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OUYA Game Development by Example
In Detail
The OUYA console and development kit gives you the power to publish video games for the players, creating a console marketplace of the gamers, for the gamers, and by the gamers. Using the OUYA developer kit and the Unity3D game engine, even beginners with a captivating game idea can bring it to life with a hint of imagination.
OUYA Game Development by Example uses a series of feature-based, step-by-step tutorials that teach beginners how to integrate essential elements into a game engine and then combine them to form a polished gaming experience.
Approach"OUYA Game Development by Example" consists of different game application examples. No prior experience with programming is required. You will learn everything from scratch and will have an organized flow of information specifically designed for complete beginners.
Who this book is forUsing this book, you can get started with creating games without any game development experience. This book is perfect for anyone that wants to make video games but is unsure of where to start. It covers elements of game design, art, and programming comprehensively, and the engine used throughout all of the tutorials is very beginner-friendly. No prior knowledge is assumed or required for the tutorials in this book.
458 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 11, 2014
I found this book very easy for beginners. Though having knowledge of unity3d is always going to be helpful. This book starts with an intro to hardware console itself. First chapter is dedicated to features of the OUYA device. If you own OUYA device then probably can skip this chapter, but otherwise author has tried to provide a good detailed feature description, so that you can learn about OUYA hardware and features available in it.
Chapter 2 is completely dedicated for setting up Unity3D and installing core development toolchain like Java, Android SDK, ODK and configuring connections. Author took around 15 pages to explain everything for both MacOS X and Windows platform and also a quick intro about building and exporting OUYA packages. So far all slow paced and nicely written.
Real action starts from Chapter 3, in which author walkthrough to first OUYA application and towards end make it to run on hardware itself.
Chapter 4 & 5 are for inputs mainly (both keyboard and touch) and taking action based on inputs. Making marble reacting to player's input and then adding force based on touch dynamics and reading mouse positions in unity3d are some basic elements from these 2 chapters, which are not specific to OUYA, but since Unity3D maps buttons of OUYA controller with input schema, without any additional effort same game is being ported and author has explained it well. Chapter 6 focus on saving data for various game states and highlight OUYA API for the same.
Chapter 7 is dedicated for In App Purchases implementation, an important aspect for any game. While on OUYA every game has to be free to try, at the end every developer would want to add some sort of revenue generation model in game. This chapter guide how to implement purchase screen, make it function and unlock content / feature based on purchases etc. Also there are 2 pages towards end of the chapter which explains which model of monetization to be picked.
Chapter 8 is about polishing, packaging and submission. One of the key part, which is usually not found in many books like how to submit real product to app stores. Author took time to explain core screens, features, audio, camera actions and then how to export package and create game in developer portal.
Chapter 9 is the best part for any Unity3D beginner, even if you are not going to use it for OUYA. It explains about version control, various development methodologies like Agile, Waterfall. Also it covers basic design patterns considering projects with larger code base. Also to make complete use of Unity3D's powerful UI features author has provided intro about shaders, particle effect, GUI skins and physics materials. This last chapter itself is enough for a reason to buy this book.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of the book from Packt Publication. Though this review is not influenced by that. You can grab one from here
Chapter 2 is completely dedicated for setting up Unity3D and installing core development toolchain like Java, Android SDK, ODK and configuring connections. Author took around 15 pages to explain everything for both MacOS X and Windows platform and also a quick intro about building and exporting OUYA packages. So far all slow paced and nicely written.
Real action starts from Chapter 3, in which author walkthrough to first OUYA application and towards end make it to run on hardware itself.
Chapter 4 & 5 are for inputs mainly (both keyboard and touch) and taking action based on inputs. Making marble reacting to player's input and then adding force based on touch dynamics and reading mouse positions in unity3d are some basic elements from these 2 chapters, which are not specific to OUYA, but since Unity3D maps buttons of OUYA controller with input schema, without any additional effort same game is being ported and author has explained it well. Chapter 6 focus on saving data for various game states and highlight OUYA API for the same.
