I have found object oriented programming to be useful for user interfaces, operating systems, and games. At the same time, it’s commonly believed that object. Refactoring Game Entities with Components. Up until fairly recent years, game programmers have consistently used a deep class hierarchy to represent game entities.
UNITY 3. D - Game Programming Introduction. The first article in a series to discuss Unity 3.
D and how to get started with your own 3. D projects. Introduction. It has been a while since my last article, but coming back I have decided to write an article, or a series of articles, about a game engine called UNITY 3. D which happens to be one of the most popular in the industry as of today. There are several really outstanding benefits to the engine: You can get a community version which works beautifully and is more then what most people will ever need.
This is a helpful post outlining the distinction between traditional game hierarchies and a component model as well as the motivation for moving from one to the other. Component Game Programming Patterns Decoupling Patterns Intent. Allow a single entity to span multiple domains without coupling the domains to each other.
Type Object Game Programming Patterns Behavioral Patterns Intent. Allow the flexible creation of new “classes” by creating a single class, each instance of which. Introduction to Game Programing: Using C# and Unity 3D or is designed and developed to help individuals that are interested in the field of computer science and game.
![Game Programming Object Model Game Programming Object Model](http://zatun.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/scg_workbench-400x250.jpg)
The community itself is very large and active, hence you will always be able to find other developers and designers to help you in case you need any assistance. You can develop for Unity 3.
D either on a Windows or a Macintosh also some flavors of Linux. You can use C# to do the scripting / programming of your game. You can target many platforms for your release. The list can go on. I have listed some of the main points which I find attractive in Unity 3.
D. Also, since the community version is FREE, you can research and play around with the environment and your ideas before investing more time and money into it. In any case this article is not about the financial aspect of the engine, but rather an introduction to the fundamental concepts to the game engine and how to get started for those who are eager to jump- start their own ideas. So without further ado, we will be looking at the IDE and discuss some of the basics before we can start diving into more details. The Series: Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 1.
Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 2. Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 3.
Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 4. Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 5. Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 6. Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 7. Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 8. Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 9.
Unity 3. D – Game Programming – Part 1. Unity 3. D Networking Article(s): Unity 3. D - Network Game Programming. Unity 3. D Leap Motion and Oculus Rift Article(s): Unity 3. D - Leap Motion Integration. Windows Phone 8. x Demo: I have provided a free phone application that you can download and preview the demos on your Windows Phone. To download the mobile application, follow the link: Code.
Project. Article. Sample. Code Project Articles Sample Mobile App. Live Preview of Article Code and Visuals: Link to live preview: http: //www. Code. Project/Code. Project. Article. Preview. html. Background.
It is assumed that the reader of this article is familiar with programming concepts in general. It is also assumed that the reader has an understanding and experience of the C# language. It is also recommended that the reader of the article is familiar with Object- Oriented Programming and Design Concepts as well. We will be covering them briefly throughout the article as needed, but we will not get into the details as they are separate topics altogether. We also assume that you have a passion to learn 3. D programming and have the basic theoretical concepts for 3. D Graphics and Vector Math.
Lastly, the article uses Unity 3. D version 4. 6. 1 which is the latest public release as of the initial publication date. Most of the topics discussed in the series will be compatible with older versions of the game engine, and perhaps also the new version which is supposed to be release sometime this year.
There is however, one topics which is significantly different in the current 4. UI (User Interface) pipeline. This is due to the new UI architecture in the engine which is far superior to what we had prior to this release. I for one, am very happy with the new UI architecture. Using the code. Before we start, you will need to get the game engine. You can download it from the following link: www. It is a large download so make sure you have a fast and reliable connection before getting the installer.
You can get the installer for both Windows and Mac operating systems. Everything in this article will be applicable to both platforms. The main difference would be the keyboard access shortcuts, other than that everything else should be the same. Downloading the project/source code for article series: Download source. Ok, assuming you have downloaded and installed the Unity 3.
D engine. We can now start with the basics. Figure 1- Five Distinct Sections of the IDEWhen you first launch Unity 3. D, you will be presented with the default IDE layout. It may or may not look like the layout illustrated in Figure 1. You can very easily change the layout of your IDE by dragging and dropping them in the designated areas.
I like my layout to be configures as shown in Figure 1 since it allows me to have a good idea of all the important elements of my project. In Figure 1, you will notice five section: Section 1 - Scene Designer: This is where you will be creating your scene or level for your game, or 3. D project. All of your Game Objects will be placed and manipulated in the Scene Designer. Section 2 - Game View: This is where you see how the scene or level looks like through the eyes of the camera. Basically it is the camera view, what the user will see. Section 3 - Hierarchy Window: or as I call it the Scene or Level Objects. This window will display all of the Game Objects you have in the current scene or level.
Basically everything that your game level will need to work as designed are going to be listed here. This will include visual and non- visual game objects. Section 4 - Project Window: or as I call it the Solution Explorer.
If you are familiar with Microsoft Visual Studio, then this is the same as your Solution Explorer. Everything from Game Objects, Scripts, Textures, Models, Audio, Video and etc… will be accessible and managed in this window. It also a representation of your project structure as defines in the main file system. Section 5 - Inspector Window: or as I call it the Properties window.
Similar to Microsoft Visual Studio’s Properties window that will display the different attributes and properties of a selected Game Object. Depending on the selected object, the appropriate attributes and components will be listed. You will be able to modify your game objects through this window in the designer. Creating Our First Game Object (A Cube Primitive)Assuming that you have played around the environment and are comfortable with the IDE, we will look at how to place some primitives in the scene. By default, there are several primitives that can be created out of the box.
These are: Cube. Sphere. Capsule. Cylinder.
Plane. Quad. NOTE: Unity 3. D is not a 3. D Modeling Software! So don’t expect to create sophisticated models using Unity 3. D. Unity 3. D is a Game Engine. For your 3. D modeling needs, you will need to work with software such as 3. D Studio Max, Maya, Rhino and etc… Generally speaking, your models will be created by a 3. D designer and you will import them into your game.
We will start looking at placing a cube in our scene. In order for you to create a cube primitive, from the main menu select Game. Object- > 3. D Object- > Cube. This action will result in placing a cube in your scene, your IDE should look something like the following: Figure 2- Placing a Cube Primitive. Take a moment to study what you see on your screen. As you can see, your screen doesn’t look as boring anymore!
Recall from Figure 1, the different areas/regions of the IDE, they have come to life now. Some immediate changes you should notice in your IDE: A cube has been created and placed in the Scene Window (3. D Primitive Model). A Cube Game. Object is now listed under your Hierarchy Window. Since the newly Cube Game. Object has been automatically selected, you will see that the Inspector Window now lists all of the standard properties and attributes of the primitive Cube Game. Object. Figure 3- Inspector Window.
Looking at the Inspector window, you can see that we have a bunch of standard attributes attached to the cube that we just placed into the scene. These attributes are part of all Game. Objects. There are different Components attached to the Cube Game. Object. General Properties. Transform Component. Box Collider. Mesh Renderer. We will cover some of these attributes over the course of the article(s).
The top portion gives you the ability to identify your Game. Object by name, if it is a Static object or not, apply a Tag to the Game. Object and which Layer it belongs to. One of the most important attribute of any Game. Object is the Transform. The Transform hold the Position, Rotation, and Scale of the Game.
Object in the scene, the 3. D world. It is encouraged to play with different values of the Transform to see the effects on the Game. Object in the 3. D world. The cube we just created is at position (1. X, Y, Z) coordinates respectively. The rotation vector of the cube is at (0,0,0) respectively on (X, Y, Z) axis.
Using the design tools for manipulating the cube is very straight forward. To change the perspective view of the scene while you are designing your level, you can hold down the Alt key and using the mouse left- click and move within the scene window.
The view perspective will change according to your mouse movement. This is helpful when you want to get a better view of the game objects you are working with. When you are satisfied with your design view, you can use the following tools for placement, rotation and scale of the object: Figure 4- Toolbar with Position, Rotate, and Scale buttons. Figure 4 shows, the tools you can use for positioning (1), for rotation (2), and for scaling (3).
When a game object is selected in the scene, you can apply any of the transformations to the object. Figure 5- Position Vectors. Figure 6- Rotation Axis. Figure 7- Scale Vectors. Now that we have the basic understanding of the environment, let’s start discussing some fun stuff, like programming!
Unity 3. D provides several languages that can be used for scripting or programming your game. We are going to use the C# language for our demonstration purposes.