First project - underwater simulator

Getting Started
1

Hi all

I’m working on a project that’s not actually a game, but has a lot of game-like attributes, so I thought Unity might be a good tool to try.

What I’m trying to create is a simulation of an underwater surveying tool, using a touch screen interface. There will be a boat moving over an underwater landscape with various items and structures, floating stuff like fish, weeds etc. There will also be some onscreen UI controls for controlling the system. Some will be HUD like, and some will relate to objects in the 3D world. The user will need to manipulate the view angle, position and zoom level (I’m imagining this as being similar to a strategy game rather than a 1st person shooter). They will also need to select objects in the 3D space via touch gestures, and perform operations on them (eg marking their position with a flag). The user will be controlling the view etc, but they will not control the boat itself - its path will be predetermined.

I’m a complete newcomer to Unity, and have zero coding skills. I have previously tinkered with Sketchup, but I find that’s not so good for making interactive prototypes.

I’m not expecting anyone to tell me exactly how to do this, but it’d be great if someone could recommend which tutorials to watch first to get me started, or which main tasks I need to tackle in which order. On the other hand, if you think Unity isn’t the best tool for this, I’d be grateful for any other suggestions.

This is what I’ve done so far:

  • Imported a 3D boat model
  • Created a terrain with a few lumps and bumps in it.

I’m planning to build up a static scene with all the elements as I want them, and then look at how to provide some basic user controls to manipulate the view.

Thanks in advance for any tips!

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Unity is a great tool for it. However, it sounds like a pretty ambitious project to me. If you have no coding skills, then you’ll need to budget either a few years to build the necessary skills, or a few thousand $ to hire professional help.

A possible alternative would be to base your game on something like PlayMaker, a visual scripting add-on for Unity. I’ve never used it myself, but I’ve heard good things about it. You still have to think like a programmer, but at least you don’t have to worry about syntax.

1 Like
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Thanks @JoeStrout ! That’s exactly the kind of steer I was hoping for. I’ll take a closer look and will see if it could work for me.