I’ve been trying to learn a language for years and aside from html and a tiny insignificant amount of PHP, I’ve continously failed miserably. I’m an artist that basically wants to make a game, I have a license of Unity3D and JavaScript scares me to no end (I don’t like it) I was considering learning Blitz3D or DarkBasic to get my bearings, but a very experienced programmer friend of mine recommended Actionscript or C#. So now I’m seeking more opinions, simply because I want to stay within the Unity environment as opposed to Blitz and DarkBasic. Any ideas for a simpleton like myself? I need a language I can stick it out with. Maybe some other artists here that went through this can answer as well?
i’m in more or less the same boat - some html other odds ends over the years but i am NOT a programmer, that’s for sure ; )
IMO i’d stick with unity javascript - its not gonna get much easier than that (unless you’re doing something really basic). i’ve had unity for almost 2 years now i think, but if you really compress my game dev time into 40 hour weeks you’re probably looking at 4 months or so tops that i’ve had to learn what i have (and more than half of it has been learning other things like texturing, uv mapping, game modeling etc.).
while i’m not a good programmer, probably never will be - in that time i’ve gone from zero to being able to get alot of stuff done and i can figure things out on my own for the most part now. there will always be gotchas here there but that’s why this community is great. for sure i’m not doing a* pathfinding algorithms or anything really advanced - you just try to plan ahead pick your projects wisely for your ability at that point - and at the very least you could always collaborate with your programmer friend.
but i think you could do it yourself. will it be slower annoying at times? trust me it will be. but it can be very rewarding too if you have the tenacity you can make something great with unity javascript ; )
Actionscript is very similar to Javascript in Unity, and C# in Unity sometimes needs extra steps to accomplish things that aren’t always well-documented. So in this case I think you’re better off sticking with Javascript for now. The key is not to start off trying to make a full game, but concentrate on simple basic things like making a script to move an object from point A to point B, and then do another script that instantiates 10 prefabs, etc., until you get comfortable with how scripting works.
Maybe there should be an online Unity class with assignments like that which people could learn from, because there certainly have been enough people in your position that I’ve seen over the last year.
And yes, “Unity” Javascript has some differences compared to “Web” Javascript but it’s basically the same language.
I’ll just echo the comments that sticking with JavaScript is likely the “best” (very subjective, I know) way to go. What you’ll learn in doing that will translate to browser-based JavaScript, over to ActionScript, etc. It’s likely one of the easiest points of entry into scripting/programming and offers very portable skill set development.
I don’t “miss” anything as I’m quite pleased with using JavaScript in Unity ( I’m doing my best to learn more about C# on the side of course). But let’s not take this conversation too far away from the original poster’s questions…
Given Unity today I stand by the suggestions that JavaScript is the easiest point of entry as it’s much “friendlier” to the new script writer.
Well, as for me i somehow still prefer more readable code and writing less for the same effect. Others may prefer walking down the opposite direction but that’s okay. It’s summer here so personally i quite don’t need the extra heat in my fingertips by modern kickass languages like Javascript. But as you suggested we better do not step any deeper here.
Instead, let’s drink some wine and imagine some arguments for such a discussion and mix this with some nice thoughts of Alex, Zav and the others…
Ok so it seems I should just keep stabbing at JS for Unity. I just wish there was a visual aid to learning this as opposed to dry reading. I actually learnt html in a couple days back in the day by reading the “Teach yourself visually series” So I know I can do it!
An online course would be awesome! Even an over the shoulder vid or sommin
P.S. I admire peeps like Paul (lost pencil) that have the knack for both! I loved his hover bike game)
This is a good link I’ve been using also to learn Javascript: W3Schools Online Web Tutorials I realise it won’t teach me everything but it can surely get the ball rolling. It’s pretty thorough
Thx Jay!
Quick question for those in the know. I tend to usually like the material from lynda.com and was wondering if anyone here knows if the topics covered here http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=34 are fully applicable to my cause (obviously not the web stuff)
just out of interest what would people like to see in a basic video tutorial on developing in Unity…? Say the process of developing a basic game? If so what sort of game? How much do you want covered? Etc, etc.
Must admit I keep thinking about doing one… especially everytime I see post like this. Then again I don’t think people would be able to understand my accent!
I looked at the Lynda site lildragn was referring to and saw they want cash, which is okay if the tutes are any good, but if theres someone reading words that are on the screen for you, why even make it a video tute? I assume people wanting to learn how to script can read … ?
Thylax, I’m sure we could get around your accent … and I’m interested to know more specifically how to script in JavaScript for Unity … everyone says it’s the “easiest” way to go but when learning JS you are usually focused on web-based uses, and I’m trying to figure out how to apply this in Unity. I’d be willing to pay for anything thats good, and I’m sure you could do a good job
I would say what’s needed for development generally, introduced by one game but with the focus on that it’s generally useable. So breaking the working stages down into smaller segments which build on each other. Head and tail is easy and useable in more than just one project, the body depends on what you do. Here you’re felxible to do different stuff depending on how much work you want to put into the project. Can also be expanded pretty well…adding new topics time over time…
I guess my only real hesitance about making some sort of training video (apart from time involved!) is that the game building process is very subjective… my way of doing things is very different I suspect to the way you do things or any other developer… And Unity allows you to tackle things in such varied ways… using prefabs, precedurally, combo of both, etc.
Yep this is true and additionally it depends on your project. I would start with an IDE driven project and there would try to do it as normal as possible which means if you have a weird style of doing things, only use it when someone really benefits from it.
For instance i always create my folders with underscores as i want them to stay on top. Looks weird on the first view but as i could explain why i do so i would take it into the project.
I guess the time this takes also heavily depends on how perfect you want the video to be. How much time do you invest into cutting it, postproduction (titles, ambience, transitions), how well you want it to be spoken and these things. I guess you can cut it down here quite good if you’re not after the perfect one and people still could learn something from it.
Yes indeed, but the same can be said if a prof is teaching you in school Same thing.
And thylaxene that would be grand! Would take some discussion as to what’s ideal so you’re not wasting your time.
On another note, I’ve been reading some type in the docs section on JS, and to be honest it’s not hard http://unity3d.com/Documentation/Manual/Scripting.html my main prob is, is that tuts ramp up way too quickly and I get overwhelmed in the process. It’s almost like say in 3D terms, “let’s start by building a cube and editing the verts, now that’s done, let move onto a recreation of Gollum!” Maybe not that drastic, but you get my point
