Unity Book Roundup

With the recent (limited time) release of Unity Android and iOS for free, there is bound to be an increase in interest. One starting point is books, of which there are now a few dozen available. This post puts together as much information on a single page as possible to make your selection process as easy as possible. If I missed a book, please let me know as I want this list to be as comprehensive as possible. Coincidentally, things are in alphabetical order… initially.  Books I’ve missed will be added at the end.

This post contains affiliate links; this means if you make a purchase after following one of our links, we may be paid a small commission at no cost to you.


Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity:The World’s Most Widely Used Multiplatform Game Engine

Author: Sue Blackman
Publisher: APress
ISBN: 978-1430234227
Publish Date: May 25/2011
Avg Review Score: 3.5
Pages: 992
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
APress
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: Exploring the Genre
  • Chapter 2: Unity UI Basics – Getting Started
  • Chapter 3: Scripting: Getting Your Feet Wet
  • Chapter 4: Terrain Generation: Creating a Test Environment
  • Chapter 5: Navigation and Functionality
  • Chapter 6: Cursor Control
  • Chapter 7: Action Objects
  • Chapter 8: Managing State
  • Chapter 9: Object Metadata
  • Chapter 10: Message Text
  • Chapter 11: Inventory Logic
  • Chapter 12: Managing the Inventory
  • Chapter 13: Finishing the Basic Functionality
  • Chapter 14: Getting Down to Game
  • Chapter 15: A Maze and the Final Level
  • Chapter 16: Menus and Levels
  • Chapter 17: Beyond the Basics
  • Appendix A: SSE Shader Graphs
  • Appendix B: Key Codes
  • Appendix C: Final Sequence
Publishers Description:
Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity is perfect for those who would like to come to grips with programming Unity. You may be an artist who has learned 3D tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, or Cinema 4D, or you may come from 2D tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. On the other hand, you may just want to familiarize yourself with programming games and the latest ideas in game production.

This book introduces key game production concepts in an artist-friendly way, and rapidly teaches the basic scripting skills you’ll need with Unity. It goes on to show how you, as an independent game artist, can create casual interactive adventure games in the style of Telltale’s Tales of Monkey Island, while also giving you a firm foundation in game logic and design.

The first part of the book explains the logic involved in game interaction, and soon has you creating game assets through simple examples that you can build on and gradually expand.

In the second part, you yourself will build the foundations of a point-and-click style first-person adventure game—including reusable state management scripts, load/save functionality, a robust inventory system, and a bonus feature: a dynamically configured maze and mini-map.

With the help of the provided 2D and 3D content, you’ll learn to evaluate and deal with challenges in bite-sized pieces as the project progresses, gaining valuable problem-solving skills in interactive design.

By the end of the book, you will be able to actively use the Unity 3D game engine, having learned the necessary workflows to utilize your own assets. You will also have an assortment of reusable scripts and art assets with which to build future games.


Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone with Unity: Featuring modo and Blender pipelines

Author: Wes McDermott
Publisher: Focal Press
ISBN: 978-0240815633
Publish Date: Oct 26/2011
Avg Review Score: 4.5
Pages: 272
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Focal Press
book2
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1: Getting to Know the iDevice Hardware and Unity iOS
  • Chapter 2: Creating Game Objects using modo
  • Chapter 3: Understanding Texture and UV Maps
  • Chapter 4: Creating Game Objects using modo ( yes, it’s repeated )
  • Chapter 5: Animation Using Blender
  • Chapter 6: Animation Using Blender ( yes, repeated again )
  • Chapter 7: Animation Using Blender ( yes, repeated again x2 )
  • Chapter 8: Creating Lightmaps using Beast
  • Chapter 9: Working with Game Assets in Unity iOS
  • Creating Tater’s Training Trash Yard
Publishers Description:
Revolutionize your iPhone and iPad game development with Unity iOS, a fully integrated professional application and powerful game engine, which is quickly becoming the best solution for creating visually stunning games for Apple’s iDevices easier, and more fun for artists.  From concept to completion you’ll learn to create and animate using modo and Blender as well as creating a full level utilizing the powerful toolset in Unity iOS as it specifically relates to iPhone and iPad game development.

Follow the creation of “Tater,” a character from the author’s personal game project “Dead Bang,” as he’s used to explain vital aspects of game development and content creation for the iOS platform. Creating 3D Game Art for the iPhone focuses on the key principles of game design and development by covering in-depth, the iDevice hardware in conjunction with Unity iOS and how it relates to creating optimized game assets for the iDevices.

Featuring Luxology’s artist-friendly modo, and Blender, the free open-source 3D app, along side Unity iOS, optimize your game assets for the latest iDevices including iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and the iPod Touch. Learn to model characters and environment assets, texture, animate skinned characters and apply advanced lightmapping techniques using Beast in Unity iOS.

In a clear, motivating, and entertaining style, Wes McDermott offers captivating 3D imagery, real-world observation, and valuable tips and tricks all in one place – this book is an invaluable resource for any digital artist working to create games for the iPhone and iPad using Unity iOS.


Creating Games with Unity and Maya: How to Develop Fun and Marketable 3D Games

Author: Adam Watkins
Publisher: Focal Point
ISBN: 978-0240818818
Publish Date: July 21/2011
Avg Review Score: 5
Pages: 548
Links:
Amazon.com
Not available on Safari
Focal Point
book3
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1 – Game Production Process
  • Chapter 2 – Asset Creation: Maya Scenography Modeling
  • Chapter 3 – Asset Creation: Maya Scenography UV Mapping
  • Chapter 4 – Asset Creation: Maya Scenography Texturing
  • Chapter 5 – Asset Creation: Unity Scenography Importing
  • Chapter 6 – Asset Creation: Unity Scenography Creation Tools
  • Chapter 7 – Lighting, Texturing and Baking
  • Chapter 8 – Asset Creation: Maya Character Creations
  • Chapter 9 – Asset Creation: Maya Character UV and Texture
  • Chapter 10 – Asset Creation: Maya Rigging, Skinning and Animation & Unity Importing and Animation
  • Chapter 11- Unity Sound
  • Chapter 12 – GUI
  • Chapter 13 – Unity Script: Syntax
  • Chapter 14 – Unity Script: Triggers
  • Chapter 15 – Unity Script: Inputs, Raycasting and Manipulating
  • Chapter 16 – Unity Script: Prefabs and Instantiation
  • Chapter 17 – Unity GUI and Scripting
  • Chapter 18 – Unity Distribution: Builds
  • Appendix A – Setting Projects with Maya
  • Appendix B – Emmisive Material Light Baking
  • Appendix C – Preparing Character Style Sheets
  • Appendix D – Unity Asset Server

Publishers Description:
Unity brings you ever closer to the “author once, deploy anywhere” dream. With its multiplatform capabilities, you can target desktop, web, mobile devices, and consoles using a single development engine. Little wonder that Unity has quickly become the #1 game engine out there.

Mastering Unity is absolutely essential in an increasingly competitive games market where agility is expected, yet until now practical tutorials were nearly impossible to find.

Creating Games with Unity and Maya gives you an end-to-end solution for Unity game development with Maya. Written by a twelve-year veteran of the 3D animation and games industry and professor of 3D animation, this book takes you step-by-step through the process of developing an entire game from scratch-including coding, art, production, and deployment.

This accessible guide provides a “non-programmer” entry point to the world of game creation. Aspiring developers with little or no coding experience will learn character development in Maya, scripts, GUI interface, and first- and third-person interactions.

–Unity is HOT! It’s the #1 game engine out there, and it’s taken the game world by storm. Documentation is hard to find. Focal to the rescue. Learn Unity from the ground up. Build a game with no previous scripting knowledge, and make a game that’s fun.

–Authoritative – Author, Adam Watkins, is a 12 year veteran and author of several books and over 100 articles on 3D Animation. His students are the winners of multiple national and international animation awards and festivals. With this experience comes great insight into the best ways to learn 3D art and gaming concepts.

–Accessible to All Unity users (artists and programmers) – the author comes from an art background. He animated for many years before working in games. This provides a “non-programmer” entry point to the world of game creation.

–Complete – this volume provides instruction from game inception to completion and delivery. The 3D creation and export begins, but applied functionality and delivery complete the book. In the course of the book, the reader will create effective and efficient 3D assets from scratch using Maya (including characters). Then, use these assets to create a functioning game complete with scripts, GUI interfaces, and first and third person interactions.

–Companion website includes: original versions of the images, all completed files from the tutorials, important links, and all code from the book.


Developpez des jeux 3D avec Unity

Author: Will Goldstone
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN: 978-2744024269
Publish Date: July 1/2010
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 300
Links:
Amazon.com
Not on Safari
Pearson
book4
Table of Contents:
  • Bienvenue dans la troisième dimension
  • Environnements
  • Personnages jouables
  • Interactions
  • Eléments préfabriqués, collection et HUD
  • Instanciation et corps rigides
  • Systèmes de particules
  • Conception de menus
  • Dernières retouches
  • Compilation et partage
  • Procédures de tests et lectures complémentaires
Publishers Description:
Unity est une petite révolution : outil de développement 3D et moteur de jeux, il permet de produire simplement, grâce à une interface d’intégration d’objets et de scripts très intuitive, des jeux de standard professionnel pour Mac, PC et le Web. Une version du moteur existant également pour la Wii, l’iPhone et l’Android, il offre un accès aux consoles et aux mobiles une fois que vous en maîtrisez les bases.

Ce livre vous explique tout ce qu’il faut savoir pour prendre en main Unity et être en mesure de développer ses propres jeux. Il propose un ensemble d’exemples faciles qui vous conduiront à la réalisation d’un jeu de tir à la première personne (FPS) en 3D sur une île – un environnement avec lequel le joueur pourra interagir. Partant des concepts communs aux jeux et à la production 3D, vous verrez comment utiliser Unity pour créer un personnage jouable et comment réaliser des énigmes que le joueur devra résoudre pour terminer la partie.

À la fin de ce livre, vous disposerez d’un jeu en 3D entièrement fonctionnel et de toutes les compétences requises pour en poursuivre le développement et proposer à l’utilisateur final, le joueur, la meilleure expérience vidéo-ludique possible.


Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity

Author: Chris Totten
Publisher: Sybex
ISBN: 978-1118172728
Publish Date: Coming July 2012
Avg Review Score: Not released
Pages: 352
Links:
Amazon.com
Not on Safari
Sybex/Wiley
book5
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1: Basic Game Art Concepts
  • Chapter 2: Blender Basics for Game Characters
  • Chapter 3: Modeling the Character
  • Chapter 4: Prepping for Zombie Details with UV Unwrapping
  • Chapter 5: Sculpting for Normal Maps
  • Chapter 6: Digital Painting Color Maps
  • Chapter 7: Rigging for Realistic Movement
  • Chapter 8: Animating the Zombie
  • Chapter 9: Unity Engine Basics
  • Chapter 10: Implementing your Zombie in a Unity Game
Publishers Description:
Creating viable game characters requires a combination of skills. This book teaches game creators how to create usable, realistic game assets using the power of an open-source 3D application and a free game engine. It presents a step-by-step approach to modeling, texturing, and animating a character using the popular Blender software, with emphasis on low polygon modeling and an eye for using sculpting and textures, and demonstrates how to bring the character into the Unity game engine.

  • Game creation is a popular and productive pursuit for both hobbyists and serious developers; this guide brings together two effective tools to simplify and enhance the process
  • Artists who are familiar with Blender or other 3D software but who lack experience with game development workflow will find this book fills important gaps in their knowledge
  • Provides a complete tutorial on developing a game character, including modeling, UV unwrapping, sculpting, baking displacements, texturing, rigging, animation, and export
  • Emphasizes low polygon modeling for game engines and shows how to bring the finished character into the Unity game engine

Whether you’re interested in a new hobby or eager to enter the field of professional game development, this book offers valuable guidance to increase your skills.


Game Development with Unity

Author: Michelle Menard
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
ISBN: 978-1435456587
Publish Date: Januard 19/2011
Avg Review Score: 3.5
Pages: 352
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Course Technology PTR
book6
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • An Overview of the Unity Engine
  • Your First Game: Where to start?
  • Setting the Stage with Terrain
  • Building Your Environment: Importing Basic Custom Assets
  • Creating Characters
  • Scripting in Unity
  • Writing the Character and State Controller Scripts
  • Hooking Up the Animations
  • Using Triggers and Creating Environment Interactions
  • Building Adversaries and AI
  • Designing the Game’s GUI
  • Creating Lighting and Shadows
  • Using Particle Systems
  • Adding Audio and Music
  • Basic Unity Debugging and Optimization
  • Creating the final build
  • Appendix A: Shortcuts and Hotkeys
  • Appendix B: Common Classes
  • Appendix C: Going Forward
  • Appendix D: Resources and References
  • Appendix E: Glossary
Publishers Description:
GAME DEVELOPMENT WITH UNITY shows you how to use the Unity game engine, a multiplatform engine and editor in one, to build games that can be played on just about any platform available, from the web to the Wii and even on smartphones. Unity’s simple interface, friendly development environment, and wide-ranging support of all popular gaming platforms make it perfect for new developers or those looking to create games with an easy, efficient, and inexpensive game engine. Throughout the book you’ll learn all the important interface commands, how to set up and organize your project, and all the basics of getting a 3D game up and running, from character importation to scripting to audio. Basic game and level design theory are taught in tandem with specific skills so you can build your game development skill set. The book is divided into five parts, with each chapter within a part covering a single concept, and new concepts are taught using step-by-step tutorials and questions, as well as through a comprehensive game project built throughout the book. GAME DEVELOPMENT WITH UNITY covers everything from building game assets, to adding interactivity, to polishing your finished game and publishing it, and provides you with all the information you need to create your own games using Unity.

Holistic Game Development with Unity: An All-in-One Guide to Implementing Game Mechanics, Art, Design and Programming

Author: Penny de Byl
Publisher: Focal Press
ISBN: 978-0240819334
Publish Date: Nov 29/2011
Avg Review Score: 4.5
Pages: 504
Links:
Amazon.com
Not on Safar
Focal Press
book7
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1 The Art of Programming Mechanics
  • Real-World Mechanics
  • Animation Mechanics
  • Game Rules and Mechanics
  • Character Mechanics
  • Player Mechanics
  • Environmental Mechanics
  • Mechanics for External Forces
Publishers Description:
The independent developer has ascended, and the new business model demands agility. You have to be able to work on all aspects of game creation, and your team’s game will publish directly to platforms like Android, iPhone, and Facebook. You’ll use Unity, the hottest game engine out there, to do it. In order to earn your place on the elite development team, you must master both sides of the development coin: art and programming.

Holistic Game Development with Unity is an authoritative guide to creating games in Unity. Taking you through game design, programming, and art, Penny de Byl uses a holistic approach to equip you with the multidisciplinary skills you need for the independent games industry. With this book, you will master essential digital art and design principles while learning the programming skills necessary to build interactivity into your games. The tutorials will put these skills into action. The companion website offers: source code for completed projects from the book, art assets, instructional videos, a forum, author blog and lesson plans and challenge questions for professors.

Examines art and programming in unison-the only one-stop shop for individual developers and small teams looking to tackle both tasks.

Examines art and programming in unison-the only one-stop shop for individual developers and small teams looking to tackle both tasks. Teaches, using proven, step-by-step tutorials, how to design and structure and entire game in Unity with art assets created in Blender. Presents a gentle introduction to essential 2D and 3D mathematical and physics concepts. Provides a portfolio of reusable game mechanics. Companion website offers source code for completed projects featured in the book, art assets, instructional videos, author blog, and discussion forum, as well as lesson plans and challenge questions for professors.


iPad Multiplayer Magic

Author: Michael Duggan
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
ISBN: 978-1435459649
Publish Date: Dec 22/2011
Avg Review Score: None available
Pages: 291
Links:
Amazon.com
Not on Safari
book8
Table of Contents:
  • Brief History of Gaming and What You Need to Know
  • Game Design Principles
  • Your Grimoire to the iPad
  • Unity Quick-Start Spellbook
  • Crafting a Unity Game
  • Crafting a Multiplayer Online Game with Unity
  • Mixing the Brew Together
  • What’s Next
  • Appendix: Online Resources
  • Glossary
Publishers Description:
iPad Multiplayer Magic is a full-color, beginner’s guide to developing multiplayer games for iOS devices–specifically the iPad. You don’t need previous iOS or Macintosh application development experience to get started all you need is a Mac, an iPad, and this book. IPAD MULTIPLAYER MAGIC distills hundreds of Apple documentations down to the nitty gritty, glossing over concepts you don’t need to know to get started. This book also acts as a guide to using Unity iOS, a complex and versatile game authoring tool that makes developing multiplayer games for iOS devices faster and less of a hassle. Along the way, you will be introduced to several other game editors that can be used to make games for the iPad. Code examples are included throughout the book, and all of the sample code can be downloaded from the companion website. By the time you have finished reading IPAD MULTIPLAYER MAGIC, you will have traveled the path from being a novice or someone who doesn’t know anything about mobile game development to being someone who can crank out a respectable, playable game for the iPad all on your own.

Note: Not exclusively about Unity


iPhone 3D Game Programming All In One

Author: Jeremy Alessi
Publisher: Course Technology PTR
ISBN: 978-1430234227
Publish Date: June 17,2010
Avg Review Score: 3.5
Pages: 415
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Course Technology PTR
book9
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1. Ready, Fire, Aim!
  • Chapter 2. Apple’s Ring, Apple’s Rope
  • Chapter 3. Unity Fundamentals
  • Chapter 4. Creating the Perfect Concept
  • Chapter 5. The Strengths and Weaknesses of the iPhone’s Unique Input Interface
  • Chapter 6. Concept Art
  • Chapter 7. Prototyping
  • Chapter 8. Play Testing and Iterating
  • Chapter 9. Production Art
  • Chapter 10. Tying Up Loose Ends
  • Chapter 11. Shipping and Handling Extra
Publishers Description:
This is a complete guide to iPhone and iPod Touch game development. Beginning with the basics and ending with a finished game published in the App store this book covers all the fundamentals. The combined strength of Unity and the iPhone development platform are used to full effect allowing even complete novices to create and publish an iPhone game.

NOTE: Not exclusively about Unity


Professional Unity and C#: Multi-Platform 3D Game Development

Author(s): Deniz Opal

Sean McCracken

Mike Renwick

Publisher: Wrox
ISBN: 978-1118063378
Publish Date: July 17, 2012
Avg Review Score: Not released yet
Pages: 740
Links:
Amazon.com  ****CURRENTLY NOT WORKING! ****
Not on Safari
Wrox
Book10
Table of Contents:
  • Not yet released, coming July 17/2012
  • UPDATE 9/14/2012: This book’s status is currently unknown, it is still on Amazon CA and UK, but has been pulled from .COM.  Will update when I have further details, or will remove if this book is no more.
Publishers Description:
As a dynamic, graphically rich 3D game engine, Unity3D stands out from its competitors by working on nearly every desktop and mobile platform. This book is the first to offer professional-level programming of Unity using C#. You begin with learning how to install Unity3D and gradually move on to more advanced coding topics in C#. Each object is introduced, applied to the code, demonstrated through examples, and added to an example game that is built upon throughout the book.

By the end of the book, you will be encouraged to create a game and upload it to a site where other users can view and comment, cultivating the learning process through dialog and interaction.

  • Explains how to maximize advanced capabilities of Unity3D for programming games
  • Highlights techniques for creating shaders, which manipulate the way graphics are rendered by the game engine
  • Extends the reach of the book by discussing how Unity3D is an ideal way to break into the social web market
  • Demystifies Unity3D co-routines and the yield statement in a clear and concise manner

Whether you use this book as a tutorial or reference manual for working with Unity3D and C#, you will most certainly find it to be invaluable.


