Taking your first cautious steps into Unity 3d

Wait! Before you run away hear me out...

I've tried for years to learn some coding, starting out in Code Academy back in 2014, I pushed myself to learn the basics of C++ and JavaScript and it's was... fascinating but ultimately infuriating! I speak two languages (Turkish and English) which I don't think for a Brit is that bad, but this was something else.

No, it's not a shopping list

Sometimes it can feel like the code you write shouldn't make sense or you are talking to an alien from another world, but eventually it does start making (*some) sense the more you practice. In my mind it became like speaking to an android librarian, first you need the structure of the library, then the shelves, the books, and finally you can ask for that Stephan King novel you've always wanted to read. It's about hierarchy and "if that book is in stock, yes you can borrow it" or "I understand you want that book, but what edition, size and colour?", "You speak, I tell you to shush", causation and reaction. That's incredibly simplified, and I bet many Unity developers would argue with the comparison, but for me it started to make sense.

Fast forward 7 years and now I'm attempting to learn Unity 3d to give myself a better understanding of the world of game development. Even though I wish I'd started a lot earlier (please encourage your kids to learn coding) I'm also a bit glad I waited until now as Unity 3d has become so simple to use and the wealth of information out there is amazing and varied.

I HAD to use this image... sorry Imphenzia

Imphenzia on Youtube has been my favourite and using his tutorials I created my first... thing... ok, it's not going to be the next Assassin's Creed or Deadcells, but it works and it only took about half a day to do.

The fact that Unity 3d takes most of the guess work out of coding using the Smart Ui Select system helps immensely, giving you prompts and advice as you write, highlighting joining statements, bools and integers (Don't worry, all of those are explained in various videos out there) helps you to visualise your code and find out just what went wrong.

"Little boxes on my desktop, little boxes made for Unity!"

I also love the drag and drop function in scene as well, I have a ton of scrap paper scattered about with game ideas, levels and badly drawn characters and being able to put that into a 3d space in real time is sooo satisfying.

The one thing to understand though is that this is a journey, following a tutorial word for word and making a game that is basically slow white blob eats small yellow blobs, the end, wont win any awards, it's the experience of doing that which will help you most.

The next thing to do now is watch another tutorial and eventually make my own prototypes for the basic game genres. It's important not to give up and to just keep trying. If you have to copy a hundred games, then copy a hundred games, each experience will bring you closer to your goals.