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Unity 5.x Cookbook
Over 100 recipes exploring the new and exciting features of Unity 5 to spice up your Unity skillset
About This BookBuilt on the solid foundation of the popular Unity 4.x Cookbook, the recipes in this edition have been completely updated for Unity 5Features recipes for both 2D and 3D gamesProvides you with techniques for the new features of Unity 5, including the new UI system, 2D game development, new Standard Shaders, and the new Audio MixerWho This Book Is ForFrom beginners to advanced users, from artists to coders, this book is for you and everyone in your team!
Programmers can explore multimedia features, and multimedia developers can try their hand at scripting. Basic knowledge and understanding of the Unity platform, game design principles, and programming knowledge in C# is essential.
What You Will LearnImmerse players with great audio, utilizing Unity 5's audio features including the new Audio Mixer, ambient sound with Reverb Zones, dynamic soundtracks with Snapshots, and balanced audio via DuckingCreate better materials with Unity's new, physically-based, Standard ShaderMeasure and control time, including pausing the game, displaying clocks and countdown timers, and even implementing “bullet time” effectsImprove ambiance through the use of lights and effects such as reflection and light probesCreate stylish user interfaces with the new UI system, including power-bars, clock displays, and an extensible inventory systemSave and load text and media assets from local or remote sources, publish your game via Unity Cloud, and communicate with websites and their databases to create online scoreboardsDiscover advanced techniques, including the publisher-subscriber and state patterns, performance bottleneck identification, and methods to maximize game performance and frame ratesControl 2D and 3D character movement, and use NavMeshAgents to write NPC and enemy behaviors such as seek, flee, flock, and waypoint path followingIn DetailUnity 5 is a flexible and intuitive multiplatform game engine that is becoming the industry's de facto standard. Learn to craft your own 2D and 3D computer games by working through core concepts such as animation, audio, shaders, GUI, lights, cameras, and scripting to create your own games with Unity 5.
Completely re-written to cover the new features of Unity 5, this book is a great resource for all Unity game developers, from those who have recently started using Unity right up to Unity professionals.
The first half of the book focuses on core concepts of 2D game design while the second half focuses on developing 3D game development skills. In the first half, you will discover the new GUI system, the new Audio Mixer, external files, and animating 2D characters in 2D game development. As you progress further, you will familiarize yourself with the new Standard Shaders, the Mecanim system, Cameras, and the new Lighting features to hone your skills towards building 3D games to perfection. Finally, you will learn non-player character control and explore Unity 5's extra features to enhance your 3D game development skills.
Style and approachEach chapter first introduces the topic area and explains how the techniques covered can enhance your games. Every recipe provides step-by-step instructions, followed by an explanation of how it all works, and useful additional refinements or alternative approaches.
About This BookBuilt on the solid foundation of the popular Unity 4.x Cookbook, the recipes in this edition have been completely updated for Unity 5Features recipes for both 2D and 3D gamesProvides you with techniques for the new features of Unity 5, including the new UI system, 2D game development, new Standard Shaders, and the new Audio MixerWho This Book Is ForFrom beginners to advanced users, from artists to coders, this book is for you and everyone in your team!
Programmers can explore multimedia features, and multimedia developers can try their hand at scripting. Basic knowledge and understanding of the Unity platform, game design principles, and programming knowledge in C# is essential.
What You Will LearnImmerse players with great audio, utilizing Unity 5's audio features including the new Audio Mixer, ambient sound with Reverb Zones, dynamic soundtracks with Snapshots, and balanced audio via DuckingCreate better materials with Unity's new, physically-based, Standard ShaderMeasure and control time, including pausing the game, displaying clocks and countdown timers, and even implementing “bullet time” effectsImprove ambiance through the use of lights and effects such as reflection and light probesCreate stylish user interfaces with the new UI system, including power-bars, clock displays, and an extensible inventory systemSave and load text and media assets from local or remote sources, publish your game via Unity Cloud, and communicate with websites and their databases to create online scoreboardsDiscover advanced techniques, including the publisher-subscriber and state patterns, performance bottleneck identification, and methods to maximize game performance and frame ratesControl 2D and 3D character movement, and use NavMeshAgents to write NPC and enemy behaviors such as seek, flee, flock, and waypoint path followingIn DetailUnity 5 is a flexible and intuitive multiplatform game engine that is becoming the industry's de facto standard. Learn to craft your own 2D and 3D computer games by working through core concepts such as animation, audio, shaders, GUI, lights, cameras, and scripting to create your own games with Unity 5.