Unity 3 Blueprints – A Practical Guide to Indie Games Development

Author: Craig Stevenson
Publisher: Deep Pixel Publishing
ISBN: 978-0956888709
Publish Date: May 16/2011
Avg Review Score: 4.5
Pages: 216
Links:
Amazon.com
Not on Safari
Deep Pixel Publishing
book11
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1 – Setting Up Our Development Environment
  • Chapter 2 – Heiro Match – Part 1
  • Chapter 3 – Heiro Match – Part 2
  • Chapter 4 – Ace Invaders – Part 1
  • Chapter 5 – Ace Invaders – Part 2
  • Chapter 6 – Temple Defense – Part 1
  • Chapter 7 – Temple Defense – Part 2
  • Chapter 8 – Furry Hurry – Part 1
  • Chapter 9 – Furry Hurry – Part 2
  • Chapter 10 – Moving to the next level
Publishers Description:
Unity3 is an amazing game development tool being used around the world by professional, indie and bedroom game developers. This hands-on blueprints book is designed to get to the heart of Unity 3 development by showing you how to create 4 classic games with a Unity twist. All the code and the high quality game art assets are available from the Deep Pixel website so you can build the games yourself or customize your own projects! This book is aimed at indie game developers and artists who want to develop winning video games. This book will assume no prior knowledge of Unity or game creation in general, but you should be comfortable in development environments and have some knowledge of scripting (a refresher will be provided). This book uses JavaScript as the example language. Games: Match the Pairs, Top-Down Shooter, Tower Defense, Marble Madness. Play all the games and download all the code now from the Deep Pixel website.

Unity 3 Game Development Hotshot

Author: Jate Wittaybundit
Publisher: PAckt Publishing
ISBN: 978-1849691123
Publish Date: Aug 26/2011
Avg Review Score: 3.5
Pages: 380
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Packt Publishing
book12
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1 – Develop a Sprite and Platform Game
  • Chapter 2 – Create a Menu for an RPG Game – Add Power ups, Weapons and Armor
  • Chapter 3 – Model and Shade your Hero/Heroine
  • Chapter 4 – Add Character Control and Animation to our Hero/Heroine
  • Chapter 5 – Build a Rocket Launcher!
  • Chapter 6 – Forge a Destructible and Interactive Virtual World
  • Chapter 7 – Lt the World See the Carnage! Save, Load and Post High Scores
  • Appendix A. Important Functions
  • Appendix B. Coroutines and Yield
  • Appendix C. Major Differences between C# and Unity Javascript
  • Appendix D. Shaders and Cg/HLSL Programming
Publishers Description:
Using a project based approach you will learn the coolest aspects of Unity3D game development. Each project contains step- by-step explanations, diagrams, screenshots, and downloadable materials. This book is for users who already have some basic knowledge of how to use the Unity3D game engine and intermediate users who want to explore Unity 3D above and beyond the basic techniques.

Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials

Author: Will Goldstone
Publisher: Packt Publishing
ISBN: 978-1849691444
Publish Date: Dec 20/2011
Avg Review Score: 5
Pages: 488
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Packt Publishing
book13
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Chapter 1 – Enter the Third Dimension
  • Chapter 2 – Prototyping and Scripting Basics
  • Chapter 3 – Creating the Environment
  • Chapter 4 – Player Characters and Further Scripting
  • Chapter 5 – Interactions
  • Chapter 6 – Collection, Inventory and HUD
  • Chapter 7 – Instantiation and Rigidbodies
  • Chapter 8 – Particle Systems
  • Chapter 9 – Designing Menus
  • Chapter 10 – Animation Basics
  • Chapter 11 – Performance Tweaks and Finishing Touches
  • Chapter 12 – Building and Sharing
  • Chapter 13 – Testing and Further Study
  • Glossary
Publishers Description:
Game Development with C# and JavaScript

Build fully functional, professional 3D games with realistic environments, sound, dynamic effects, and more!

  • Kick start your game development, and build ready-to-play 3D games with ease.
  • Understand key concepts in game design including scripting, physics, instantiation, particle effects, and more.
  • Test & optimize your game to perfection with essential tips-and-tricks.
  • Written in clear, plain English, this book takes you from a simple prototype through to a complete 3D game with concepts you’ll reuse throughout your new career as a game developer.
  • Learn game development in Unity version 3 and above, and learn scripting in either C# or JavaScript

In Detail

Game Engines such as Unity are the power-tools behind the games we know and love. Unity is one of the most widely-used and best loved packages for game development and is used by everyone, from hobbyists to large studios, to create games and interactive experiences for the web, desktop, mobile, and console. With Unity’s intuitive, easy to learn toolset and this book – it’s never been easier to become a game developer.

Taking a practical approach, this book will introduce you to the concepts of developing 3D games, before getting to grips with development in Unity itself – prototyping a simple scenario, and then creating a larger game. From creating 3D worlds to scripting and creating game mechanics you will learn everything you’ll need to get started with game development.

This book is designed to cover a set of easy-to-follow examples, which culminate in the production of a First Person 3D game, complete with an interactive island environment. All of the concepts taught in this book are applicable to other types of game, however, by introducing common concepts of game and 3D production, you’ll explore Unity to make a character interact with the game world, and build puzzles for the player to solve, in order to complete the game. At the end of the book, you will have a fully working 3D game and all the skills required to extend the game further, giving your end-user, the player, the best experience possible. Soon you will be creating your own 3D games with ease!


