Unity Game Development Essentials: If you have ambitions to be a game developer this guide is a must. Covering all the fundamentals of the Unity game engine, it will help you understand the different elements of 3D game creation through practical projects.

For those of you wishing to join the growing ranks of Game Developers, this book is for you. The author assumes no prior game development knowledge and guides you straight through the trenches. Using the Unity Game Engine as the development platform, the author really does prove that game development is not only for the elite or professional programmers. As a Unity game developer myself, I highly recommend this book to not only those who have been toying around with the idea of creating a game, but also those who want to learn a new trick or two with Unity.

I wouldn't bore you with a long review. To put it plain and simple, this is a very good book and well paced. I would recommend it for a beginner as it slowly takes you through what is needed to catch up to speed with Unity. However, notice I rated it 5 stars because that is what is it, but I must point out that if you are learning unity with Unity 3.0 or above be aware that the book seems to use Unity 2.9 (if am correct) and below thus, when you get to topics such as writing scripts - you would notice the book uses examples on FPS Walker Scripts (to be found in 2.9 and below) where as it's been changed to (Character Controller Script in 3.0 and above) as of writing I haven't seen a well documented tutorial on the Character Controller Scripts. Hope this helps

Will Goldstone has created a little masterpiece with this book. Now, two years after it was published, it is still applicable and has aged well. Part of this is due to Unity's stable paradigm that all of the subsequent versions have been built on. It is perfect to get the complete view of how a simple 3D game would be made in Unity. From building the terrain, to explaining when to use collisions versus triggers, and then wrapping it all up with some interacting scripts. The scripts are accessible for most budding programmers (and us old pros) and show a few fun ways to impart action, such as, conditional logic (eg: "if there are enough batteries allow the door to open") and scoring.So, if you want to see the big picture with real examples, this one is it, and it still "works" well with the latest version (3.4.2 as of this writing - basic or pro versions).

A book that can be considered the best and quickest way to start building games and virtual sceneries with Unity, the game engine behind exciting games and the stunning virtual world of Nurien.As "Unity Game Development Essentials" says, you will:"Build fully functional, professional 3D games with realistic environments, sound, dynamic effects, and more!"Will Goldstone is the author of this book. He's a game developer and interactive web designer, and online tutor based in the south of England. He is specialized in many interactive disciplines.He has been working with Unity from the first versions that were released, and worked in its promotion since that beginning, and developed games for the Apple iPhone platform.The book has around 300 pages, and is a brilliant intro to building sceneries and games with the Unity engine.The word "engine" may be discouraging for those without a programming background, but as the book tells, what distinguishes Unity from others is the edition tool that is provided with this engine. In this editor, most of the tasks are achieved through drag & drop.Sometimes coding is necessary, and the book provides this code and explains every step. You can also download the book examples from Packt Publishing's site.For this coding, the book uses the simplest language that Unity can use for scripting: JavaScript. Unity can use other computer languages, but this is by far the most accessible for many people. If you are not a programmer it doesn't matter because the book makes scripting very easy for newcomers, explaining everything in simple language.And if you have never developed a game, it's not a problem, because if you just enjoy playing games you will discover how you already are familiar to many game concepts, and the book introduces you to all you need to know.The book starts explaining all that you need to know about Unity's interface, basic concepts, and common terms.Then, you start building from the very beginning. Reading the book, you will create a graphic adventure game in a desert island, with arcade elements and mini-games inside the general game plot.You will create an island using the built-in terrain editor, add the player character controls, and learn how to use collision to trigger events inside the game. You will also learn code reuse and object reuse via the prefabs, that are like types of 3D game elements that you define to be used over and over.You will familiarize yourself with professional game concepts like instantiation (create objects from prefabs and add them dynamically through scripts) for example to make coconuts fall from palm trees.Particle effects are present in Unity, and with them you will create things like fire and smoke, or comet trails.And as every game you will need to add 2D elements like menus, or messages for the player. The author tells you the different ways to make this, so you can select and use the best techniques.Unity is quite cross-platform. There are even Unity versions for Wii and iPhone. You can build a game and then make the executables and files for Windows PC, Mac, or even for a web player that can run your game embedded in a web page.The book ends telling you how to compile your game, and after that it even tells you how to find beta-testers for it, and where to send your game in case you want to share it with other Unity developers and players.To summarize: this book is a essential manual for Unity. If you want to start building games or virtual sceneries using this powerful engine, the quickest way is to buy this book, follow the chapters, and get to know everything in the shortest time.

I would like to say that I have read many books on game development. This is the best book on game development I have ever read! I started with no knowledge of the Unity Engine. The book starts very basic and proceeds to a finished game! I still refer to the book often!There were great parts that I hadn't thought of(Fog effect)The book explained the process so well, I was able to incorporate fog into my game!I could go on forever about this book. This book should be the first book for anyone interested in game design!This book took me from a frustrated wannabe to actually creating a game with confidence!Jim Cullen