Completely re-written to cover the new features of Unity 5, this book is a great resource for all Unity game developers, from those who have recently started using Unity right up to Unity professionals.
The first half of the book focuses on core concepts of 2D game design while the second half focuses on developing 3D game development skills. In the first half, you will discover the new GUI system, the new Audio Mixer, external files, and animating 2D characters in 2D game development. As you progress further, you will familiarize yourself with the new Standard Shaders, the Mecanim system, Cameras, and the new Lighting features to hone your skills towards building 3D games to perfection. Finally, you will learn non-player character control and explore Unity 5's extra features to enhance your 3D game development skills.
Style and approachEach chapter first introduces the topic area and explains how the techniques covered can enhance your games. Every recipe provides step-by-step instructions, followed by an explanation of how it all works, and useful additional refinements or alternative approaches.
572 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2015
18 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Matt Smith
16 booksA product of the American midwest, Matt grew up with interests in gaming, computer hardware and writing. After some trial and error, he discovered how to combine these three into a career, and now works as a full time freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon.
Matt has written for numerous publications in the past, including gaming sites such as Thunderbolt, The Escapist and Games Radar. Today he contributes to MakeUseOf as a staff writer, news writer and the assistant editor of MakeUseOf Answers. His love for hardware shows itself in his work for PC Perspective and Digital Trends, where he is responsible for reviewing laptops, tablets and smartphones. If you need buying advice about mobile hardware, he’s your guy.
Besides these professional interests, Matt runs two blogs. One is SmidgenPC, a blog about mobile hardware that he uses to channel his theories, advice and rants. The other is SWTOR Class Guides, which provides tips and advice centered on the character classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Matt has written for numerous publications in the past, including gaming sites such as Thunderbolt, The Escapist and Games Radar. Today he contributes to MakeUseOf as a staff writer, news writer and the assistant editor of MakeUseOf Answers. His love for hardware shows itself in his work for PC Perspective and Digital Trends, where he is responsible for reviewing laptops, tablets and smartphones. If you need buying advice about mobile hardware, he’s your guy.
Besides these professional interests, Matt runs two blogs. One is SmidgenPC, a blog about mobile hardware that he uses to channel his theories, advice and rants. The other is SWTOR Class Guides, which provides tips and advice centered on the character classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 8, 2023
Unity 5x Cookbook covers a broad range of topics, so gives you a good overview of all the features of Unity. I suppose it has the disadvantage of being written, when it's probably easier to learn when watching a video. I feel like many books are a bit simplistic whereas I feel I'm at an intermediate level now. I felt like this book was more aligned with what I was looking for, and I added quite a lot of information to my OneNote. I'd suggest reading a beginner book to gain an understanding of C# scripting and learning some jargon as a prerequisite for this.
There's quite a few typos and maybe these would be corrected if you have an updated book (I downloaded it straight away when I acquired this in a Humble Bundle a few years ago - and not sure if I could update it). I suppose it might be awkward running a spellcheck when there's loads of code blocks with words joined together without spaces, but you would think book companies would have a solution for that problem. Given that it is outdated now, if you want to use some of the sample projects, you will need to make a few changes to replace deprecated methods.
There's quite a few typos and maybe these would be corrected if you have an updated book (I downloaded it straight away when I acquired this in a Humble Bundle a few years ago - and not sure if I could update it). I suppose it might be awkward running a spellcheck when there's loads of code blocks with words joined together without spaces, but you would think book companies would have a solution for that problem. Given that it is outdated now, if you want to use some of the sample projects, you will need to make a few changes to replace deprecated methods.
September 18, 2019
Currently working through as of 20190918. Just finished the first chapter. The lessons are just "do exactly what I do". I do not find it engaging or the content interesting. Personally I think a better way to structure it, without major changes, is to teach the tool then give the reader the task. Ideally encouraging the use of creativity to accomplish the task in addition to the technical technique.
But having said that, the 2018 edition of this book remains useful for 2019 Unity, with the steps leading to the expected results.
But having said that, the 2018 edition of this book remains useful for 2019 Unity, with the steps leading to the expected results.
December 21, 2016
A relatively fine introduction to some specifics and Unity 'patterns', but the book really only scratches the surface, and much of the material is covered in free online tutorials. Would love a book that takes up where the tutorials leave off and explains more best practices than 'we can cludge this together with some tape'.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews