Kelley - No-Code Video Game Development Using Unity and Playmaker

VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT
USING UNITY AND PLAYMAKER

VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT
USING UNITY AND PLAYMAKER

MIKE KELLEY

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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2016 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Version Date: 20160601

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Dedicated to Mom

The introduction contains information about conventions and software versions. It also characterizes the importance of discipline over motivation.

This chapter will outline what a game engine is and the many benefits of using Unity. It will describe its flexibility, extensibility, and ability to build to just about every platform (video game playing hardware) there is.

Here, we identify the Main Menu Bar and dissect the File Button. Scene and Project are defined as analogous to, among other things, level and game. Best practices for successful workflow are described and Packages are introduced. We will create a Project named section1.

This chapter introduces the Edit drop-down menu and all it has to offer. Here, we examine useful hotkeys and editor settings.

The Asset Button and its drop-down menu are described in detail. Assets are defined. The importance of packages and their use is explained in this chapter. We will create and edit a prefab from Yoshimi Vs. Face Punching Robots! We will also create a Unity account and purchase and import PlayMaker. We will save our first Scene.

The GameObject drop-down menu is demystified. A GameObject is defined as anything that has a transform value. Transform is defined. GameObjects are described as being analogous to nouns.

The Component button and all its mysteries are revealed. The relationship between Component and script is noted. PlayMaker finite state machines (FSMs) are alluded to. Readers will understand how Components add functionality to GameObjects. Components are seen as analogous to verbs.

This chapter will inform the reader of the functionality made available in the PlayMaker drop-down menu. Important terms will be defined and readers will learn how to create a custom Layout conducive to the use of PlayMaker.

Unitys Layout configurability will be expanded upon to include editor management functions. The distinction between Windows and Views will be made clear.

Need help? This chapter will tell you where to find it.

Learn how to navigate the Scene View. This chapter teaches the functionality provided by the Toolbar. The too-many-dials problem is first introduced herein. GameObject Translation is described. Pivot points, their importance, and pivot point hacks are taught in this chapter.

The Project window will be shown as containing everything that is available to the developer. Additional, perhaps extraneous, functionalities such as search features are examined. Good work practices are discussed.

This chapter takes a look at the Hierarchy window. It serves as a list of everything that is in the Scene. We look to work-around the lack of folder functionality in the Hierarchy View.

The most useful hotkeys for navigating our game world are presented in this chapter. Perspective, Isometric, and Orthogonal vantage points are differentiated.

The Game Views purpose in playtesting is explained. Likewise, the functionality of its Control Bar is described. PlayMaker Game View functionality is briefly alluded to.

In this chapter, we learn of the Inspectors primary function to display a selected GameObjects Components and parameters. We also learn that the Inspector View is contextual and can be used to inspect many other things.

While the Project View shows us everything in our Project and the Hierarchy View shows us everything in our Scene, the Console View shows us everything we have screwed up. We will investigate the Console View in this chapter.

This chapter will outline what a state machine is and the many benefits of using PlayMaker. It will describe its intuitive design, usefulness in troubleshooting, and extensibility.

We wont need to learn how to program to create a video game, but we will need to learn some programming-related concepts. At the very least, we will need to learn some programming-related vocabulary in order to operate PlayMaker. We will do just that in this chapter.

We will pair names with buttons and describe their functionality in this chapter. We will learn the concepts that guide the construction of a finite state machine.

In this chapter, we will look at some additional Views integral to the PlayMaker system of finite state machine creation. The Globals, Actions, and Ecosystem Views will be examined.

In this chapter, we will recreate the CheckExistence flowchart as an FSM noting both the similarities and differences between the two modalities. We will introduce one of the most common PlayMaker errors and do some troubleshooting.

We will create a sample Scene making use of the core concepts we have learned thus far. These core concepts include the use of States, Transitional Events, Actions, and Variables. The potential of both the Project and PlayMaker will be readily apparent by the end of this chapter.