Unity in Action

This book is very easy to read, being nicely laid out with progress made at a good pace. The author explains things well and I had no trouble keeping up. You jump straight in, creating a simple FPS, demonstrating mouse look, movement, collisions, ray casting, simple AI and how scripts are attached to objects and how they interact with objects and other scripts. As explained in the book, you do need to know how to program *before* reading it, although not necessarily in C# (which is pretty easy to pick-up if you've worked in any OO language, especially Java). This is definitely true as I needed to make several code changes to get the project to work properly in Chapter 3, however it wasn't that difficult, but if you are learning programming at the same time then it would be difficult. One great feature is the free PDF, offered by Manning Publishing, which means I can read the book in large text and in colour and easily flip between Unity, my code editor and the book with a few keystrokes. This is much easier than having the book open on the desk, next to you. One poor feature is that I couldn't find where to submit my errata on their site. I use TextMate 2 to edit the scripts, as MonoDevelop is pretty horrible and refuses to layout code the way I like it (being a programming I obviously suffer from OCD with such things). I also use Dash to search the Unity API documentation, but you can get by with the online reference just as well. I've only reached chapter 4, but I'm lapping it up...

Halfway through and I really like this book. If you already know some OOP language the coding should be a breeze. It explains videogame concepts as you encounter them, so it's very suitable as an introduction to videogame development. The examples are fun and interesting and will get you up and running quick. Be sure to use your coupon to get the digital version as well since the printed book is in black and white and some of the pictures are not very clear. Something else I like is that it explains the different roles involved in making a game, programmers, modelers, animators, artists etc. You will get a well rounded idea of what kind of work is involved for different team roles.

This book is a really good introduction to games programming using Unity. Before buying this book I'd spent a couple of months following online demos and hacking around not really understanding what I was doing. All those pieces of info I had made sense working through the examples in this book which are very good without being too complicated. Unity in Action goes through the aspects of Unity at just the right pace giving a sense of accomplishment e.g. by the end of chapter 2 you've got a simple first person demo up and running. Another reviewer thought there were typos in the examples but I didn't notice any; perhaps I have a newer addition of the book. If the code didn't compile it was down to my typing mistakes! The Unity IDE isn't the most intuitive so the examples tell you which menu options to select to perform the various steps. There's a good Appendix which covers some of the other Unity options such as the toolbar. Hocking clearly states that this is a book about games programming and not graphics. So all the graphics in this book are simple but you are introduced to textures and graphics assets. Again, there is an Appendix pointing you to other resources for graphics. All the code, graphics assets, icons etc are available for download so all the examples can be finished easily. Overall I'm very pleased I bought this book.

Brilliant book, clear, concise and has excellent example games that you develop as you work through it. You can waste weeks of your life trying to follow dodgy youtube tutorials on unity, or you can just fly through this book and cut to the important stuff. Its written for people who can already program, which is good, no time wasted explaining for loops etc. Delighted I found it.

Fantastic into to Unity. I primarily program in Python and has did some Pygame. I found I wanted to learn to use an engine instead of having to deal with low level issues presented by Pygame. I felt Unity was a decent choice and got this book. It has a great progression as it starts with getting a simple cube on screen and ends with building your program for various platforms. It doesn't have that issue where the first half of the book is fine and then the author leaves you behind and you're left scratching your head in confusion. The author expects you to have some programming experience and I'd agree. The code is never hard to follow but I feel if you'd never programmed before you may find it tough going. I also felt dedicating 1-2 chapters to Unity's 2D tools was a nice touch. Definitely worth purchasing if you're looking at getting into games programming.

Really cohesive and simple way to get inti Unity Game development. Unity can be a rather daunting, and it not obvious where to start despite a lot of online resources. This direct narrative gets into some nice Game play from the get go. Inspiring for young game developers..

I would like to state that i have not moved beyond the second chapter of this book *yet*, but everything i have read so far has been explained very clearly and thoroughly. All code provided has worked perfectly and any adjustments that need to be made in the Unity editor have been explained step-by-step. Multiple solutions are usually given where possible.

Il testo contiene molte informazioni utili ed immediatamente utilizzabili dai principianti. Il metodo è quello di utilizzare degli esempi che vengono svolti man mano che si va avanti nella trattazione, affiancandoli a dei sintetici ma efficaci commenti. Ho trovato il libro molto utile come base di partenza. Lo consiglio a chi ha delle basi di c# e non ha esperienza con UNITY.

Le livre est plutôt pédagogique, et fait l'effort d'expliquer en détail sa logique, l'organisation du code, etc. Vraiment pas mal :)

This Book is a Amazing I have a lot of Unity Books and when i can turn Back the Time I would only buying this one you only need this for Beginning.Joseph Hocking explains and teaches you a very good Basic to building up your skills.At the end of the Book he link a few websites where you find further coding , Programms ,software etc. to Accomplish complex things.The Examples in the Book are Awesome you create a little Topdown RPG with some simple Game Mechanics open Doors,Pushing Buttons ,Collecting things.With a little bit Fantasy and research you can build up on this Game to create your own little game. 5 stars from me and keeping up the good work Joseph

I've gone through 3 other books on Unity before settling on this book as my go-to reading materials to begin my training on Unity game development. I am an advanced Android developer with no knowledge at all in Unity development. This book is easy enough to get me started in the core concepts of game development in Unity, yet advanced enough to show me how I can develop more complex games in this tool suite. If I can get one book to get started with Unity, this would be it. Highly recommended.

Well written and easy to follow, especially considering the highly technical subject. I can't recommend this enough for anyone wanting a jump-start with Unity. Unfortunately, the price is higher than what a lot of game-dev dreaming kids will be able to afford. There really isn't much here that isn't covered by the extensive online Unity documentation and tutorials, but my cheap-ass went that route at first myself and was left frustrated and stumped by all of the holes in what I was learning. This book puts it all together and explains it well in one understandable start-to-finish guide that you just can't really find anywhere else. Following along with the book helps give you the momentum and confidence you need for starting out. I'd have liked the book to touch on a few more key subjects, but was overall very happy. I still go back to reference it occasionally, months later while working on my own project. I strongly recommend downloading the free online PDF for that reason; being able to search for keywords is very nice. Later portions of the book build on previous chapters, which also makes that search helpful. The code in my book didn't work for downloading my PDF, but the publisher was very friendly and responsive daily with me via email to help resolve the situation.