GAM 392: Game Modification Workshop - DePaul University - College of Computing and Digital Media

GAM 392: Game Modification Workshop

You Have 7 Places to Ask Questions and Find Answers:

1: First of all, you should always feel free to email me anytime (bschrank [at] gmail.com) to ask any question about your projects, the class, or whatever else. I'll reply as soon as I can.

Throughout the course you'll have hundreds of questions like, "How do I do X in Unity?" You will need to learn how to answer those questions for yourself. Here are steps to solve them:

2: In Unity go to Help in the top menu panel and search the Scripting Reference and Manual.

3: Unity Forums - Search to see if the question has been answered already. If it hasn't, then post the question. Taking a screenshot of the problem always helps for clarity (people can also see the post has an attachment, making it stick out more in the queue). If your question isn't answered within a day, have a teammate bump the question back to the top by commenting on the question thread, or, you can comment on it yourself, clarifying the question or posting any progress you've made in solving it. In general, the forum is an awesome place to browse for tricks, tips, and downloads.

4: Unity Answers - Search first and if it isn't answered then post your question. If you're impatient, post the question here at the same time as the Unity Forums.

5: Unify Community Wiki - You can't really ask questions here but it's an excellent resource to comb through.

6: The Unity community created an IRC channel focused on support and discussion. Point your IRC client to irc.freenode.net and join #unity3d to chat in real time. If you need a free IRC client for Windows use mIRC, for Mac use Colloquy.

7: You can ask your question as a New Post in our class Google Group (you'll need a google account to post but not to read). Remember that if you end up solving the problem please post the answer as a comment to your Google Group post because it may help out your colleagues. Our Google Group is also a good place just to post things interesting stuff about your mods, the class, or Unity, Maya, etc.

Unity Cheat Sheet for Programmers

Unity Cheat Sheet for Artists -- Other Resources for Artists

Unity Cheat Sheet for Game Designers

Unity Cheat Sheet for Sound Designer

Unity Cheat Sheet for Building and Publishing

Thank you Samantha Kalman for compiling the Cheat Sheets!

Unity Game Engine

Your game modifications will be based in Unity Pro, installed on all the class workstations. Unity is an integrated development environment with hierarchical, visual editing, detailed property inspectors, and a live game preview. It can deploy on multiple platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, iPhone/iPad, Android, Browsers, and stand alone Windows and Mac OSX applications. Unity is becoming a popular engine for indie studios, research labs, and universities, because it supports fast, iterative game development. The indie license is free and there's also a 30 day free trial of Unity Pro. You don't need to install it on your privately owned machines but it can make working on your projects more convenient if you do, so I highly recommend doing so if you can. A comparison between the different licenses is here. The required specs are relatively low.

Overviews: Engine and Editor

Tutorials:

Good Intro Tutorial
Video Tutorials from how to download Unity to advanced topics (free with registration)

Tips, Tricks, and Tools

You're Free to Use Any Code/Content You Can Find

If you can find it, you can use it in your projects! No limitations! This is a game MOD class after all. You don't have to ask me if you can use it. ANY downloaded content, music, code, middleware, etc. are acceptable. Plagiarism will not be tolerated, however. When you submit your final project at the end of the course you will be asked to list all the code and assets that you used in but did not create. It's easier to just to update a text file documenting what you're currently downloading and testing out something rather than trying to remember everything you used at the last minute.

Be selective with what you use in your projects! Don't use everything and the kitchen sink. Don't stuff a bunch of complex particle effects, a TARDIS, an animated mountain troll, etc., into your mod just because you can. The secret to producing a game that's more than just the sum of its parts is to only use/create elements that unify the experience. Be ruthless with what you cut and think holistically. Thoughtfully consider if that item you just found or made adds to or subtracts from the overall experience. Less is often more. For example, maybe that awesome A* Pathfinding system is overkill for your project because it burns up way too much of your programmer's time to get it working properly. Don't be afraid to test things out, but don't be clingy to code/assets if they don't add to your overall vision. Remember to "Tell the story every way possible." - This maxim has been popular at Disney for 60 years.

This is a good project (a 3rd Person Shooter) to start playing around with:
On the lab computer go to:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Unity Projects\Bootcamp Demo\Assets
Click on "Bootcamp".

Here are some other good projects to download. Some are final examples from tutorials. If you find good ones, email me and I'll add them here. Go to Assets>Scenes and open a scene: