louis Sykes, Ben Beagley, Josh Naylor, Mahmud Chowdhury, and Michael Cameron. Also, the Unity evangelists who were badgered throughout the events and were pumped for hidden details: Joe Robins and Andy Touch. Truly a great crowd to get game developers energized and their titles onto as many platforms as possible. Lots of weekends lost to writing, but the book was better, for they led to so many different experiences.
Finally, thanks to the reviewers of this title who kept me grounded and on target, although that didn't help to keep the page count low—thanks for your support guys.
About the Reviewer
Claudio Scolastici is a game designer with a background in Psychology, Cognitive Science and AI. He is currently a game designer for the video game and VR/AR developer SpinVector, author of cool games such as From Cheese and Artusi Cooking Time.
He is also a guest tutor at Digital Tutors/Pluralsight and a book author for Packt.
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Preface
The Unity engine has revolutionized the gaming industry, by making it easier than ever for indie game developers to create quality games on a budget. Hobbyists and students can use this powerful engine to build 2D and 3D games, to play, distribute, and even sell for free! Unity 4.3 dramatically reformed the way developers could create 2D games when they included sprite rendering, 2D physics, and sprite key-frame animation. Unity 4.6 further shook the gaming world by adding a new and elegant UI system that perfectly complimented the 2D games developers began creating. Now, Unity 5 has arrived! And this text will explore all the wonderful features it has to offer for 2D game development.
In this book, you will learn how to build an RPG game framework, learning lots of tips and tricks along the way. You will start by making a character and a village for the character to interact with NPCs. Then you will develop an overworld map for the character to explore that will be loaded with enemies who randomly attack her. After that, you'll cover the process involved in setting up a turn based battle system along with all of the necessary steps for creating a functional GUI. Following that, you'll develop a shop and inventory system and then implement sound and music. By the end of this book, you will be able to architect, create, deploy, your game as well as have the knowledge to build and customize the Unity editor.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Overview. This chapter gives a basic overview of the 2D features provided within Unity 5. It also provides general guidance for finding free assets to use within 2D projects. Lastly, it points out key differences between Unity 5 and Unity 4.
Chapter 2, Building your Project and Character. This chapter covers the steps necessary to start building a project. It describes object oriented programming, how it is used in Unity, and the basic structure of a class in C# using MonoDevelop. This chapter also describes the process of importing, editing, and implementing, 2D sprites into the Unity engine, as well as the programming required to move the sprite around the screen with the player's interaction.
Chapter 3, Getting Animated. This chapter introduces animation in Unity by utilizing the various animation components. It describes the process of converting a sprite sheet to an animation clip and implementing the Animator component. It also describes the process of setting up the Animator Controller and explains how to implement animation parameters using scripting.
Chapter 4, The Town View. This chapter explains the process of setting up the town in which the character will walk around. It also explains the process of working with the camera and how to program the functionality necessary for the character to interact with her environment.
Chapter 5, Working with Unity's UI System. This chapter gives a general overview of the UI system implemented in Unity 4.6.
Chapter 6, NPCS and Interactions. This chapter covers the overall structure of interacting with non-player characters within an RPG. It then describes the process of writing and implementing the code necessary to allow the player to speak with the NPCs, and displaying the conversation utilizing the UI system.
Chapter 7, The World Map. This chapter discusses the process of building a map for the player to navigate and allowing the player character to exit the initial town.
Chapter 8, Encountering Enemies and Running Away. This chapter discusses the process of creating a battle scene that contains randomly spawning enemies. It then covers the programming required to have the player character transition in to random battles and transition back to the map by selecting the option to run away.
Chapter 9, Getting Ready to Fight. This chapter discusses the process of developing a battle introduction animation and the GUI that will allow the player to interact with the battle.
Chapter 10, The Battle Begins. This chapter further develops the battle system, by implementing the code that allows the player to select various attacks, incorporating particle systems to represent attacks, and utilizing an event system.
Chapter 11, Shopping for Items. This chapter discusses the process of creating a shop in which the player can buy items and an inventory system in which the player can save the purchased items.
Chapter 12, Sound and Music. This chapter covers the basics of sound integration utilizing audio listeners and sources, by adding background music and a sound effect when the player purchases an item.
Chapter 13, Putting a Bow on It. This chapter covers the finishing touches necessary to create a complete game. This includes packaging the game, implementing a splash screen and menu system, extending the editor, and adding a system to save the player’s data.
Chapter 14, Deployment and Beyond. This final chapter discusses how to convert the final game to a playable game.
What you need for this book
In order to follow this book, you will need the Unity game engine available at https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download.
You will need to download version 5.3 or higher. This text was written using 5.3.4. If for some reason, you want to get Unity 5.3.4 instead of the most recent version, you can get archived versions from https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download/archive.
To get the art assets and code discussed within the book, you should download the book's support files.
Who this book is for
This book is intended for anyone looking to get started in developing 2D games with Unity 5 or anyone already familiar with Unity 2D wishing to expand or supplement their current Unity knowledge. A basic understanding of programming logic is needed to begin learning with this book, but intermediate and advanced programming topic are explained thoroughly so that coders of any level can follow along. Previous programming experience in C# is not required.
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Chapter 1. Overview
Arguably, the most important parts of any project are knowing where to start and what tools you have in your arsenal before setting out to make your game. In this chapter, we will give a brief overview of the 2D tools offered in Unity 5 and explore the new features available to Unity 5.
Since this is the first chapter, let's cover how this book is structured. The main aim of this book is to build a fully functional, retro-style, Role-Playing Game (RPG) framework and cover all the main aspects of any good and well-rounded RPG game, including the following features:
We will be visiting places such as the following:
In this chapter, we will walk through the key terms used when working in 2D, as well as the big changes made in Unity 5 relevant to 2D game creation. We will kick off the next chapter by building the foundations of our project with some of the best practices in the industry, including guidance from the Unity team themselves (either direct from team members or from responses in the forums).
The following topics will be covered in this chapter:
Getting assets
Since creating games can become quite expensive, we'll use some of the best free assets out there. There are plenty of resources available to game developers, either as placement assets for the developer's use, whether they are full assets, or just a framework that you can tweak to get your desired result. There are a multitude of options.
Note
In the code bundle of this book, you'll get all the assets you need to follow during the creation of the game. The site where it is available online will be listed with the instructions.
Some of the best sites to gather assets are described as follows:
Unity's 2D features
In 2013, with the release of Unity 4.3, Unity made 2D game development significantly simpler by adding native support for 2D development to the Unity editor environment. Since then, 2D game development has been on the rise among the indie and hobbyist developers. This section will give a general overview the various 2D features and terms as they appear in Unity 5.3.
2D mode versus 3D mode
When creating a new Unity project, you can choose between 3D mode and 2D mode, as shown in the following screenshot:
The main differences in the two modes are the way assets will be imported into your project and the default camera view and position. If you select 2D, the default camera will be set to Orthographic projection, the camera's position will be set to (0, 0, -10), your scene will be in 2D view, and your and images will be imported as sprites rather than textures.
You can easily swap between the two modes at any time during development by navigating to Edit | Project Settings | Editor and changing the Default Behavior Mode option, as shown in the following screenshot:
Changing the Default Behavior Mode will not affect how your game runs. This setting really only makes the process of importing new assets and creating new cameras quicker, because you will not have to manually change the texture type of images and change the projection of camera.
Note
There are a few other items that are handled differently in 2D mode versus 3D mode, such as lighting, and you can find a list of all the differences at http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/2DAnd3DModeSettings.html.
Working with sprites
Sprites are 2D images. Sprites can be images that depict a single object (for example, a character) or an entire scene (for example, a background). Several sprites can also be combined to create a single object, as shown in the following screenshot:
A character created by combining multiple sprites; example from Unity's platformer sample
When your project is set to 2D mode, any image you import in to your project folder will automatically be assigned a Sprite (2D and UI) texture type. This means that the image is assumed to represent a 2D object or scene rather than an image that will applied to a 3D object.
When a sprite image is dragged from the Assets folder to the Scene view, a 2D Object-Sprite will be added to your scene. This object will automatically be given the Sprite Renderer component (refer to the following section), making the sprite visible in your game; no additional lighting or work is required.
Note
It's important to note that if your sprite has transparencies, you want to import your sprite texture as a .png formatted image file.
By default, each image is imported as a single sprite; however, by using the Sprite Editor (refer to the Sprite Editor section), you can change this in various ways.
Note
While your sprite textures can be any dimension, it is highly recommended that the texture be a perfect square with a power of two pixel height and width (that is 64 px by 64 px, 128 px by 128 px, and so on).
Sprite Renderer
The Sprite Renderer is the component that allows a 2D object to be displayed as a Sprite on the screen. Refer to the following screenshot:
The Sprite property selects the image that will be displayed. Any image that is assigned a Sprite (2D and UI) texture type can be placed in this property. The Color property allows you to change the vertex color of the rendered image as well as the transparency (through the alpha).
Flip is a property new to Unity 5.0. This will allow you to flip the sprite in the X or Y planes without having to use Scale properties in the transform, as was necessary in previous versions of Unity.
The Sprite Renderer component automatically sets the Material property of the object to Sprites-Default, which uses the default Shader property as Sprite/Default. The Sprites/Default shader does not interact with lights in the scene, so lights are not required to view Sprites with these default settings.
Sprite Editor
The Sprite Editor allows you to manipulate a sprite once it has been imported in to Unity. The Sprite Editor is only available for graphics with Texture Type set to Sprite (2D and UI). The following is the screenshot of the Sprite Editor window showing a single sprite:
The editor allows some basic manipulations to happen to a sprite, for example:
Sprite sheets
Sprite sheets are a core part of any 2D animation system. Sprite sheets are a single texture that contains multiple images that represent individual frames of a 2D animation. Unifying all textures into a single larger texture means greater performance when sending the sprites to the graphic cards, which is a lot faster than sending lots of smaller files. Refer to the following screenshot:
Sprite Editor window showing multiple sprites in a grid
The traditional way of forming sprite sheets is to put sprites into specific regions on a single image and then identify the box regions where the individual sprites lie. These regions form individual frames in the sprite animation. As you can see in the preceding screenshot, nine sprites are arranged in three rows to form a character's walking animation. The sprites could have also been arranged in a single row or a single column; it doesn't matter. It's just how the artist best packs the sprite sheet for the animation. Unity can handle just about any arrangement you wish to throw at it. Just set the width and height of each texture region and the Unity Sprite Editor will do the rest. If your individual sprites are non-disjoint images, all of the same size, Unity can also automatically slice the texture in to the appropriate regions.
Texture atlases
Akin to sprite sheets, texture atlases are a more efficient way of packing textures into a single texture. It can contain various parts of a character (as follows), or a set of weapons, or a set of buttons to be used in your UI—anything really.
A selection of separate textures that have been automatically packed; example from Unity's platformer sample
Unity has added a very clever texture cutting and edge detection to make this work very well and identify specific regions on the texture for each sprite. You can also change the selection areas if Unity is too optimistic when selecting the texture regions.
The Sprite Packer utility provided by Unity can combine all of your sprite textures in to a single tightly packed atlas to help improve the performance of your game.
Physics 2D
The inclusion of a 2D physics system in Unity 4.3 has made 2D game creation easier than ever. Before the inclusion, these physics had to be either programmed by the developer or faked using 3D physics. However, now, with the use of the RidgidBody2D component, the various 2D colliders, physics materials, effectors, and joints, making a 2D game with physics can be achieved with a few simple clicks.
Note
Physics plays an important role in many 2D games. This is particularly true for platformers and certain puzzle games such as Tsum Tsum, Angry Birds, and Cut the Rope.
The RigidBody2D component can be added to any object that you want to be affected by the physics engine. For example, you can add the RigidBody 2D component to a sprite you want affected by gravity. The various 2D colliders, such as the Box Collider 2D and Polygon Collider 2D, can be added to any object that you want to check collision on. This can be used to keep objects from passing through one another (refer to the following screenshot) or can be used to check when two objects touch each other.
Example of 2D colliders used in the Unity platformer to surround walkable elements
You can also apply physics materials to your 2D objects using Physics Material 2D. This allows greater control over an object's physics interactions, such as friction and bounciness.
An effector is essentially a component that applies a type of force to sprites that interact with the 2D object that has an effector component attached to it. Unity 5 added four effector components to the Physics 2D library: Area Effector 2D, Point Effector 2D, Platform Effector 2D, and Surface Effector 2D. When Unity 5.3 released, the Buoyancy Effector 2D component was added. Constant Force 2D was also included in the Unity 5 update, which allows you to apply a constant force to a sprite.
Joints are also included in the Unity Physics 2D package. Joints allow various 2D game objects to join together in distinct ways. Four new joints were added with Unity 5.3. There are nine joints now included in Unity: Distance Joint 2D, Fixed Joint 2D, Friction Joint 2D, Hinge Joint 2D, Relative Joint 2D, Slider Joint 2D, Spring Joint 2D, Target Joint 2D, and Wheel Joint 2D.
Changes to Unity 5
If you have been working with Unity 4.x and are now starting out in Unity 5.x, there are a few key differences in the way things behave. Here you will find a general overview of the most relevant changes to 2D game development, other than the ones already discussed concerning 2D physics.
Note
The following list does not include all of the new features included in Unity 5 and the Unity 5.3 update. For a complete list, visit http://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-5.0 and http://blogs.unity3d.com/2015/12/08/unity-5-3-all-new-features-and-more-platforms/.
Licensing
Let's start with the best new feature of Unity 5. In previous versions of Unity, certain features were only available in the Pro version and were blocked in the free version. However, in Unity 5, all features are unlocked and can be enjoyed even by developers using the free version, now named Unity Personal. If a game you create with Unity Personal makes $100k or more, you will have to pay for the professional version.
Component access
Another big change to Unity 5 is the removal of quick property accessors within code. This means that a lot of your code written for Unity 4 will need to be rewritten. For example, the use of .rigidBody2D and .collider2D are no longer permissible. However, if you have code in your game from an older version of Unity, you will be shown the following warning:
Selecting I Made a Backup. Go Ahead! will automatically convert all quick property accessors to code containing the GetComponent function. For example, take the following code that was previously written as:
object.ridgidBody2D.isKinematic=false;Now the preceding code would now be written as follows:
object.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().isKinematic=false;Note
Make sure you back up your code before selecting, I Made a Backup. Go Ahead! The automatic changes may not be what you expect.
Animator changes
The most glaring difference when you initially start up the Unity 5 Animator will be the inclusion of an Entry node. Unity 5 has now added Entry and Exist nodes to StateMachines (we will discuss state machines in Chapter 8, Encountering Enemies and Running Away). These nodes allow the transition between states machines. For the most part, you animations that were running in Unity 4 should run appropriately in Unity 5, but will include the new Entry node, as shown in the following screenshot:
StateMachine Transitions with Entry and Exit nodes provided by Unity
Audio mixing
Previously, if you had a lot of audio sources in your game, dealing with all of them could be quite a hassle. Unity 5 provide an Audio Mixer asset type that now allows you to adjust all of your audio levels more efficiently, as show in the following screenshot:
Audio Mixer image provided by Unity
Summary
2D game development has received a new life with the inclusion of 2D support in Unity 4.3. Since then, many other features have been added, making Unity 5.3 one of the most versatile and user-friendly gaming engines on the market. Never before has it been easier to make a 2D game from start to finish on a budget and within a short amount of time.
In this chapter, we covered the objective of the book, the paths to get the assets needed for the sample project, an overview of the key terms and features related to 2D game development in Unity, and an overview of the most apparent changes implemented in Unity 5 related to 2D game development.
Are you sitting comfortably? Well, keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times and prepare yourself for a high-speed ride!
Chapter 2. Building Your Project and Character
It's time to start putting the building blocks that will make up your game into Unity. We will start with setting up the project and then move on to building the main character. Setting up the main character is an important first step, as most of your game's core logic and framework generally centers on the main protagonist and highlights exactly how the player will interact with the game.
We will be creating two main locations for the character to explore: a 2.5D town in which she can interact with Non-Playable Characters (NPCs) and a world map in which she will encounter and battle enemies. To allow our character to interact with and explore these locations, we must first get our character into our project and give her the ability to move around the scenes. We must also get our project started the right way by setting up the project appropriately.
The following topics will be covered in this chapter:
Project overview and structure
Before you start your project, you should consider how you intend to set it up and architect your project in the long term. Far too many developers have created problems for themselves by just diving in rather than designing the outline for the project at the start.
Your game and your assets are not the only things to consider when starting a fresh project. Sure, you can start importing assets, creating scripts, and getting things running; most Proof of Concept (POC) projects start this way. Once your project is of a sufficient size and you start expanding on your initial concept, you'll realize that you have issues with regard to picking up items and putting them together. Then, you will start devising new ways to organize your project and eventually find that it's an unmanageable mess; nevertheless, you will stride on, taking longer and longer to produce new content or add new features.
The best advice one can give is to think about your entire project and how you organize it as an asset in itself, and accordingly, design it correctly from the beginning. So, what follows are a few short tricks that you can learn to get started on the right foot.
Architecture is a point that is often missed out in game development and should not be overlooked. What follows are some of the best practices you can use from day one to design your game and thereby save a lot of time to fix or change and reorder things later. These lessons will be used throughout the course of this book, wherever applicable.
Project overview
Before we can start discussing how to structure our game's project, we need to discuss what features the game we will be creating will actually include.
We will be creating a 2D RPG with the following key attributes:
Now that we have a general idea of what type of game we will be creating, we can start structuring our project and implementing some if its features.
Structure
When you start a new Unity project, Unity places the Assets folder within the folder you designate for the project. Many Unity projects have all their assets in the root Assets folder or are organized by how the game works. This isn't particularly wrong, but as the project gets larger, this will eventually cause problems.
The best way in which Unity advises you to organize your project (as also shown in all of their own examples) is to group objects by their type in the root Assets folder, as shown in the following screenshot:
This ensures that you will find assets for your entire project that are ready for reuse in every scene or level according to the type of object. You can then subdivide these appropriately depending on their use, such as the following:
By following the preceding patterns, you are organizing your project effectively in the same way Unity does and guiding yourself to use a more component-based design. Each scene is built up of many assets through the lifetime of your project, so organizing your assets this way will help in the long run.
You can set this level of subgrouping for scripts, scenes, fonts, materials, and so on. However, as these are generally distinct things that apply to every asset, there is no need to divide them further.
Asset naming
There are no specific patterns for how you should name each of your assets. Generally, this is left to your preference and, more importantly, how you recognize each part of your game. There is no need to give something a really long and complicated name in the preceding structure, only so long that you can find it later.
While it is not required that you follow a naming pattern, some of the more common patterns include the following:
From experience, these are useful, but my advice is to name things plainly based on what it is. Using the structure mentioned earlier, you have already organized your assets to overcome a lot of the issues that the preceding patterns try to solve.
Plan ahead before you even start your game and set a standard that works for you. You should be able to identify what each asset is and what it does just by looking at the name. However, remember that each asset will most likely be used many times on many different game objects, so plan accordingly. Add prefixes and suffixes only when a script or asset is intended to be limited to a certain type of game object.
The Unity examples are another good place to look for inspiration here. See the following screenshot and decide whether you can tell what these scripts are and what they are used for just by looking at them:
Unity script examples
Creating the project
Before you can start building the game in Unity, you need to start a new project. Select New at the top of Unity's Home Screen. When creating a 2D game, you want to ensure that you start the project in 2D mode by selecting the appropriate mode in the Unity's home screen, as shown in the following screenshot:
Unity's home screen
Note
Remember, if you accidentally set the mode to 3D, you can change this at any time for your project through Editor Settings, as discussed in the previous chapter.
After selecting Create project, you'll be brought to the Editor Window, as shown in the following screenshot:
Unity's Editor window
It's important to note that when you create a new project in Unity, you are creating a new folder that can be accessed through File Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS X) with the following subfolders:
Now that we have created our project, let's create the folder structure for the project, as shown in the following screenshot and discussed previously:
To create a new folder from within Unity, simply select Create | Folder from the project tab in the bottom left corner of the screen:
When creating folders from within Unity, they will be represented within the Assets folder saved to your computer. Alternatively, if you create the folders from within Window's File Explorer (or Mac's Finder), the folders will appear within Unity. In the following screenshot, you will see how the folder structure is mirrored between Unity's Project window and Window's File Explorer:
Unity's Project windows and Window's File Explorer
As you can see, these folders created from within Unity are showing up in our project folder saved to our computers.
Note
At this point, it's important to note that we will most likely not use all of these folders during the course of this book. Nevertheless, it is a good working practice to get these folders set up for every project just so that you have a standard template.
Creating a scene
Every level or distinct area you create within Unity will be an individual scene. So, the start screen will be a scene, the town will be a scene, the map will be a scene, and so on.
We will have the following scenes in our game:
When you start a new project in Unity, you will be given a blank scene that contains only a camera, as shown in the Hierarchy in the following screenshot:
Tip
The Hierarchy displays a list of all the objects within a scene.
