where do i start.

Getting Started
1

hi guys,
i’ve just started using unity and i need a bit of orientation and guide lines.
please help.

so i am really new to unity. I’ve just finished the roll-a-ball project. and have realized how much work it is to make a game.
my ultimate goal being to create an MMO with procedural smooth voxel terrain. and at the same time giving the players the possibility to build stuff. a bit like space engineers’ building grid. not that i have NO experience with 3D modeling though i have friends that want to help. i realize that creating such a game will require a team but i want to learn what is needed to do all of it never the less.

over all i need to learn: (tell me if i missed something).

  • terrain generation/procedure
  • animation and rigging
  • special effects. (i think it’s the particle thingy)
  • user interface.
  • multiplayer linking
  • mesh creating (to the exception of humanoids)
  • material creation and applying it to my objects.
  • not to mention importing game objects.

i think you all get the point there is a hell lot of things to learn and i want to know from where to start. if i’m getting the wrong ideas please tell me. also note that i don’t mind doing a dozen smaller projects to learn. i’m ready to put 3 to 4 years into this.

lastly. while learning the basic C# i’ve had trouble learning the functions my heart is that something i have to work on or is it something that comes with practice as i develop programs and start learning of new functions for my games?

thanks for the help in advance.

2

This is a tough one to respond to. Normally, you get the canned “Check out the tutorials, expand on them, and then try cloning old arcade games” speech.

But you also seem to understand the sheer volume of work involved in your dream game, and even have an idea of things you need to learn. Already, you’re ahead of a lot of people just starting out.

Everyone’s going to have a different opinion for what you should do next. I’m always the kind of guy that refuses to follow tutorials exactly, but instead tries to follow along with what they’re teaching using my own spin on it. When I’d run into trouble, or something they didn’t cover, I’d have to Google that separately, and I’d end up with 15 tabs open feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. But it worked for me, really. So many ways to remove the flesh from a feline.

If you’re one of those people who feels they need to be totally captivated by what you’re learning, you’ll have a tough time with certain parts and spend way too much time focusing on the “fun” stuff. Working on my first game, I feel like I’ve only had “fun” with it like, half the time. Maybe less. The rest of the time is frustration, exhaustion, and just… getting bored with it and wanting to move onto a new, fun idea. But seeing things through is an important part of growing and learning.

My recommendation: pick one item from your list at a time, and focus for at least a month learning how to do that thing. Do throwaway projects where you experiment, follow tutorials… whatever works for you. Don’t get too attached to anything, but keep your intended goals in the back of your mind. Then move on to the next item and repeat.

As you go along, you might get the urge to start your project and actually do work on it. Go ahead. Try to get core elements in place and don’t worry about polish or flash yet. Get it working, and figure out if your core gameplay mechanic is 1) possible, and 2) fun. When you hit a wall, save and exit, and go learn the new thing for a month.

As far as C# goes… if you don’t love the idea of programming to begin with, prepare to have the least amount of fun yet. And just do it anyway. Buy a book or read one of the many free ones online. It takes a lot of time, but eventually things will sink in and you’ll find yourself suddenly just “getting it”. The stronger your programming knowledge, the more you’ll be able to handle approaching new problems.

I guess “one step at a time” might have been a shorter way of saying all of this.

3 Likes
3

I feel tutorials really help me and I actually have a list of tutorials, made by other people, in my signature. I agree with @Schneider21 to a point. I personally feel I have to see things through and get results before moving on because I have this tendency to want to move on to other ideas.

I would recommend checking out a guy called: Barnacules [on YouTube]. He has a tutorial series called Codegasm (that name lol) in which he teaches C# but in a really fun way. He teaches people by creating projects. For example, in order to learn a lot of basics such as loops and methods, he creates an 8-ball type console game in Visual Studio.

Also, don’t make the same mistake as others, including me, and rush into Unity and try to create an AAA game; start off small and build up. I personally would get Visual Studio and just learn some basic overall programming concepts such as variables, loops, objects, classes and inheritance.

If you need any more help then you can PM me if you would like!

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4

some great advice already so i’ll give my spin on it.

Decide what you really want to be after making your first game. A designer? programmer? artist? That should help a bit on what you should concentrate most of your efforts in. There’s lots to learn in every area and no one can master every single one. I suggest you try to be great at one of the 3 and have a basic understanding of the others. That way, you can hire out or use some asset store tools for the other two.

5

thanks guys that really help i grues i will go through the few C# course i have on visual studio.
otherwise if any of you have some kind of tutorial on procedural generation it would be great. but i guess i might want start with the blocky ones after all.

again thanks for clearing things up for me i really appreciate it.

6

Welcome aboard. My standard advice about not making an MMO still applies. But you seem to have your head screwed on right in understanding that its a huge amount of work. You’ve got years ahead of you.

I would suggest doing a few small clone projects first to get comfortable with programming in Unity. Pick some games and duplicate them.

Then work your way up to building your MMO. Don’t start with an MMO, build a project that has terrain in it. Then build a different project that has characters and skills. Then one that has some basic networking. Then, if none of this has driven you off, go for an MMO.

Most experienced coders keep a copy of the docs open and handy at all times. Typically another window has google open. Some functions will become second nature to you. But trying to remember the entire C# language and the entire Unity API and every plugin that you use is a recipe for insanity. If you need obscure information, just google it.

7

Check out catlike coding. Probably the best Unity specific tutorials on procedural generation. http://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/

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thanks again for every thing. really helped.

9

Wow, those are really good. (At least, judging from the overview — I haven’t actually gone through any.) Thanks for pointing them out!

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