David Baron - Hands-On Game Development Patterns with Unity 2019

Copyright 2019 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Acquisition Editor: Karan Gupta
Content Development Editor: Keagan Carneiro
Technical Editor: Rutuja Vaze
Copy Editor: Safis Editing
Project Coordinator: Pragati Shukla
Proofreader: Safis Editing
Indexer: Priyanka Dhadke
Graphics: Alishon Mendonsa
Production Coordinator: Jyoti Chauhan

First published: March 2019

Production reference: 1280319

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham
B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78934-933-7

www.packtpub.com

Mapt is an online digital library that gives you full access to over 5,000 books and videos, as well as industry leading tools to help you plan your personal development and advance your career. For more information, please visit our website.

• Spend less time learning and more time coding with practical eBooks and Videos from over 4,000 industry professionals

• Improve your learning with Skill Plans built especially for you

• Get a free eBook or video every month

• Mapt is fully searchable

• Copy and paste, print, and bookmark content

Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at www.packt.com and as a print book customer, you are entitled to a discount on the eBook copy. Get in touch with us at customercare@packtpub.com for more details.

At www.packt.com , you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters, and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks.

David Baron is a game developer with over 15 years' experience in the industry. He has worked for some of the top AAA, mobile, and indie game studios in Montreal, Canada. He has a skillset that includes programming, design, and 3D art.

As a programmer, he has worked on a multitude of games for various platforms, including virtual reality, mobile, and consoles.

Guillaume Leroy spent 20 years in the French Gendarmerie, including 10 years as an intelligence analyst and an economic defence advisor. After this, Guillaume retrained as a video game programmer in Montreal. Two years after starting his studies, he started his new career as a Unity generalist programmer at Playmind, where he is in charge of programming location-based games. Active in the local developer community, he leverages his network of contacts to further develop his skills and help others do so too.

Johannes Unterguggenberger is a university assistant at TU Wien's Rendering and Modeling Group, Institute of Visual Computing and Human-Centered Technology, where he is engaged in teaching and research in the area of computer graphics. He has gained experience with Unity in several commercial and private projects, which were mainly focused on the areas of mobile game development and augmented reality. Although he currently focuses primarily on low-level graphics development with C++, OpenGL, and Vulkan, Unity and C# will always be two of his favorite technologies and have a special place in his heart.

If you're interested in becoming an author for Packt, please visit authors.packtpub.com and apply today. We have worked with thousands of developers and tech professionals, just like you, to help them share their insight with the global tech community. You can make a general application, apply for a specific hot topic that we are recruiting an author for, or submit your own idea.

The preceding quote from one of my favorite films sums up my approach to learning. Following over a decade working in the gaming industry, I have found that the only valid way to gain mastery over a complex system is by breaking it down into its most basic components. In other words, I try to understand the core ingredients before mastering the final form.

You will see that throughout this book, I'm taking a very simplistic approach in the way I present each pattern. The goal is not to dump down the subject matter, but learn by isolating the core concepts behind each design pattern so that we can observe them and learn their intricacies. I've learned this approach in the gaming industry while working as a designer and programmer. We will often build components and systems for our game in isolated levels that we call gyms. We would spend weeks iterating, testing, and adjusting each ingredient of our game individually until we understood how to make them work as a whole.

I wrote this book in a way that's consistent with how I approach game development so you, as a reader, can immerse yourself in the subject matter while taking some good habits along the way that will help you in your career.

Even if the code included in each chapter is not what we call production-ready, it still offers a good starting point to build robust systems for your game. Hence, it's important to keep in mind that the code in this book is not dogma, but learning material that is meant to be improved by you, the reader. And I hope you do so!