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Introduction
Why Write This Book
Real-time 3D games have been around for well over ten years now. We’ve all played them, created assets in the style
of our favorites, and maybe even “mod”ed a few of them. But with the Unity game engine leaping ahead in its eort to
provide a free or low-cost means of authoring for desktop, mobile, or console games, the only barrier left to creating
your own games is your level of commitment and the number of hours you are willing or able to devote.
Times have changed. 3D has become aordable not only in the movie industry, as seen by the number of titles
featuring CG (computer graphics), but also in the game industry, where we’ve seen a shift in casual games from 2D
to a 3D format. With Unity’s bold move to oer a robustly featured free version of its engine, a radical change in the
pricing models of the high-end engines has rocked the industry. e cost of the engine is no longer a barrier to taking
your game from a nebulous idea to a working prototype and even on to a marketable product.
Whether your interest is in casual games or you have more ambitious aims, if you have no previous scripting
experience but are eager to bring your art assets and story to life, this may be just the book to get you under way.
In today’s modern game engines, the heavy programming is handled by the engine itself, so the logic and game play
can be scripted by those with more creativity than traditional programming knowledge.
In this book, I will approach game creation and design decisions from a 3D artist’s view, taking the logic and
scripting in small pieces, while introducing artists, budding game designers, and novice programmers to real-time
game engine concepts at the same time.
is book is written in a project-based format, so you will not only end up with a playable game and scripting
resources you can reuse for other games, but you will experience typical design decisions that have to be addressed
throughout the process. You will create your game by starting with the basics and rening it as you add functionality;
I will explain the logic behind certain choices and real-time game concepts as you go along.
e project for this book is based on a rst-person point-and-click adventure game, complete with inventory,
state management, load/save functionality, and a strong emphasis on the visual aspects of game creation. Even if
you are more of a rst-person-shooter-type game enthusiast, you will be able to see how including entertaining or
interesting tasks and features can enhance your favorite genre.
e aim of this project is to introduce you to a logical progression of design decisions and problem solving that
will be of value well beyond the scope of the adventure game genre. It provides a framework and a methodology for
creating and, more important, nishing your own game. You will be going beyond the basic Unity functionality and
use of standard assets to investigate topics rarely covered in online tutorials or books. All of the necessary art assets to
complete the project are provided.
Author’s Note
Several years ago, after taking my class through a race game, a rst-person shooter, and a platform jumper, I decided
that the last mini-project would be a classic adventure game. Much to my surprise, the class got quite motivated with
all of the design decisions and logic involved. As there were no existing tutorials on this genre at the time, we created
the game from the ground up, borrowing scripts from the previous projects, creating several of our own, and drawing
heavily on the knowledge base of the Unity community. is book grew out of that experience, both to ll a need
and to share the adventure with others.
