1st Edition
Unity 3D and PlayMaker Essentials Game Development from Concept to Publishing
In introducing new students to video game development, there are two crucial components to consider: design and implementation. Unity 3D and PlayMaker Essentials: Game Development from Concept to Publishing provides theoretical background on topics such as characters, stories, level design, interface design, audio, game mechanics, and tools and skills needed.
Each chapter focuses on a specific topic, with topics building upon each other so that by the end of the book you will have looked into all the subjects relevant to creating your own game. The book transitions from discussion to demonstrations of how to implement techniques and concepts into practice by using Unity3D and PlayMaker. Download boxes are included throughout the book where you can get the version of the game project under discussion or other content to add to the project, as well as any supplementary video tutorials that have been developed.
Addressing both theoretical and practical aspects, Unity 3D and PlayMaker Essentials enables you to understand how to create a game by having you make a game. By gradually completing your own design document through the course of the book, you will become familiar with core design principles while learning the practical skills needed to bring your unique game to life.
BACKGROUND
Introduction
Who Plays Games?
How Are Games Made?
Who Can Make Games?
What Types of Games Are There?
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Design Documents
Introduction to the Design Document
Sections of the Design Document
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Using Unity and PlayMaker
Installing Unity
Unity’s Interface
Using Unity
Installing PlayMaker
PlayMaker’s Interface
State Machines
Using PlayMaker
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
BUILDING BLOCKS
Characters
The Purpose of Characters
Do Games Need Characters?
Traditional Character Types
Game Character Types
Character Design
Character Asset Design
Importing Assets in Unity
Character Control Systems
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Non-Player Characters
What Is Artificial Intelligence?
Some Different Types of Artificial Intelligence
Selecting an Artificial Intelligence System
Designing a Threshold Guardian
Implementing the Threshold Guardian
Prefabs
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Story
What Is a Story?
Does My Game Need a Story?
How to Tell a Story
The Building Blocks of a Story
Aristotle and the Greeks
The Return of Joseph Campbell
Story Design
Putting the Story into the Game
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Environment
Environments for Stories
Environments for Games
Creating the Terrain in Unity
Dressing a Terrain with Standard Content
Adding Imported Assets
Lighting the Environment
Boundaries
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Mechanics
What Are Game Mechanics?
Where Do Mechanics Come From?
Designing Our Mechanics
Implementing Our Mechanics
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
BRINGING IT TOGETHER
Audio
How Audio Is Used in Games
Finding Audio
Introduction to Audacity
Audio in Unity
Using PlayMaker to Play Audio
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
The User Interface
The Uses of User Interfaces
User Interface Design
The User Interface System of Unity
Updating the User Interface with PlayMaker
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Testing, Tweaking, and Publishing
What Is Testing?
Fixing and Tweaking
Building the Game
Summary
Vocabulary
Review Quiz
Exercises
Design Document
Biography
Jere Miles is the lead instructor of game development at Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro, North Carolina. He earned his BS in computer science from Florida State University and his MS in computer science from Appalachian State University. While at ASU, his graduate thesis and research focused on improving the believability of non-player characters within simulated environments such as video games. He has been creating games since first learning BASIC on an Atari 800 back in the early 1980s. His specific interest within video game development revolves around stories and characters drawing heavy inspiration from the gameplay mechanics of old text adventures and point-and-click adventure games. He has been married for 20 years and has two boys preparing the enter college.
