atet / unity

Introduction to Unity

Estimated time to completion: 15 minutes
(excluding waiting times for downloads and installs)

• This introduction to Unity covers what's absolutely necessary to get you up and running
• You are here because you want to turn your dreams into reality by developing games or productivity apps
• We will be using Unity to make a simple Android application; advanced material is not covered here

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Table of Contents

Introduction

• 0. Requirements
• 1. Installation
• 2. New Unity Project
• 3. Simple Application
• 4. Playmode Test
• 5. Building for Android
• 6. Android Mobile Phone Installation
• 7. Playing Your First Android Application
• 8. Experiment
• 9. Epilogue

Supplemental

• Troubleshooting
• Pro Tips
• Other Resources

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0. Requirements

You do NOT need to know how to program to complete this tutorial

• An Android mobile phone is required to test your application
• This tutorial was developed on Microsoft Windows 10 and Unity 2019
  • Different versions of Unity may have slightly different menu placement, menu names, etc.
  • Both Unity and Visual Studio Code are also available on Mac OS X and Linux

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1. Installation

Two separate programs must be installed: VSCode and Unity

1. Visual Studio Code (a.k.a. VSCode)
   • Download and install Microsoft Visual Studio Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/
   • Write down where you installed VSCode for a later step

2. Unity

   • Depending on your internet and computer speeds, downloading and installing Unity will take a while (20+ minutes)
   • You must sign up for a free account with Unity (https://id.unity.com)
   • Download and install Unity Hub from: https://store.unity.com/download-nuo
   • Open Unity Hub and sign into you Unity account

   

   • On the left-hand menu, select Installs then click on the blue ADD button on the right, choose the latest version and click on NEXT

   

   • You must select Android Build Support and click NEXT

   

   • Review the license agreements to begin downloading and installation of Unity
   • After Unity has been downloaded and installed, the installs screen will show a tiny Android icon next to the version that was installed

   

After downloading and installing Unity, VSCode, and registering for a Unity account, you should be able to play your first Android application within the next 15 minutes.

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2. New Unity Project

• On the left-hand menu, select Projects then click on the blue NEW button on the right, and choose the version you installed

• Select 2D (default is a 3D project), choose your desktop as the location the project will be saved to (Unity will create a new folder), and click on CREATE
• Unity will take a few minutes to create your new empty project

• After your project is created, you will be presented with the working environment
• Don't worry about all the different windowpanes and menu options for now, just follow along with the instructions

We must configure Unity use VSCode as the external code editor

• Go to menu item Edit → Preferences... → External Tools
• Change External Script Editor to where you installed VSCode (navigate to where Code.exe is located)

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3. Simple Application

Our application will be a button that increments the number shown above it when pressed; we can do this in three simple steps

1. Create a Button

   • On the bottom-left windowpane, right-click on SampleScene and select GameObject → UI → Button.

   

   • Where is the button? On the bottom-left, double-click on Button and the top-left windowpane will zoom to where the button exists
     • Note: Just because you can't immediately see an object you just created doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the project

   

   • We must manually drag the button in the top-left windowpane into where the white outline is
   • This brings the button into the actual view you will see when using the program (this is simulated in the top-center windowpane with blue background)

   

2. Create Text Box

   • On the bottom-left windowpane, right-click on SampleScene and select GameObject → UI → Text
   • If the text box doesn't appear within the white outline, click and drag it above the button

   

3. Create Script

   • On the bottom-left windowpane, right-click on SampleScene and select GameObject → Create Empty
   • On the bottom-left windowpane, left-click on the newly created GameObject
   • Details of the GameObject are seen in the right-hand windowpane, click on Add Component and in the small search bar, search for "script", and click on New Script

   

   • Name this new script "script". Click on Create and Add

   

   • The script is now a component of the GameObject
   • We are going to double-click on this newly created script in the bottom-center windowpane and it will open in VSCode

   

   • If this is your first time opening a file in VSCode, it may download some extras to help read the C# programming language that Unity uses
     • Once all the extras are finished downloading and installing, click on the X button on the bottom windowpane
   • Unity will provide a default template for every new script:

   

   • For now, just erase the default template code and copy-paste the code below and save (CTRL+S) the file:

   using System.Collections;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using UnityEngine;
   using UnityEngine.UI;
   public class script : MonoBehaviour
   {
      public Button myButton;
      public Text myText;
      int myInt;
      void Start() // Start is called before the first frame update
      {
         myInt = 0;
         myButton.onClick.AddListener
         (
               delegate
               {
                  myInt += 1;
                  myText.text = myInt.ToString();
               }
         );
      }
      void Update() // Update is called once per frame
      {
      }
   }

   • Go back to Unity
     • Unity will take a moment to process the code you just saved in VSCode
   • Clicking on GameObject again, you will now see two new boxes appear in the right-hand details windowpane called My Button and My Text (these were not here before you copy-pasted and saved the script above)
   • You must manually drag-and-drop from the bottom-left pane Button to My Button and Text to My Text

   

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4. Playmode Test

• Change the following two settings before playmode testing:

  1. Go to menu Edit → Preferences... → Colors and change Playmode tint to a dark red

  

  2. Select Maximize On Play so that other windowpanes are hidden during playmode

  

• You can start (and stop) playmode testing by clicking on the top-center ▶ (Play) button.