Chapter 7 is dedicated for In App Purchases implementation, an important aspect for any game. While on OUYA every game has to be free to try, at the end every developer would want to add some sort of revenue generation model in game. This chapter guide how to implement purchase screen, make it function and unlock content / feature based on purchases etc. Also there are 2 pages towards end of the chapter which explains which model of monetization to be picked.
Chapter 8 is about polishing, packaging and submission. One of the key part, which is usually not found in many books like how to submit real product to app stores. Author took time to explain core screens, features, audio, camera actions and then how to export package and create game in developer portal.
Chapter 9 is the best part for any Unity3D beginner, even if you are not going to use it for OUYA. It explains about version control, various development methodologies like Agile, Waterfall. Also it covers basic design patterns considering projects with larger code base. Also to make complete use of Unity3D's powerful UI features author has provided intro about shaders, particle effect, GUI skins and physics materials. This last chapter itself is enough for a reason to buy this book.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of the book from Packt Publication. Though this review is not influenced by that. You can grab one from here
July 28, 2014
One could easily say, this book is more than a bit from my usual field of expertise. I’m no game developer (the stuff I was doing while still in school doesn’t count) and I don’t own an OUYA. Well, at least I know a lot about C# which was used as the scripting language in the book. One could also say that because of that I am the target audience for the book.
Still, even with my lack of previous experience, the book starts out really slow; too slow in my eyes. Though this should make it all that more suitable for complete beginners who have never programmed before. C# is explained from the very basics which is quite a challenge considering the small number of pages dedicated to this topic. As a side effect, there are a couple of inaccuracies and over-simplifications, but hopefully readers will grab a more in/depth book about C# and programming afterwards.
Of course, most of the book focuses on Unity and gives a quite thorough overview of the basics through examples which make a lot of sense by the end of the book. The author’s experience with game development definitely shines through in these sample games. There’s also not much OUYA or Android specifics, except for the obvious setup of development environment and instruction on publishing and monetization options. I did get the feeling though, that the book focuses too much on step by step instructions and lacks a bit on the bigger picture, explaining why we’re actually doing all these things and how it works under the cover. Obviously, the reader will again have to find this information in a more advanced book.
I liked a lot, how throughout the book there are many calls to action, giving the reader challenges to complete on his own. But still, this book can really serve only as the first step on the path to becoming a game developer, albeit a good one. The author is aware of that and therefore concludes with a couple of more advanced topics, such as development methodologies, source control, and architectural patterns; probably hoping to make the reader craving for more. I can sincerely recommend the book to anyone, trying to get a glimpse into the world of game development. It’s enough to see if that’s something for you and worth exploring further.
Still, even with my lack of previous experience, the book starts out really slow; too slow in my eyes. Though this should make it all that more suitable for complete beginners who have never programmed before. C# is explained from the very basics which is quite a challenge considering the small number of pages dedicated to this topic. As a side effect, there are a couple of inaccuracies and over-simplifications, but hopefully readers will grab a more in/depth book about C# and programming afterwards.
Of course, most of the book focuses on Unity and gives a quite thorough overview of the basics through examples which make a lot of sense by the end of the book. The author’s experience with game development definitely shines through in these sample games. There’s also not much OUYA or Android specifics, except for the obvious setup of development environment and instruction on publishing and monetization options. I did get the feeling though, that the book focuses too much on step by step instructions and lacks a bit on the bigger picture, explaining why we’re actually doing all these things and how it works under the cover. Obviously, the reader will again have to find this information in a more advanced book.
I liked a lot, how throughout the book there are many calls to action, giving the reader challenges to complete on his own. But still, this book can really serve only as the first step on the path to becoming a game developer, albeit a good one. The author is aware of that and therefore concludes with a couple of more advanced topics, such as development methodologies, source control, and architectural patterns; probably hoping to make the reader craving for more. I can sincerely recommend the book to anyone, trying to get a glimpse into the world of game development. It’s enough to see if that’s something for you and worth exploring further.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews