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Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C#
Master the Unity Game Engine to Design and Develop Games for Web, Mobile, Windows, macOS, and More!
If you want to design and develop games, there’s no substitute for strong hands-on experience with modern techniques and tools―and that is exactly what this book provides. The first edition was frequently the top-selling game design book on Amazon, with more than 70% of the reviews being 5 stars. In a testament to the iterative process of design, this new edition includes hundreds of improvements throughout the text, all designed to make the book easier to understand and even more useful. This book was written with Unity 2017; the book.prototools.net website will cover changes for later versions of the software.
Award-winning game designer and professor Jeremy Gibson Bond has spent more than a decade teaching game design and building great games. In that time, his most successful students have been those who combine knowledge of three critical game design theory, rapid iterative prototyping, and practical programming. In this book, Bond distills the most important aspects of all three disciplines into one place.
Part Game Design and Paper Prototyping
• The Layered Tetrad a synthesis of 50 years of game design theory
• Proven practices for brainstorming and refining game designs through the iterative process of design
• Methods and tools to manage game projects and small teams
• Processes to make playtesting and feedback easier
Part Digital Prototyping with Unity and C#
• Chapters that guide you through learning C# the right way
• Instruction that takes you from no prior programming knowledge through object-oriented programming
• Deep exploration of Unity, today’s most popular game engine on both macOS and Windows
• Methods for understanding and debugging code issues you encounter
Part Game Prototype Examples and Tutorials
• In-depth tutorials for seven different game prototypes, including a simple action game, a space shooter, a solitaire card game, a word game, and a top-down adventure
• Instructions to compile these games for PC, web, or any of the dozens of other release platforms supported by Unity
• Improved structure and layout that makes the steps of each tutorial easier to follow
• A completely new Dungeon Delver prototype not present in the first edition
If you want to design and develop games, there’s no substitute for strong hands-on experience with modern techniques and tools―and that is exactly what this book provides. The first edition was frequently the top-selling game design book on Amazon, with more than 70% of the reviews being 5 stars. In a testament to the iterative process of design, this new edition includes hundreds of improvements throughout the text, all designed to make the book easier to understand and even more useful. This book was written with Unity 2017; the book.prototools.net website will cover changes for later versions of the software.
Award-winning game designer and professor Jeremy Gibson Bond has spent more than a decade teaching game design and building great games. In that time, his most successful students have been those who combine knowledge of three critical game design theory, rapid iterative prototyping, and practical programming. In this book, Bond distills the most important aspects of all three disciplines into one place.
Part Game Design and Paper Prototyping
• The Layered Tetrad a synthesis of 50 years of game design theory
• Proven practices for brainstorming and refining game designs through the iterative process of design
• Methods and tools to manage game projects and small teams
• Processes to make playtesting and feedback easier
Part Digital Prototyping with Unity and C#
• Chapters that guide you through learning C# the right way
• Instruction that takes you from no prior programming knowledge through object-oriented programming
• Deep exploration of Unity, today’s most popular game engine on both macOS and Windows
• Methods for understanding and debugging code issues you encounter
Part Game Prototype Examples and Tutorials
• In-depth tutorials for seven different game prototypes, including a simple action game, a space shooter, a solitaire card game, a word game, and a top-down adventure
• Instructions to compile these games for PC, web, or any of the dozens of other release platforms supported by Unity
• Improved structure and layout that makes the steps of each tutorial easier to follow
• A completely new Dungeon Delver prototype not present in the first edition
1024 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2014
95 people are currently reading
418 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 29, 2015
This is the perfect book for someone wanting to start programming in Unity who has little or no programming experience.
There are some updates to the coding in the book which need to be done, but most are available on the author's website. There is one project which is out of date at this point, but he is working on an update for that section.
This book has three sections with different foci, which can be read in order or as needed depending on skill level.
The first section is mostly theoretical about the nature of games and how to make good and fun games. This is incredibly useful for new game designers and is a good refresher for those experienced in game design.
The second section is about Unity specifically, breaking down how Unity works, the types of coding you will need to be able to do in Unity, and the specifics of a wide range of different important structures and coding.
The third section is a series of increasingly complex game prototypes. These give a wide range of programming experience including a SCHMUP, a physics Castle Crasher/ Angry Birds type game, two card games, a 3 dimensional non-traditional FPS game, and a top-down dungeon exploration game.
None of the projects are very deep, but they give you a lot of tools you can use for your own projects.
The book is also full of references to other books and online resources you can use to further your understanding.
My one complaint about the book is that there are many references to structures which are "outside the scope of this book." All of them are things which it directs you to resources for learning, but as many of them are built into the structures of the games (LINQ for instance), it's a bit frustrating to be using something with only a bare understanding of it. But, that's a pretty small complaint in a book of this wide a breadth.
If you are looking for a book to give you a wide range of knowledge and understanding of Unity, this is the book for you.
If you have some game design experience in board, card, and tabletop games, this book is for you.
If you want in-depth understanding of a specific type of game structure, there are other books which would be better for you.
There are some updates to the coding in the book which need to be done, but most are available on the author's website. There is one project which is out of date at this point, but he is working on an update for that section.
This book has three sections with different foci, which can be read in order or as needed depending on skill level.
The first section is mostly theoretical about the nature of games and how to make good and fun games. This is incredibly useful for new game designers and is a good refresher for those experienced in game design.
The second section is about Unity specifically, breaking down how Unity works, the types of coding you will need to be able to do in Unity, and the specifics of a wide range of different important structures and coding.
The third section is a series of increasingly complex game prototypes. These give a wide range of programming experience including a SCHMUP, a physics Castle Crasher/ Angry Birds type game, two card games, a 3 dimensional non-traditional FPS game, and a top-down dungeon exploration game.
None of the projects are very deep, but they give you a lot of tools you can use for your own projects.
The book is also full of references to other books and online resources you can use to further your understanding.
My one complaint about the book is that there are many references to structures which are "outside the scope of this book." All of them are things which it directs you to resources for learning, but as many of them are built into the structures of the games (LINQ for instance), it's a bit frustrating to be using something with only a bare understanding of it. But, that's a pretty small complaint in a book of this wide a breadth.
If you are looking for a book to give you a wide range of knowledge and understanding of Unity, this is the book for you.
If you have some game design experience in board, card, and tabletop games, this book is for you.
If you want in-depth understanding of a specific type of game structure, there are other books which would be better for you.
August 14, 2021
A thorough coverage of game design and prototyping, and development in Unity. As the book gets longer and the projects get bigger, the "Whys" of the code start disappearing, but overall, pretty complete. Even though the book was targeting Unity 2017, all the examples still work in the latest version of Unity (2021.1.16f at this time)
October 9, 2022
Great Fundamental book for beginning with unity. The authors has great ability to explain the concepts. The book has various useful prototypes that you can get through it easily as you watch Youtube tutorials.
November 21, 2020
Keep the design and prototyping parts, skip the actual C# Unity content.
March 3, 2017
I found the game development aspects really interesting. On the whole I found it a good read which I oftenrefer back to.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews