Game Design with Unity
Workshop — 2020-11-25
Location: Online — 9:30-13:00
Games are everywhere in our lives. From the immensely popular games like Fortnite to emotional experiences like The Last of Us or Papers, Please, games are a wide and expressive genre. Getting into games is not always easy if you don't know what tools to use or how to get your images moving. In this workshop we'll dive into the basics of game design: how we can structure our thoughts through a game design process, what a core game loop looks like, how to get your images and other assets into Unity and how to build worlds and interactions that make up a game. With this knowledge you'll be able to make small games that run on smartphones, desktop and the web.
Goals
- Understand the core principles behind game design: game loop.
- Become familiar with the interface of Unity.
- Understand the building blocks of a Unity scene: GameObjects and Components.
- Import external assets and assemble a scene.
- Add light and sound to change the mood of the scene.
- Build interactivity with (simple) scripting.
- Publish a game to desktop and web.
Requirements
- Make sure you have installed Unity and created a Unity student account.
- Install Blender.
- You don't need to know about 3D modelling or programming.
Project
We'll make a simple, low-poly exploration game with existing assets that we download from Kenney. We'll build a simple point system that shows the basics of coding interactions. We'll tweak shading and color to give it mood and atmosphere, and add sound.
Next Steps
- Game Design is an art in itself. Read The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses for a primer into the basic principles behind game design. If you're into game programming, read Game Programming Patterns.
- Visit Unity Learn to hone your skills in the Unity editor.
- There are a ton of YouTube channels that talk about game design. Some of my favourites are Game Maker's Toolkit, GDC, Sebastian Lague, Makin' Stuff Look Good.
- If you're into 3D modeling, check out Blender Guru, CGBoost, or my favourite: Ian Hubert's Lazy Tutorials.