Hey all,
What do you guys think is the best way for an inexperienced game developer (but experienced programmer) to go about learning Unity 5 2D for game development beginners? I have done various tutorials, but I just cannot understand the concepts so well that I can write my own game without watching the tutorials.
Thanks,
arman_b21
Do more tutorials and (more importantly) keep practicing.
–Eric
Here is an old but excellent tutorial for BEGINNERS that I always recommend to everybody who is just starting out with Unity.
Even though it focuses on 3D, it will help you understand how to organize a project the proper way in Unity. By the end of this 3 PART tutorial, you will have created a complete game. Your skills can then easily be applied to 2D games.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Could you please recomend some tutorials, @Eric5h5 ?
@Kurios , I have started a team treehouse unity3d tutorial, but I can’t remember the concepts. Do you guys think this is because I am not learning effectively, or because I just need to practice more? // @Eric5h5
@8Development I think some tutorials are better than others. I highly recommend the tutorial I mentioned earlier. Try that one, then see how you feel.
There’s the Unity tutorials on the learn section. Start at the beginning, even though it is 3D, as the concepts are the same. Actually do them tho, don’t just copy paste like some people do as they explain why they are doing things the way they do. I started with VS & it took ages for me to get my head around the editor, & I still have trouble sometimes so I have bookmarked the tutorials that have the common bits I forget.
After these scroll down the learn page & you will see the 2d tutorials that then focus on specific 2d bits of unity but they assume a common knowledge of basic unity stuff.
@Kurius I have finished your recommended Ray Wenderlich tutorials? What do you recommend I do next? Follow more tutorials? What did you do to be as successful as you are right now in the game development field?
@Eric5h5 Is that how you started Eric? I just cannot get a grasp on the physics ideas of Unity like movement. I just cannot understand and remember how to use physics in Unity3D. The documentation can help, but it just doesn’t always make sense.
My suggestion is to now spend some time doing very simple games to reinforce what you just learnt, make sure that you understand them & are able to use what you learnt before you pile more info into your head. Otherwise your head will explode, it’s much easier to learn new stuff once you have a solid foundation to build upon.
@tedthebug Ha! My head is already exploding (in a somehow good way). So, I guess what you are trying to say is practice. Are these all the concepts I need to know? Is this like app development, where I just randomly searched up things that I didn’t know and implemented them?
Oh, I think that I should have done these along with the Ray Wenderlich tutorials. I mean, I would have guessed that Unity would have spent a fair amount of money on their community development. Should I go over these as well? I already did the Roll a Ball tutorial. //to: @tedthebug
Personally I think that’s the best way. I’m still a noob & don’t know much but I’m gradually remembering a bit more each week just from working on simple (one game mechanic) games to see if I can remember how to do stuff. Once it works I do another tutorial & then see if I can incorporate that into something I already made & if not I make another simple game which then reinforces the older stuff & tests me on the new stuff.
There’s no quick way to greatness, it’s just a looooong slow crawl up. Take your time, have fun, & don’t try to rush ahead into big stuff.
Yes, when I first used Unity I think I spent a week mostly just playing with the physics engine.
–Eric
Another thing to do is decide what kind of game you want to make. Then think of one small feature of that kind of game and try to accomplish that small feature first. Do you know what kind of game you want to make? Maybe I can give you a suggestion of where to start for that kind of game.
Well I was thinking of making a little game like 10 Second Ninja, @Kurius .
Ok that’s a pretty ambitious game for a beginner to create. Seriously this will take you about 1 to 2 years to create since you’re a beginner. Are you willing to put in that kind of effort? If so, great!
Otherwise, I suggest a simpler game like an infinite runner like Geometry Dash.
Anyways, either way, you’ll need to create a character that can run and jump.
Ok, the first thing you should do is download and analyze all of the code of this free sample project that was created by Unity…
Feel free to ask me questions about what is going on in this sample project. But first try to figure it out yourself. One way to start analyzing code like that is to insert some “print” statements here and there and then watch the Console window as you play the game, to see when your “print” statements get called. Like first try to figure out what part of the code is being used to move the character and allow him to jump. If you think you found the right part of the code that does this function, put a print statement there like…
print(“armanb_21 thinks this is where jumping happens”);
Then watch the Console window when you jump and see if that comment shows up. That means you found the right part of the code.