What this book covers

Chapter 1, Saying Hello to Unity and Android, explores the feature lists of the Android platform and the Unity 3D game engine, covering why they are great choices for development. We will also cover setting up the development environment, and create a simple Hello World application for your device and emulators.

Chapter 2, Looking Good ­– Graphical Interface, takes a detailed look at the graphical user interface. By creating a Tic-tac-toe game, we learn about the user interface while making it pleasing to look at.

Chapter 3, The Backbone of Any Game ­– Meshes, Materials, and Animations, explores meshes, materials, and animations. Through the creation of a Tank Battle game, we cover the core of what players will see when playing.

Chapter 4, Setting the Stage ­– Camera Effects and Lighting, explains about the camera effects and lighting. With the addition of shadows, lightmaps, distance fog, and a skybox, our Tank Battle environment becomes more dynamic. Utilizing special camera effects, we create extra feedback for the player.

Chapter 5, Getting Around ­– Pathfinding and AI, shows the creation of mobile enemies in our Tank Battle game. We explore pathfinding and AI to give players a target more meaningful than a stationary dummy.

Chapter 6, Specialties of the Mobile Device ­– Touch and Tilt, covers the features that make the modern mobile device special. We create a Space Fighter game to understand the touch interface and tilt controls.

Chapter 7, Throwing Your Weight Around ­– Physics and a 2D Camera, shows the creation of a clone of Angry Birds after taking a short break from the Space Fighter game. Physics and a 2D camera effect are explored here.

Chapter 8, Special Effects ­– Sound and Particles, returns to the Space Fighter game to add special effects. The inclusion of sound effects and particles allows us to create a more complete game experience.

Chapter 9, Optimization, covers optimization in Unity 3D. We cover the benefits and costs of making our Tank Battle and Space Fighter games as efficient as possible.