Unity 3.x Game Development by Example

Author: Ryan Henson Creighton
Publisher: Packt Publishing
ISBN: 978-1849691840
Publish Date: Sept 23/2011
Avg Review Score: 4.5
Pages: 408
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Packt Publishing
book14
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Chapter 1 – That’s One Fancy Hammer!
  • Chapter 2 – Let’s Start with the Sky
  • Chapter 3 – Game 1: Ticker Taker
  • Chapter 4 – Code Comfort
  • Chapter 5 – Game #2: Robot Repair
  • Chapter 6 – Game #2: Robot Repair Part 2
  • Chapter 7 – Don’t Be a Clock Blocker
  • Chapter 8 – Ticker Taker
  • Chapter 9 – Game #3: The Break-Up
  • Chapter 10 – Game #3: The Break-Up Part 2
  • Chapter 11 – Game #4: Shoot the Moon
  • Chapter 12 – Action!
  • References
Publishers Description:
The book takes a clear, step-by-step approach to building small, simple game projects. It focuses on short, attainable goals so that the reader can finish something, instead of trying to create a complex RPG or open-world game that never sees the light of day. This book encourages readers hungry for knowledge. It does not go into gory detail about how every little knob and dial functions – that’s what the software manual is for! Rather, this book is the fastest path from zero to finished game using the Unity game engine. If you’ve ever wanted to develop games, but have never felt “smart” enough to deal with complex programming, this book is for you. It’s also a great kick-start for developers coming from other tools like Flash, Unreal Engine, and Game Maker Pro.

Unity iOS Essentials

Author: Robert Wiebe
Publisher: Packt Publishing
ISBN: 978-1849691826
Publish Date: Dec 8, 2011
Avg Review Score: 3
Pages: 358
Links:
Amazon.com
Safari Books Online
Packt Publishing
book15
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Chapter 1 – Planning Ahead for a Unity3D iOS Game
  • Chapter 2 – iOS Performance Guide
  • Chapter 3 – Advanced Game Concepts
  • Chapter 4 – Flyby Background
  • Chapter 5 – Scalable Sliding GUIs
  • Chapter 6 – Preferences and Game State
  • Chapter 7 – The Need for Speed
  • Chapter 8 – Making it real
  • Chapter 9 – Putting it all Together
Publishers Description:
Develop high performance, fun iOS games using Unity 3D

  • Learn key strategies and follow practical guidelines for creating Unity 3D games for iOS devices.
  • Learn how to plan your game levels to optimize performance on iOS devices using advanced game concepts.
  • Full of tips, scripts, shaders, and complete Unity 3D projects to guide you through game creation on iOS from start to finish.

In Detail

Unity is the perfect tool for creating games for a number of platforms. Whether it’s for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or some combination of the three, this book takes a practical approach which maximizes performance while maintaining maximum compatibility across the entire mobile device line up.

Unity iOS Essentials takes you through all aspects of Unity 3D game development for iOS. Mobile game development means thinking about mobile performance, multiple device screen resolutions, deploying a single application to multiple devices, understanding .NET integration, taking advantage of advanced lighting and culling systems, and integrating a mobile game with a server back end. This comprehensive book on developing Unity 3D games for iOS covers it all and demonstrates the concepts using practical tips, scripts, shaders, and projects.

Learn how to plan for supporting multiple iOS devices before you start writing your first script. Consider performance and advanced game topics that will speed up your game development while solving real world problems. Add GUIs, use sophisticated .NET programming concepts, and examine scripts and shaders, interact with servers, and interact with projects that deal with real issues. Unity iOS Essentials provides you with a fully illustrated and fully commented guide for realising your game idea using advanced concepts that work on the iOS family of mobile devices.


Unity iOS Game Development

Author: Gregory Pierce
Publisher: Packt Publishing
ISBN: 978-1849690409
Publish Date: Feb 23/2012
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 314
Links:
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Packt Publishing
book16
Table of Contents:
  • Chapter 1 – What is Unity and why should I care?
  • Chapter 2 – Getting Up and Running
  • Chapter 3 – Hello World
  • Chapter 4 – Unity Concept
  • Chapter 5 – Scripting: Whose line is it anyway?
  • Chapter 6 – Our Game: Battle Cry!
  • Chapter 7 – Input: Let’s Get Moving!
  • Chapter 8 – Multimedia
  • Chapter 9 – User Interface
  • Chapter 10 – Gameplay Scripting
  • Chapter 11 – Debugging and Optimization
  • Chapter 12 – Commercialization: Make ‘fat loot’ from your Creation
  • Appendix A. Pop quiz – Answers
Publishers Description:
Develop iOS games from concept to cash flow using Unity.

  • Dive straight into game development with no previous Unity or iOS experience
  • Work through the entire lifecycle of developing games for iOS
  • Add multiplayer, input controls, debugging, in app and micro payments to your game
  • Implement the different business models that will enable you to make money on iOS games

In Detail

Would you like to create money making games for iOS? If so, Unity iOS Game Development Beginners Guideis for you. It will guide you through the entire creative process of designing a game through to making money from it.

