The Unity Engine has been steadily evolving over the past few years into one of the most powerful resources for the game development community. Its feature-rich toolkit and user-friendliness make it an ideal foundation for budding game developers. The book ‘Mastering Game Design with Unity 2021’ will walk you through creating a multimedia game from scratch, covering everything from the basics of game development to advanced design concepts. The book will help you to learn the ins and outs of scenes, game objects, input systems, physics, particles, and post-processing effects, and even get access to instructions to put your newfound skills to use. In addition, this book will help you to learn the fundamentals of game logic design, interactive narratives, game mechanics, storyboarding, and design structure in an easy-to-understand format from a coaching game expert. Whether you're brand new to the gaming industry or a seasoned developer looking to strengthen your Unity skills, this book will provide everything you need to know to design stunning 3D games, animations, 3D content, and virtual reality/augmented reality experiences in Unity 3D.

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• About the Author
• Acknowledgement
• Preface
• Errata
• Table of Contents
• 1. The Unity Engine
  • Structure
  • Objective
  • Unity: The Broad Strokes
  • Installing Unity
  • Exploring Extras and Tutorials
  • Our First Project
  • Editor Overview
  • The Scene and Game View Window
  • The Scene
  • The Hierarchy Window
  • The Inspector Window
  • All About GameObjects
  • Placing Objects in the Scene
  • Moving Objects Around
  • The PLAY Button
  • Your Second Object
  • Using Visual Studio
  • Putting it All to the test
  • Optional Tool: Visual Scripting
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 2. Components and Prefabs
  • Structure
  • Objective
  • All about Components
  • Component Examples
  • Adding a Component to an Object
  • The MonoBehaviour class
  • Writing our ‘Player Controller’ Component
  • Extending your Components in the Unity Editor
  • A Hop, Skip, and a Jump
  • Making and Spawning Prefabs
  • Coin of the Realm
  • Collision Detection
  • Triggers
  • Turning an Object into a Prefab
  • Spawning More Coins
  • Extra benefits of Prefabs
  • Debug Messages
  • Game Design 101: Iteration and White-Boxing
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 3. The Basics of Combat
  • Structure
  • Objective
  • Game Design 101: Risk and Reward
  • Subsystems
  • Making our Health System
  • Let’s Storyboard: Taking damage
  • Spikes: Your First Hazard
  • The HealthModifier Component
  • The Basic Bullet
  • Damage Feedback
  • The Game Session Manager
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 4. Getting to Know UI
  • Structure
  • Objective
  • Game Flow (UI) vs Gameplay Flow (Immersion)
  • Game Flow Breakdown
  • The Unity UI System
  • Our Title Menu Canvas
  • Title Menu: Adding the UI Elements
    • Anchor Presets
    • Title Menu: Adding the Script
    • Title Menu: Button Actions
    • Adding Scenes to the Build Settings
  • A Basic HUD
    • The HUD Component
  • Game Over
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 5. Mastering the Fundamentals
  • Structure
  • Objective
  • The Importance of Milestones
  • Getting Critical
  • Mastering the Camera
  • Leveling Up
  • Tools of the Trade
  • Designing our First Level
  • Better Baddies
  • Explosive Feedback
  • Game Design 101: Permanence
  • Hunting For Bugs
  • Exporting ‘The Build’
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 6. The Physics of Fun
  • Overview
  • Objective
  • The Unity Physics System
  • Physics Components
  • Basic Collider Shapes
    • Mesh Collider
  • RigidBody
  • Joints
  • Tweaking Physics in Code
  • Gameplay: Pushable Blocks
  • Gameplay: Seesaw Platform
  • Gameplay: Springboards
  • Gameplay: Wind Zones Strike Again
  • Utilizing Shadows
  • Gameplay Palette
  • Conclusion
  • Key Terms
  • Multiple Choice Questions
• 7. The Joy of Animation
  • Structure
  • Objective
  • Principles of Animation
  • Making A Basic Hero
  • The ‘Idle’ Pose
  • The Animation View
  • Keyframes and Inbetweening
  • Run Cycles
  • Animations in Action
  • Cleaning Up
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 8. The Mind of the Enemy
  • Structure
  • The Thought Process
  • Our Basic Enemy
    • New Component: AIBrain
    • UnityEvents and AI Actions
    • Hunting Down the Player
    • Setting up the AI Component
    • NavMesh
    • NavMesh Agents
      • Testing our Enemy
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 9. Forging Your Weapon System
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Sticks and Stones
  • Weapon Sandbox
  • Equipping Your Weapon
  • The Weapon Component
  • Basics of Melee Combat
  • Basics of Projectile Weaponry
  • The ‘Knockback’ Effect
    • Animating our Attacks
  • Weapon Trails
  • Game Design: Advanced Combat
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 10. All About Audio
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • The Audio Components
    • Audio Listener
    • Audio Source
  • Importing Music and SoundFX
  • Importing Audio Clips
    • Creating our Sound Manager
  • The Basics of 3D Sound
    • 3D Sound on Items
  • 3D Sounds for Weapons
    • Mastering with Audio Mixers
  • Platform Considerations
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 11. A Graphical Upgrade
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Unity’s Art Tools
  • Grabbing some Materials
  • ProBuilder
  • Building Blocks
  • Grid Snapping and Asset Placement
  • Building Level Prefabs
  • KitBashing
  • Skybox
  • Distance Fog
  • Keeping your Workspace Clean
  • Post Processing
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 12. So Many Particles
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • About Particle Effects
  • Filling the 3D Space
  • Weapon Particles
  • Explosive Effects
  • The Unity Particle Pack
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 13. Mastering Player Progression
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • The Difficulty Curve
  • Managing Difficulty
  • Onboarding and Tutorials
  • Teaching through Level Design
  • Lighting the Way
    • Teaching the Player
    • Testing the Player
    • Trials and Mastery
      • Pacing
      • Progression Trees
      • Achievements
      • New Game +
      • World Map
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 14. UX
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • UX?
  • Better UI for a Better UX
  • Iconography
  • Typography
  • World Space Prompts
  • The First 10 Minutes
  • Our Introductory Stage
  • Achieving Victory
  • A Smooth Transition
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 15. 2D vs. 3D
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • 2D vs. 3D
  • Our 2D Sandbox
  • Sprites
  • Sprite Sheets
  • Tilemaps
  • Studying The Lost Crypt
  • 2D Physics and Movement
  • 2D Animation
  • Cinemachine Cameras
  • The Power of Parallax
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 16. Mastering the Genres
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Concerning Scope
  • Sidescrollers and Platformers
  • Top-Down Adventure
  • FPS - First Person Shooters
  • Third-Person Games
  • RPGs - Role Playing Games
  • Strategy Games
  • Puzzle Games
  • Creative Juxtaposition
  • Player Expectations
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 17. Platforms and Publishing
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Your Platform of Choice
  • PC / Mac / Linux
  • Mobile Games
  • Console Development
  • WebGL
  • VR/AR
  • Publishing your Game
  • Teaming Up with Publishers
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• 18. From Concept to Completion
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Preproduction
  • Design Docs
  • Paper Prototyping
  • Concept Art
  • Mockups
  • Getting Creative
  • Project Management
  • The Vertical Slice
  • Play Testing
  • Analytics
  • Prioritizing Feedback
  • Milestones, Momentum and Morale
  • Early Access
  • Marketing
  • The Gold Master…and Beyond!
  • Conclusion
  • Questions
  • Key Terms
• Index