Getting Started With Game Development In Unity
So you want to develop your own games in Unity and don’t know where to start? Read on!
The first thing you will need is to download and install Unity Hub. Unity Hub is the software which helps us manage our Unity projects as well as the different versions of Unity we might have installed. You can get Unity Hub from Unity’s web site (https://unity.com/).
On the front page of the site, you should see a link labelled “Get Started”. Follow that link to get started with downloading Unity Hub. There are different paths you can follow in this process depending on your situation. For example, you may have access to some benefits if you are a student enrolled in an accredited institution. The prices you see on the “Plans and Pricing” page may be intimidating to you, but don’t worry. Just select the “Individual” tab and you should see the basic “Personal” option which costs nothing.
Once you have downloaded the Unity Hub installer, install the software and then start it up. You should see on the left side four options — “Projects”, “Learn”, “Community”, and “Installs”.
Starting from the bottom, the “Installs” section allows us to manage the versions of Unity we have installed. Unity is constantly being developed, and newer versions can be incompatible with existing projects, so sometimes it is necessary to have multiple versions installed.
If you don’t have a version installed already, you will need to add one in order to work on Unity projects. Click on the “Add” button to bring up the “Add Unity Version” screen. What we see here is three main categories of Unity versions — LTS, Alpha, and unlabeled.
LTS stands for Long Term Support, which means these are stable versions that won’t be getting any new features but Unity has committed to continue fixing any known bugs for the near future. The most recent LTS version is what is recommended because this is the version that we can be confident is very stable and that the behavior of the code will not change as Unity continues to develop its product.
The Alpha version is the absolute most recent version that Unity has released to the public. It will likely have new features that previous versions did not have, but these features could change or be removed in the future.
The unlabeled version is the most recent version released that Unity has determined to be reasonably stable. This version will have up to date features that probably won’t change much in upcoming releases, but there are no guarantees of that.
There are definitely good reasons to use any of these versions, but the recommended version will probably be the best choice for most projects.
Once you have determined what version to use, you then have the opportunity to select modules to add to the installation.
These modules are for adding support for different platforms, such as Linux or mobile devices. Select what you are interested in developing for and then click “Done”. The Unity Hub will then download and install your selections, which will probably take a few minutes.
The other button on the “Installs” screen, “Locate”, allows you to connect Unity Hub with an existing Unity version already installed on your machine. You might use this to, for example, add an older version that is no longer being supported by Unity.
The next section of the Unity Hub, “Community”, has links to a variety of resources on the web that can help you answer any questions you have and also stay up to date on the latest developments within Unity. For example, there are links to the Unity blog and forums.
The “Learn” section contains links to a variety of tutorials and beginner projects to help you get started in learning Unity for your own projects.
Finally, the “Projects” section is where you can manage all of your own Unity projects and create new ones. You may not have any projects yet, but when you do you will see a list of your projects alongside some information about each of them, such as what version of Unity they are being developed in.
At the top of the “Projects” section you can see two buttons, “Add” and “New”. “Add” allows you to add an existing project to your Unity Hub. You may have to do this if, for instance, you downloaded a tutorial project off the web or were collaborating on someone else’s project.
The “New” button allows you to create a new Unity project. The down arrow on the side allows you to choose between whatever different versions of Unity you have installed. Once you have selected to create a new project, you are taken to a new screen to configure some settings for your project.
Once there you can set the name, location, and what kind of project you intend to create. After configuring these settings, click the “Create” button to have Unity build your project. This could take a little while.
And there you have it! The Unity editor should open with your new project ready to be worked on. Good luck and happy coding!
