Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 3D Beginner's Guide

Terry Norton

• Verlag: Packt Publishing
• Jahr: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781849696586
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Computer Science
• Thema: Computer Science General

In Detail

For the absolute beginner to any concept of programming, writing a script can appear to be an impossible hurdle to overcome. The truth is, there are only three simple concepts to understand: 1) having some type of information; 2) using the information; and 3) communicating the information. Each of these concepts is very simple and extremely important. These three concepts are combined to access the feature set provided by Unity.

"Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 3D" assumes that you know nothing about programming concepts. First you will learn the absolute basics of programming using everyday examples that you already know. As you progress through the book, you will find that C# is not a foreign language after all, because you already know the words. With a few keywords and using substitution, before you know it, you'll be thinking in code.

The book starts by explaining in simple terms the three concepts you need for writing C# code and scripts: 1) variables to hold information; 2) methods (functions) to use the information; and 3) Dot Syntax to communicate the information where it's needed. The book builds on these concepts to open up the world of C# coding and Unity scripting. You will use this new power to access the features provided in Unity's Scripting Reference.

The first half of this book is devoted to the code writing beginner. The concepts of variables, methods, Dot Syntax, and decision processing are fully explained. Since C# is an actual programming language, we take advantage of this to develop a State Machine to help control and organize each phase of a Unity project. Once the basic programming concepts are established and we have some State Machine organization, the features and power of Unity are accessed using the Scripting Reference.

The goal of "Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 3D" is to teach to you how to use the Unity Scripting Reference.

Approach

This book uses the learning-by-example approach. It takes simple examples from games to introduce all the main concepts of programming in an easy-to-digest and immediately recognizable way.

Who this book is for

This book is for the total beginner to any type of programming, focusing on the writing of C# code and scripts only. There are many parts that make up the Unity game engine. It is assumed that the reader already knows their way around Unity's user interface. The code editor used in this book is the MonoDevelop editor supplied by Unity.

Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 3D Beginner's Guide

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Table of Contents

Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity 3D Beginner's Guide

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more

Why Subscribe?

Free Access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Time for action – heading

What just happened?

Pop quiz – heading

Have a go hero – heading

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Discovering Your Hidden Scripting Skills

Prerequisite knowledge for using this book

Dealing with scriptphobia

Teaching behaviors to GameObjects

Choosing to use C# instead of UnityScript

Reason 1 for choosing C# – vast amount of documentation on the Internet

Reason 2 for choosing C# – flexibility to use Unity scripts and regular C# code files

Reason 3 for choosing C# – coding rules are specific

Maneuvering around Unity's documentation

Time for action – opening the Reference Manual documentation for the transform Component

What just happened?

Time for action – opening the scripting reference documentation for the transform component

What just happened?

Are we really supposed to know all that stuff?

What is all that information?

Working with C# script files

Time for action – create a C# script file

What just happened?

Introducing the MonoDevelop code editor

Syncing C# files between MonoDevelop and Unity

Time for action – opening LearningScript in MonoDevelop

What just happened?

Watching for a possible "gotcha" when creating script files in Unity

Fixing sync if it isn't working properly

Pop quiz – dealing with scripts

Summary

2. Introducing the Building Blocks for Unity Scripts

Using the term method instead of function

Understanding what a variable does in a script

Naming a variable

A variable name is just a substitute for a value

Time for action – creating a variable and seeing how it works

What just happened?

Time for action – changing the number 9 to a different number

What just happened?

Have a go hero – changing the value of myNumber

Using a method in a script

What is a method?

Time for action – learning how a method works

What's in this script file?

Method names are substitutes too

What just happened?

Have a go hero – changing the output of the method

Introducing the class

By using a little Unity magic, a script becomes a Component

A more technical look at the magic

Even more Unity magic

Have a go hero – finding Start and Update in the Scripting Reference

Components communicating using the Dot Syntax

What's with the dots?

Pop quiz – knowing the C# building blocks

Summary

3. Getting into the Details of Variables

Writing C# statements properly

Understanding Component properties in Unity's Inspector

Variables become Component properties

Unity changes script and variable names slightly

Changing a property's value in the Inspector panel

Displaying public variables in the Inspector panel

Time for action – making a variable private

What just happened?

Naming your variables properly

Begin variable names with lowercase

Using multi-word variable names

Have a go hero – viewing multi-word variables in the Inspector panel

Declaring a variable and its type

The most common built-in variable types

Time for action – assigning values while declaring the variable

What just happened?

Where you declare a variable is important

Variable scope – determining where a variable can be used

Pop quiz – knowing how to declare a variable

Summary

4. Getting into the Details of Methods

Ending a method definition using curly braces

Using methods in a script

Naming methods properly

Begin method names with an uppercase letter

Using multi-word names for a method

Parentheses are part of the method name

Defining a method properly

The minimum requirements for defining a method

Understanding parentheses – why are they there?

Time for action – adding code between the parentheses

What just happened?

Specifying a method's parameters

How many parameters can a method have?

Calling a method

Using arguments in the parentheses of a method

Returning a value from a method

Time for action – returning a value from AddTwoNumbers()

What just happened?

Have a go hero – add two more numbers together

Calling a method is a logic detour

Using Unity's Update and Start methods

The Start method is called one time...