Beginner to Pro: Game Programming

From Tuah of gaiaonline.com:


Unity 3D isn't a simple game-maker. It is a full-blown grade-A game engine. For those who don't understand what a game engine is, it is a data-handling system, a Rendering engine (for drawing things on the screen, an Audio engine (for playing sounds), and a Physics engine (handles all the physics). There are many more sub-topics in these, but this is the gist of it. There is a free version available with a couple of features locked, and a professional version.

The graphical power is better than many other engines, shown here, and supports all the major visual effects that games are using these days.

Game Makers of various sorts have you make the art and do light scripting, as most of the difficult parts are already handled in the maker itself. Unity is not a game maker in that you can't just open it up, put in a few models and call it a game.

That said, it is one of (if not) the easiest-to-use game engines out there, with its own advanced Editor and Prefab system. The editor automatically imports all your assets (models, textures, sound-effects) for you, so no time is lost. It also allows you to press a "play" button to see exactly how your stuff works instantly. No long waits for compiling like in other engines.
And Prefabs are basically objects that are already set up with everything needed to work. A model, physics components, and some scripts; no need to re-add everything every time you make a new object.
The component system also allows you to take your scripts (even free ones from online), slap 'em on an object, and watch 'em work. Much better than the older methods of inheriting behavior.

Now, while you might be able to assemble your stuff and have it work great, you still need to put a lot of work in to actually make the stuff.

Luckily, Unity's importing system allows for seamless input from Blender and 3D Studio Max, among others. Open your modeling program, make your object and save it, and Unity automatically imports any changes you've made.

The scripting languages Unity uses are C# and a custom dialect of Javascript (not Java). It also uses Boo, but that doesn't seem as popular.
If you're a newbie, go with Javascript. If you're fairly experienced, go with C#.

And the last thing I have to say about Unity 3D is the documentation and community. It far surpasses all the others I've seen out there. The documentation is freely available online (and automatically accessible by double-clicking on something in the editor), and incredibly well-organized. The Unity forums are also bustling with friendly Indie developers and hobbyists who all look out for one-another. If you need help, you're sure to be pointed in the right direction.


Unity 3D is a great tool for hobbyists or indie developers alike. Even EA is starting to use it. It's flexible, powerful, and easy.