• Test your application by pressing the button and watching the number in the text box increment
• Stop playmode when you are done and make sure to save your Unity project
• Don't worry about design elements right now (font sizes, colors, etc.)

You're almost done; let's install this application on your Android device

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5. Building for Android

• Go to menu File → Build Settings...
• Select Android on the bottom-left pane and click Switch Platform on the bottom-right
  • Unity will take a few minutes to process this change
• Once done, the Unity icon will appear to the right of Android

• Once Unity has been changed to build to the Android platform, click on Build
• Navigate to your project folder, name your file "test.apk", and save the application
  • Unity will take a few minutes to build your application to be ready for Android installation.

• Now you have the test.apk file needed to install your application on an Android device

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6. Android Mobile Phone Installation

• Connect your Android phone to your computer to transfer the test.apk file over
  • You may have to change the USB connection type to Media (MTP) in order to move files from your computer to your phone
  • Through File Explorer on your computer, copy and paste test.apk on your phone (I made a folder named "Unity" to paste it into)
• Once the file transfer is complete, you can disconnect your phone from your computer
• Android should already have a program named File Manager or similar for you to explore files on your device
• Navigate to where you placed test.apk on your phone, click on it to install

WARNING: You should NEVER install unverified applications on your Android phone unless you have made them yourself and are confident they are safe

• By default, Android will prevent you from installing applications from unknown sources, we will temporarily allow this just to install our application
• Install will be blocked but you can click on Settings to go to Security Settings
• Once in Security Settings, go under Phone Administration and click on the checkbox for Unknown sources
• A pop up will appear and click on Allow applications from unknown sources (in this case, this is the application you just made)

REMEMBER: After the tutorial, come back to Security Settings to change this back to blocking application installs from unknown sources

• Press the back key to go back to File Manager and click on test.apk and INSTALL on the bottom-right again.
• When the window about Play Protect pops up, select INSTALL ANYWAYS

• Another popup window will ask for Play Protect scanning, you can click on DONT SEND
• After a few moments, your test.apk is now installed as "New Unity Project"
• Click on OPEN on the bottom-right to launch your application

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7. Playing Your First Android Application

• If you launched your application directly after installing, you'll get the Unity splash screen and then be presented with your application
  • If you did not launch after install, find "New Unity Project" on your device
• Tap on the button and watch the numbers increment!
  • The button and text box may be tiny, but it should work

Congratulations! You made a fully-functioning, stand-alone mobile application

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8. Experiment

• Didn't like how small the button and text were? Make them larger.
• Want more buttons and text boxes? Make more!

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9. Epilogue

Now that you have a feel for the workflow of using Unity, the possibilities are endless

• Design innovative and fun games
• Master the C# programming language
• Make productivity apps to help you succeed

Clean Up

• If you make changes to this application, you should uninstall the current version first before installing the updated version
  • On your Android device, go to Settings → DEVICE → Apps, find and select "New Unity Project" and click on Uninstall
• You may want to erase the test.apk you made or start numbering these files with some sort of versioning system as you make changes, e.g. test_V2.apk or test_2019-12-08.apk

REMINDER: Go back to Security Settings to change back to blocking application installs from unknown sources

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Where is the button/menu item/etc.?	There may be major differences between versions of Unity: if you upgrade in the middle of development, you could break your application
I made some changes in Unity but it didn't seem to "Save" them	Any changes when Unity is in "Playmode" are not saved; make these two changes in the 4. Playmode Test section to ensure that doesn't happen

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Pro Tips

• Q: Why are we developing in Unity for an Android application, couldn't we have just used Android Studio?
  • A: Unlike Android Studio, a Unity project can also be built for iOS, PS4, Xbox One, Windows, MacOS, etc.
• You will frequently go back and forth between manipulating objects in the Unity's graphical user interface and programming in Visual Studio Code
• Consider having devices that are solely for testing that are not linked to your social media, email accounts, cellular SIM card, etc.

"Unity is.. peculiar..."

Veteran software engineer colleague learning Unity

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Other Resources

• This tutorial was developed on Microsoft Windows 10, Unity 2019.2.15f1, and Visual Studio Code 1.38.1
  • Different versions of Unity may have slightly different menu placement, menu names, etc.

Description	Link
Official Unity Tutorials (Free)	https://learn.unity.com
GameDevTV 2D Unity Course (Paid)	https://www.gamedev.tv/p/complete-unity-developer-2d
Official Unity Terms of Service (Unity is free until you start making money)	https://unity3d.com/legal/terms-of-service/software

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Copyright © 2019-∞ Athit Kao, Terms and Conditions