So i’ve been working with Unity around 3 years now, and have had a lot of fantastic feedback from the community surrounding the software as a result of my video tutorials (see learnmesilly.com). Now after 6 or so months of work the book i’ve been working on is coming together. In coordination with Packt Publishing, the book is available currently in a pre-release ‘RAW’ form available to buy as an Ebook PDF – bear in mind however that this is a first draft, the finished version is what i’m working on at the moment, and hope to have finished for October release.
Just wanted to say a big thanks to all my friends, the members of the Unity community and those reviewing chapters that have helped and supported me with this and a big shout out to Charles Hinshaw from Unity technologies, who provided the awesome picture to go on the cover of the book. Keep an eye on the link below if you’re interested in the book, and i’ll post on this blog again, along with learnunity3d.com.. and twitter.. and facebook.. no doubt, when its finished and i’m getting suitably drunk.
#1 by Timothy West | PHOTONOMY on August 11, 2009 - 1:14 pm
AWESOME NEWS Will. That is so cool that you have published something.
I know where to look if I plan to do some Unity work.
Cheers.
#2 by Will on August 11, 2009 - 1:18 pm
Cheers Tim! Yeah give me a shout if you ever want to get involved with Unity, happy to help.
#3 by eedok on October 26, 2009 - 6:16 am
in case you don’t check the forums, posted some errata here: http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=33634
#4 by Julian Togelius on November 4, 2009 - 3:32 pm
Just bought the book and started going through the tutorial. I like it. One issue though – this address doesn’t seem to work: http://www.packtpub.com/files/8181_Code.zip
Is the file available somewhere else?
#5 by Will on November 4, 2009 - 3:56 pm
Julian you should be able to go to packtpub.com and go to support, fill in your email address and they’ll give you an up to date download link, if not, let me know.
Will
#6 by karry on December 15, 2009 - 5:13 am
Gah ! When you request that code file they send you the exact same link, except now it works ! Whats up with that ? What, is it THAT extra secret that they HAVE to IP check ? Why isnt it mentioned in the book then ?
Gah !
#7 by Will on December 15, 2009 - 2:12 pm
maybe they just fixed the link??
#8 by Ulla on December 18, 2009 - 9:54 pm
Hi Will
I am totally new to Unity and I think your book is great to learn from. But I have a problem in chapter 5. I keep getting an error when playing the game. I tried to copy/paste your code into the script(PlayerCollisions.js), but that only made things worse. I then tried to compare your code with the one in the book. What happened to currentDoor? Please tell me what I have done wrong. I have spent several weeks trying to figure it out
#9 by Will on December 18, 2009 - 9:57 pm
Ulla, I’d really need to see your script to have any idea as to what you’ve done wrong…? use pastebin.ca to send me what you have.
#10 by Ulla on December 19, 2009 - 9:31 am
I think I will have to start all over again with the code before sending it to you. But what puzzels me is that on page 143 currentdDoor seems to dissapear out of the code, but it doesn’t say why. And when I look at your code PlayerCollisions ch5.js, currentDoor is missing. Dreamweaver reports a syntax error in your script and it doesn’t work when I try to play it in my game.
#11 by Ulla on December 19, 2009 - 12:30 pm
OK, I found out what I am doing wrong. I wrote BatteryGUI instead of Battery GUI. I am sorry to waste your time with a stupid mistake like this.
I still wonder about the currentDoor issue though.
And another thing. The photo on page 133 the checkbox next to GUITexture is checked. But my battery showed up from gamestart until I unchecked that checkbox. Now the game seems to work just fine.
And if it is not too much to ask, can you explain the difference between GUITexture and guiTexture.
Thank you. Ulla
#12 by Will on December 20, 2009 - 2:05 am
Hi again
Thats okay, its easy to make syntactical mistakes when you’re starting out. The GUI Texture component should be disabled when you’re starting out with your battery GUI, will check with the publisher and of course the book itself to make sure its correctly listed. Also no diff between GUITexture and guiTexture – you can write it both ways when using GetComponent (but in cSharp you must use GUITexture) but the way I tend to do things is to use the uppercased version for type declarations eg.
var example : GUITexture = object.GetComponent(GUITexture);
and use the lower for setting properties of an attached component eg.
guiTexture.texture = example;
as I said before though it’d be simpler to help you if you’d post your scripts via pastebin.ca. All the best
#13 by Tork on February 1, 2010 - 12:36 am
im new at unity3d and i’m beign stuck in one part, will help me please my playercollision script has not working, in the part of we need colect batteries unity3d show me that error: Uknown Identifer ” BatteryCollect” that command supose to change the variable charge but it dont find the other script called BatteryCollect i think, what i supose to do?
there are my playercollision script: http://pastebin.ca/1773731
and my batterycollect script :http://pastebin.ca/1773741
#14 by Monty on March 17, 2010 - 7:08 am
Hello Will,
Really, really good book, well worth the money. I did find myself lost at several points in the book but after the 3rd time around I was sailing. Being a non programmer this was a really good introduction.
Do you intend to continue this book in a series or was this a one off thing?
Is it possible to get the code in Boo or in C#?
Monty
#15 by Will on March 17, 2010 - 10:24 am
Hi Monty, I believe some forum members have translated the code into C#, don’t have a link to hand sadly. This was a one off offering as i’m currently busy with work and an MA study, but I’d like to follow it up in the future. Thanks very much for your kind comment, if by any chance you bought the book on amazon would really appreciate a review on there! have a good day
#16 by Robert on May 23, 2010 - 4:49 pm
Hi Will,
I see nothing but positive reviews and recommendations for your book.
I was wondering if ALL the projects in the book can be completed with the free version of Unity ?
TIA
#17 by Will on May 24, 2010 - 12:11 pm
Hi Robert, yes I’ve had lots of great feedback – the whole book can indeed be completed with the free version of the software.
#18 by Marty on May 25, 2010 - 1:46 am
Hey Will, really enjoyed the book! Put up a small review on a blog i recently started
http://mcflydesign.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/unity-game-development-essentials/
#19 by Robert on May 26, 2010 - 1:43 am
Thanks for the good news Will.
Responding a bit late because of the holiday weekend.
Later today I’m picking up the book in my fav bookshop here in Amsterdam.
#20 by Will on May 26, 2010 - 10:20 am
Hi Robert, hope you enjoy the book, have to say I haven’t actually seen a copy of my book in a shop, be curious to know what shop you’re picking it up from! cheers
#21 by Robert on May 31, 2010 - 3:40 pm
Hi Will,
Apologies for the delay.
This shop in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
http://www.selexyz.nl/product/9781847198181/goldstone-w-/unity-game-development-essentials/
You can order online or buy in the shop. But like it says 2-3 weeks delivery (“Levertijd thuisbezorgen:
2 – 3 weken” unnder the picture of the book), while it takes me 45 minutes, to and from, to get it.
If you click the link “Bekijk de voorraad in de winkel” (Dutch) under the picture of the book, you can actually retrieve a yes or no for in stock in all their branches in The Netherlands.
#22 by Robert on May 31, 2010 - 3:42 pm
Yes man, a lot more expensive than the dollar price, at 41.95 Euros. But worth it every penny.