Anthony Davis - Unity Game Development: Learn how to design beautiful games from the team at Unity

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Early Access Publication: Unity Game Development

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1. Welcome to the Third Dimension
2. Design and Prototype
3. Programming
4. Creating Player Characters
5. Environment and Interactions
6. Prefabs, Collection, and HUD
7. Instantiation and Rigid Bodies
8. Particle Systems
9. Menu Design
10. Adding Finishing Touches
11. Building and Sharing
12. Testing
13. Multiplayer, AR, VR, and ML-Agents
    

Welcome to Chapter One! Even if you have some previous knowledge of the systems in this chapter, solidifying the foundation of your knowledge will only help the advanced topics settle in more easily.

In this chapter we will cover topics such as:

• A good look into the parts that make up 3D game development
• Definitions of Unity terminology
• A tour through Unitys interface

We will be going over the basic understanding of the 3D work within this section. From coordinate systems to the makeup of how the 3D model is rendered, we will only go surface level to ensure that the foundations are firmly planted within you as you progress through this journey. By reading through this, you will be able to have a strong understanding of why Unity is displaying the items.

3D coordinate systems are not all the same in each application! Unity is a Left-handed (Figure 1.1) world coordinate system with +Y facing upwards. Looking in the image below you can visualize the difference from left-handed and right-handed systems:

Figure 1.1 Coordinate Systems

While we work within these coordinate systems, you will see positions of objects represented in an array 3 values within parenthesis as follows:

(0, 100, 0)

This represents (X, Y, Z) respectively. This is a good habit to get into as programming utilizes very similar syntax when writing out positions within the scripts. When we are talking about position, it is commonly referred as its Transform.

After understanding the world coordinates X, Y, Z, and that the very start of those coordinates start at 0 for each, represented with a (0, 0, 0). In the image below (Figure 1.2), where the colored lines meet is that 0,0,0 in the world. The cube has its own transform, which encompasses that objects Transform, Rotation, and Scale:

Figure 1.2 3D Coordinate System

The cube in the image (Figure 1.2) is at (1, 1.5, 2). This is called world space as the items Transform is being represented through the worlds coordinates starting from (0, 0, 0):

Figure 1.3 World Space vs Local Space

Now that we know the Cubes transform is in relation to the world (0, 0, 0), we will not go over the parent-child relation which describes the local space. In the image above (Figure 1.3), the sphere is a child of the cube. The spheres local position is (0, 1, 0) in relation to the cube. Interestingly, if you now move the cube, the sphere will follow as its only offset from the cube and its transforms will remain (0, 1, 0) in relation to the cube.

Traditionally, a vector is a unity that has more than one element. In a 3D setting, a vector 3 will look very similar to what weve worked with currently. (0, 0, 0) is a vector 3! Vectors are used in very many solutions to game elements and logic. Primarily the developer will normalize vectors so that way the magnitude will always equal 1. This allows developer to work with the data very easily as 0 is the start, .5 is halfway, and 1 is the end of the vector.

Cameras are incredibly useful Objects! They humbly show us their perspective which allows our players to experience what we are trying to convey to them. As you may have guessed, a camera also has a transform just like all of game objects in the hierarchy. Cameras also have several parameters that can be changed to obtain different visual effects.

Different game elements and genres use cameras in different ways. Resident Evil using static cameras to give a sense of tension not knowing whats outside the window or around the corner, while Tomb Raider pulled the camera in close while she goes through caverns to give a sense of intimacy and emotional understanding with her face looking uncomfortable in tight spaces.