Any Good Unity 5 Books for Beginners?

Getting Started
1

Just wondering if there’s any good books out yet for beginners that dive in Unity 5?

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I think you are better off using the learning ressources at Learn
Those are up to date and cover a lot of basics in various fields.

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Ah, thanks. I saw those and was planning on checking them out as well. I usually like to start off with a book that I can lug around and read wherever, but I’ll definitely check out the tutorials on the site as well. Seems to be a ton of online resources for sure.

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Yes - those ressources are super. They are very understandable and well produced, IMO. Also there are a lot of videos to acompany the texts.

I can understand that you want a book on things. I sometimes prefer reading on the bus or the train as well - or just having a book open besides the project.
Seeing just how fast things are currently moving and changeing - especially in Unity 5 - a book could include outdated information super fast. Plus I don’t know of any slightly current Unity books I could recommend. So I’d say - go for /learn :slight_smile:

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I think that the videos and live training videos have a few really nice selections of covering specifically unity 5 with the gui changes and stuff. that has been helpful for me as i am learning. I have not seen an actual book printed yet about unity 5 specifically though

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You could always print off the manual.

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Or read/watch on your tablet/phone while out and about!

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My book Unity in Action focuses on programming and is written for Unity 5. The print book is not quite out yet, but the complete book is already available as pdf downloads. All that remains is final formatting and typesetting before this book goes to the printer!

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Nice! Congrats, too, by the way. Is this your first published book?

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I would agree with motion_blurr. There should be a good few resources available on the Unity website. This being said, I know many people prefer to learn sequentially or offline, especially at the beginning, and a book may be best in this case (although content may become obsolete quickly for some features). Well done to you jhocking on your new book, its quite an achievement to complete such a book (quite long and detailed as I can see on the Manning website). Its also great that it includes a free access to the first chapter.

MeatballB, you would like to get started with Unity 5,I have also a modest intro to Unity here that should get you started fast with the interface and object manipulation (basic shapes, camera, and lights) as well as shortcuts. It’s available online; I also have a pdf version if you prefer (just give me a shout and I can send you the link also). Best of luck!

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First full book, yep. I’ve done smaller scale game dev teaching for years.

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Well double the congrats, then!

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thats awesome, congratulations on the book, any idea what the cost would be for someone to pick it up digitally?

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Thanks for your interest! The website for Unity in Action explains those details http://www.manning.com/hocking/ (prices are listed at the top)

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Awesome info across the board, thanks everyone! I’ll definitely be checking out your book Joe!

Random question. How useful would it be for me to pick up a baseline of C# first before diving headlong into Unity? I have access through work to Linda.com and I know there’s some C# courses (and some older Unity) courses available as well. Just wondering if it’d be better for me to take a few weeks and try to get a good foundation in C# first.

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I wouldn’t spend weeks learning C#, but yeah a couple nights to bone up on C# could help. Or even if not that language specifically, just make sure you’re comfortable with the basics of programming.

Spending tons of time is kinda pointless, because you’ll mostly learn the language while working with Unity

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Hi guys i think you need already some knowledge about c language it will be easier for you to understand and i learning all Mike Geig videos they are amazing.

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Since this thread is from back in April, I’ll just point out that Unity in Action is available in print by now:

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Hi Joe,

I just bought your book (from the worst seller on Amazon. it’s been two weeks and I am yet to receive it in the mail). I have some experience with Unity but I am hoping to really hone my skills with your book.

I’ll let you know what I think.

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aw that sucks about the bad seller :frowning: