Scratch makes it very simple to “do” things with your sprites by stacking a few well placed code blocks. In Unity, you must “script” your actions with a programming language called C# (pronounced ‘C Sharp’). If you’ve never programmed before, then this will likely be the single greatest hurdle in transitioning from Scratch to Unity, but it is well worth the effort. Once you master the basics you’ll be able to express yourself far better than you had been able to before.
Unity
Scratch To Unity: User Interface
The layouts of Scratch and Unity are pretty different, and Unity can be a bit overwhelming by comparison. That is an unfortunate by-product of having so many features. It’s not as bad as you might think though, we just need to re-orient you by letting you know the equivalent location of where and what things are.
Scratch To Unity: Intro
Scratch is a great little platform from which one may create stories, games and animations. It is so easy to use that it is even popular among children. Scratch is great for aspiring game developers to learn very basic concepts, but is not as feature rich as something like Unity. If you would like to graduate from Scratch to a more professional level tool, then this series is for you.
Meshes
I often resort to placeholder assets when putting together prototype projects. Unity’s built-in selection of primitive shapes like the Cube, Quad, Sphere and Capsule are very useful toward that purpose. More often that not, any other assets you work with will be created externally and then imported into Unity. This is especially true with something as complex as a 3D mesh. However, there are reasons to create and/or edit meshes programmatically, and this lesson will serve as a helpful introduction.
Intro To Unity ECS
Unity’s ECS architecture is nearing its official release, and I am getting more and more excited for it. After a brief introduction, we’ll spend some time digging in and experimenting. By the end you should have an elementary grasp of Entities, Components and Systems within this new architecture.
Machine Learning
You may have noticed things have been quiet here recently. The reason is that I have been hard at work trying to learn new things myself. Machine Learning is to blame for my currently distracted state, but if you haven’t looked into it, perhaps I can help you catch the bug too.
Scriptable Objects
Scriptable Objects are a special type of data object in Unity. They have several important benefits but may not work ideally for every scenario. In this lesson we will cover what they are and how to use them.
Make a CCG – JSON
In the previous lesson I hard-coded a demo deck of cards. This wasn’t “necessary” because of my architectural choices. It was merely a simple placeholder which didn’t require me to commit to any kind of data store or structure. Still, to help avoid any confusion, I decided I would go ahead and provide an example post that shows how the same deck could have been created with some sort of asset – in this case a JSON file.
Make a CCG – Spells & Abilities
Any card can have special abilities – by this I mean that it can cause one or more of our “Game Actions” to trigger based on special criteria. Spell cards are unique in that they must have at least one ability in order to serve a purpose. In this lesson, we will begin implementing spells, and by necessity, will also create an ability system that we can apply to our other cards as well.
Make a CCG – Targeting
Many cards require a “target” as part of their play requirements. For example, a spell might heal an injured ally, or a minion’s battlecry ability may deal damage to an opponent. Sometimes the target(s) can be chosen automatically, and other times they require the user to manually pick. In this lesson we will begin the process of supporting manually targeted play actions.