Learning C# by Developing Games with Unity: Get to grips with coding in C# and build simple 3D games in Unity 2022 from the ground up, 7th Edition

Preface
    Who this book is for
    What this book covers
    To get the most out of this book
    Get in touch
    Share your thoughts
Getting to Know Your Environment
    Technical requirements
    Getting started with Unity 2022
        Using macOS
        Creating a new project
        Navigating the editor
    Using C# with Unity
        Working with C# scripts
        Introducing the Visual Studio editor
            Opening a C# file
            Beware of naming mismatches
        Syncing C# files
    Exploring the documentation
        Accessing Unity’s documentation
        Locating C# resources
    Summary
    Pop quiz—dealing with scripts
The Building Blocks of Programming
    Defining variables
        Names are important
        Variables act as placeholders
    Understanding methods
        Methods drive actions
        Methods are placeholders too
    Introducing classes
        A common Unity class
        Classes are blueprints
        Communication among classes
    Working with comments
        Single-line comments
        Multi-line comments
        Adding comments
    Putting the building blocks together
        Scripts become components
        A helping hand from MonoBehaviour
            Hero’s trial—MonoBehaviour in the Scripting API
    Summary
    Pop quiz—C# building blocks
Diving into Variables, Types, and Methods
    Writing proper C#
    Debugging your code
    Understanding variables
        Declaring variables
            Type and value declarations
            Type-only declarations
        Using access modifiers
        Working with types
            Common built-in types
            Type conversions
            Inferred declarations
            Custom types
        Naming variables
        Understanding variable scope
    Introducing operators
        Arithmetic and assignments
    Defining methods
        Declaring methods
        Naming conventions
        Methods as logic detours
        Specifying parameters
        Specifying return values
        Using return values
            Hero’s trial—methods as arguments
        Dissecting common Unity methods
            The Start() method
            The Update() method
    Summary
    Pop quiz—variables and methods
Control Flow and Collection Types
    Selection statements
        The if-else statement
            Using the NOT operator
            Nesting statements
            Evaluating multiple conditions
        The switch statement
            Pattern matching
            Fall-through cases
        Pop Quiz 1—if, and, or but
    Collections at a glance
        Arrays
            Indexing and subscripts
            Multidimensional arrays
            Range exceptions
        Lists
            Accessing and modifying lists
        Dictionaries
            Working with dictionary pairs
        Pop Quiz 2—all about collections
    Iteration statements
        for loops
        foreach loops
            Looping through key-value pairs
        while loops
        To infinity and beyond
    Summary
Working with Classes, Structs, and OOP
    Introducing OOP
    Defining classes
        Instantiating class objects
        Adding class fields
        Using constructors
        Declaring class methods
    Declaring structs
    Understanding reference and value types
        Reference types
        Value types
    Integrating the object-oriented mindset
        Encapsulation
        Inheritance
            Base constructors
        Composition
        Polymorphism
    Applying OOP in Unity
        Objects are a class act
        Accessing components
            Accessing components in code
            Drag and drop
    Summary
    Pop quiz—all things OOP
Getting Your Hands Dirty with Unity
    A game design primer
        Game design documents
        The Hero Born one-pager
    Building a level
        Creating primitives
        Thinking in 3D
        Materials
        White-boxing
            Editor tools
            Hero’s trial—putting up drywall
            Keeping the hierarchy clean
            Working with Prefabs
    Lighting basics
        Creating lights
        Light component properties
    Animating in Unity
        Creating animations in code
        Creating animations in the Unity Animation window
        Recording keyframes
        Curves and tangents
    Summary
    Pop quiz—basic Unity features
Movement, Camera Controls, and Collisions
    Managing player movement
    Moving the player with the Transform component
        Understanding vectors
        Getting player input
        Moving the player
    Scripting camera behavior
    Working with the Unity physics system
        Rigidbody components in motion
        Colliders and collisions
            Picking up an item
        Using Collider triggers
            Creating an enemy
            Hero’s trial—all the Prefabs!
        Physics roundup
    Summary
    Pop quiz—player controls and physics
Scripting Game Mechanics
    Adding jumps
        Introducing enumerations
            Underlying types
        Working with layer masks
    Shooting projectiles
        Instantiating objects
        Adding the shooting mechanic
        Managing object build-up
    Creating a game manager
        Tracking player properties
        The get and set properties
        Updating item collection
    Creating a GUI
        Displaying player stats
        Win and loss conditions
        Pausing and restarting the game with using directives and namespaces
    Summary
    Pop quiz – working with mechanics
Basic AI and Enemy Behavior
    Navigating 3D space in Unity
        Navigation components
        Setting up enemy agents
    Moving enemy agents
        Procedural programming
        Referencing the patrol locations
        Moving the enemy
    Enemy game mechanics
        Seek and destroy: changing the agent’s destination
        Lowering player health
        Detecting bullet collisions
        Updating the game manager
    Refactoring and keeping it DRY
    Summary
    Pop quiz—AI and navigation
Revisiting Types, Methods, and Classes
    Access modifiers
        Constant and read-only properties
        Using the static keyword
    Revisiting methods
        Overloading methods
        ref parameters
        out parameters
    Intermediate OOP
        Interfaces
        Abstract classes
        Class extensions
    Namespace conflicts and type aliasing
    Summary
    Pop quiz—leveling up
Specialized Collection Types and LINQ
    Introducing stacks
        Popping and peeking
        Common methods
    Working with queues
        Adding, removing, and peeking
    Using HashSets
        Performing operations
    Intermediate collections roundup
    Querying data with LINQ
        LINQ basics
        Lambda expressions
        Chaining queries
        Transforming data into new types
        Simplifying with optional syntax
    Summary
    Pop quiz—intermediate collections
Saving, Loading, and Serializing Data
    Introducing data formats
        Breaking down XML
        Breaking down JSON
    Understanding the filesystem
        Working with asset paths
        Creating and deleting directories
        Creating, updating, and deleting files
    Working with streams
        Managing your Stream resources
        Using StreamWriter and StreamReader
        Creating an XMLWriter
        Automatically closing streams
    Serializing data
        Serializing and deserializing XML
        Serializing and deserializing JSON
    Data roundup
    Summary
    Pop quiz—data management
Exploring Generics, Delegates, and Beyond
    Introducing generics
        Generic classes
        Generic methods
        Constraint type parameters
        Adding generics to Unity objects
    Delegating actions
        Creating a debug delegate
        Delegates as parameter types
    Firing events
        Creating and invoking events
        Handling event subscriptions
        Cleaning up event subscriptions
    Handling exceptions
        Throwing exceptions
        Using try-catch
    Summary
    Pop quiz—intermediate C#
The Journey Continues
    Diving deeper
    Remembering your object-oriented programming
    Design patterns primer
    Approaching Unity projects
    Unity features we didn’t cover
    Next steps
        C# resources
        Unity resources
        Unity certifications
    Hero’s trial—putting something out into the world
    Summary
Pop Quiz Answers
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Index