This book will teach you the secrets of building and monetizing games for the iOS platform using the latest version of Unity. The book is linear and progressive so every chapter builds upon the knowledge of the last. You will learn Unity and the iOS basics necessary to get started. You will design a game for the iOS. You will build that game feature by feature. Finally you will publish your game and add the features that will enable your game to generate revenue.

You have never built anything using Unity or iOS so we will begin with the basics. We will then move onto the basic features of a game: scenes, AI, characters, accelerometer, and input methods. Once you have mastered this we will begin the creation of our game – a 3rd person perspective dungeon crawler game inspired by the arcade game called Gauntlet. You will bring AAA quality to the game by adding co-op multiplayer so that your friends can join in and participate in the game. You will also add occlusion culling and beastmap lighting. Next you will integrate the game with some 3rd party services for advertisements, micro transactions, and in app purchasing. You will also integrate with Game Center. Finally you will publish your game for the entire world to see.


Unity 3.x Scripting

Author: Volodymyr Gerasimov

Devon Kraczla

Publisher: Packt Publishing
ISBN: 978-1849692304
Publish Date: April 2012
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 250
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Table of Contents:
  • Not available yet
Publishers Description:
  • Make your characters interact with buttons and program triggered action sequences
  • Create custom characters and code dynamic objects and players’ interaction with them
  • Synchronize movement of character and environmental objects
  • Add and control animations to new and existing characters
  • Written in simple and step-by-step format with real life examples, this book is the only one in the market to focus on Unity Scripting

What you will learn from this book

  • Use available scripts that readers can use to create default character controller
  • Attach default character controller scripts to an existing game object
  • Set-up your own camera and character controller rigs through code
  • Code dynamic and static objects like bio gun, ammo, health, character stat augmentation, treasure chests and make your character interact with them
  • Create character item slots along with inventories, where players will be able to drag and drop different item icons in the inventory slots
  • Attach existing animation scripts to characters and objects and create new ones
  • Assign and equip selected items on a player or object, making them active and useable like adding fire functionality to a bio gun
  • Create and maintain scores to control character objectives and save game data
  • Setup a system to control transition between scenes and transferring objects from one scene to another along with instantiation for characters
  • Deal with 2D and 3D parallax backgrounds
  • Create an audio game controller to fix sound overlapping and create background audio stems
  • Basics of enemy AI, such as path-finding and creating distinct enemy behavior and their awareness

Game Development for iOS with Unity3D

Author: Jeff W. Murray
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 978-1439892190
Publish Date: June 26, 2012
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 30
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CRC Press
UnityBook18
Table of Contents:
  • Designing Your Game
  • Getting Set Up for iOS and Development
  • Setting Up Unity and Your Mac for iOS Development
  • Basics of the Unity Editor
  • 3D Graphics for Unity iOS Games
  • Making a Game for Unity iOS #1 – The Ball Game
  • Making a Game for Unity iOS #2 – Happy Sparrows Game
  • Debugging and Script Optimization
  • Optimizing Assets for File Size and Performance
  • Publishing to the App Store
  • Thinking Outside the Box
Publishers Description:
Features
  • Presents practical, proven techniques for developing games for mobile platforms
  • Includes information on how to get your app into the Apple app store
  • Provides two sample iOs games to explore and adapt
  • Uses the Unity game engine
Summary

This hands-on guide delivers production-proven techniques and valuable tips and tricks needed to plan, build, test, and launch full 3D games for the iPhone, iPod, or iPad all the way to the Apple app store. It walks you through all the necessary procedures and features two iOS-ready games to explore, adapt, and play. The text presents all of the information necessary for beginning and intermediate users to build and publish iOS games using Unity Beginner. Topics covered include game design, 3D graphics, debugging, script optimization, and optimizing assets for file size and performance.


Essential 3D Game Programming

Author: Michael L Crosswell
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
ISBN: 978-0123751034
Publish Date: Feb 15,2013
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 464
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Game Development: Using Unity and C#
Table of Contents:
  • Rough form only ( there is something very odd about this book, has been since it was initially announced! ):
  • Introduction
  • Essential 3D Review
  • Review C# Language
  • Unity Components
  • Common Mathematics and Physics used in 3D
  • Essential 3D Paradigms
  • Artifical Intelligence
  • 2D Look in a 3D Engine
Publishers Description:
The book provides a comprehensive introduction to object-oriented game development using the C# language option in the Unity Game Engine via its very high-level, and simultaneously, deep API.  The book will include learning how to use and prepare and integrate assets such as 3D models, 2D textures and images, sprites, animations, music, video and others.  It will also show you how to plan and create scenes and work with physics and colliders.  But the real fun comes with learning to use write custom code to dynamically control these assets to create highly interactive games.

    • A guide for programmers on how to create and implement a full 3D game – with hands-on exercises on complex 3D game programming
    • Covers all essential elements: planning,  models, textures and animation, scenes and levels, audio, user interface, physics and simple AI (state machines), and other fun topics, like frame-distributed recursion.
    • Includes example Unity Projects and Scenes with C# (script files) using Unity’s built-in Modo IDE.

