Summary
In this chapter, we started to put the Unity 3D engine through its paces.
We learned how to:
- Add built-in Game Objects to our Scene
- Position, rotate, and scale those Game Objects
- Add lighting to the Scene to brighten things up
- Add Rigidbody components to our Game Objects to tie into Unity's physics calculations
- Create Physic Materials
- Customize Collider components to make Game Objects become bouncy
We took an impossibly complex game idea and hacked it down to its fun, naked essentials. We explored the origin point—the center of our game's universe. We learned about the building blocks of 3D construction: vertices, edges, and faces. We talked about how polygon counts can affect game performance. We laughed, we cried. It was profound.
Following the script
What we have so far is not a game, but a very dull movie about the best keep-up player in the world who never, ever drops the ball. One key thing that distinguishes movies from games is popcorn. Also, games are interactive. We need to introduce interactivity to our game so that the player can move that paddle around.
We do this by writing a Script. Just like in the movies, where everyone follows a list of stage cues, lines, and notes to put the finished product together, Game Objects in Unity can follow Scripts to determine what to do. Scripts are essentially lists of instructions for people, or Game Objects, to follow. In the next chapter, we'll learn how to add Scripts to our Game Objects to add interactivity to our game.