3D Games with Unity and Monetization Leadbolt

Author: Annie Leng
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
ISBN: B0091CVDCC (ASIN)
Publish Date: Aug, 2012
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 37
Links:
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unitymon
Table of Contents:
  • Not available – e-book only.
Publishers Description:
This book will show you how to make money with your Android games written with the Unity game engine. It takes you step-by-step on how to integrate the Leadbolt Ad SDK into Unity. Leadbolt is one of the main monetization platform for games written in Android. Unfortunately there are no clearcut instructions anywhere to help you get started. It is hoped that this book will fulfil that void. Game sales on the Android platform are quite poor as most users prefer to download free games. Ad networks like Leadbolt enable the developer to make money via ads while giving away their games for free. It is assumed that you already have a Unity game ready to publish and are already familiar with basic Unity scripting.

Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity 4

Author: Sue Blackman
Publisher: APress
ISBN: 978-1430248996
Publish Date: March 13, 2013
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 850
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Apress
Beginning 3d Game Development With Unity: All-in-one, Mult-platform Game Development
Table of Contents:
  • Not available yet.
Publishers Description:
Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity is perfect for those who would like to come to grips with programming Unity. You may be an artist who has learned 3D tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, or Cinema 4D, or you may come from 2D tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. On the other hand, you may just want to familiarize yourself with programming games and the latest ideas in game production.
This book introduces key game production concepts in an artist-friendly way, and rapidly teaches the basic scripting skills you’ll need with Unity. It goes on to show how you, as an independent game artist, can create casual interactive adventure games in the style of Telltale’s Tales of Monkey Island, while also giving you a firm foundation in game logic and design.

  • The first part of the book explains the logic involved in game interaction, and soon has you creating game assets through simple examples that you can build upon and gradually expand.
  • In the second part, you’ll build the foundations of a point-and-click style first-person adventure game—including reusable state management scripts, load/save functionality, a robust inventory system, and a bonus feature: a dynamically configured maze and mini-map.
  • With the help of the provided 2D and 3D content, you’ll learn to evaluate and deal with challenges in bite-sized pieces as the project progresses, gaining valuable problem-solving skills in interactive design.

By the end of the book, you will be able to actively use the Unity 3D game engine, having learned the necessary workflows to utilize your own assets. You will also have an assortment of reusable scripts and art assets with which to build future games.


Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Development

Author: Philip Chu
Publisher: APress
ISBN: 978-1430248750
Publish Date: March 13, 2013
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 300
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Apress
Table of Contents:
  • A Unity Tour
  • Making a Scene
  • Making it Move
  • Let’s Bowl! Physics and Controls
  • Let’s play! Scripting the Game
  • The game GUI
  • Using unity iOS
  • Building for Real: Device testing and App Submission
  • Optimize for Quality
  • Third-Party Plugins
  • Third-Party Packages
  • Game Center
  • Submitting the App
  • iAds, Tracking Revenue and Promoting Your App
Publishers Description:
Unity is an incredibly powerful and popular game creation tool, and Unity 4 brings even more great features, including Mechanim animation. Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Development will show you how to use Unity with Xcode to create fun, imaginative 3D games for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You’ll learn how to optimize your game for both speed and quality, how to test and profile your game, and how to get the most out of your iOS device features, including the gyroscope and accelerometer.

You’ll also learn how to incorporate the latest Game Center improvements in iOS 6 into your game, how to make sure your game gets into the App Store, and even how to promote your app and track revenue.

If you have a great 3D game idea, and you want to make it a reality in the App Store, then Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Developmenthas exactly what you need.

What you’ll learn

How to build, debug and test a Unity iOS game
How to include iAds
How to integrate Game Center leaderboards and achievements
How to process touch, accelerometer and gyroscope input
How to profile and optimize performance
How to promote your app and track its revenue

Who this book is for

iOS developers interested in using Unity and Unity developers who want to customize their games for iOS devices.


Unity 4.x Cookbook

Author: Matt Smith

Chico Queiroz

Publisher: Packt
ISBN: 978-1849690423
Publish Date: March, 2013
Avg Review Score: N/A
Pages: 400
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Packt Press
Table of Contents:
  • Not yet available
Publishers Description:
  • A wide range of topics are covered, ranging in complexity, offering something for every Unity 4 game developer
  • Every recipe provides step-by-step instructions, followed by an explanation of how it all works, and alternative approaches or refinements
  • Book developed with the latest version of Unity (4.x)

What you will learn from this book

  • Enhance your character`s animation in real time using Unity`s new Mecanim system
  • Measure and control time, including pausing the game, displaying clocks and countdown timers, and even implementing “bullet time” effects
  • Work with cameras, images, and the Shuriken practical system, to create mini-maps, control zooming, and depth of field, and switch between cameras
  • Define materials for reflections, transparency, specular and self-illumination of materials, and cloudy outdoor effects
  • Use artificial intelligence techniques to make non-player character objects seek, follow, flee each other, or follow a waypoint sequence, and even flock together like a herd of animals
  • Make your game communicate with Microsoft Kinect cameras, for control of game characters, and even to record your own motion capture
  • Improve GUIS with real-time radars, custom mouse cursors, analogue and digital clocks, color section dialogs, mouse over material highlighting, graphical power-bars, and a flexible inventory class
  • Save and load text, XML, or media assets from local or remote sources, and communicate with websites and their databases to create online scoreboards

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