Do I need to learn coding language (C# etc.) to make games in Unity?

Apart from music and art, do I need to learn how to write code word for word to make games in Unity? I'm wondering if I can run the in-built tools and engines (Collision physics, that stuff) to create projects. As long as I'm able to understand the tools and software, I'm not looking forward to writing bricks of code continuously.

Note: I understand how to use said tools and engines, it's just the raw script I'm worried about.

 

in that case i'd look for someone to do the programming side,
otherwise one option is to use those visual programming tools (PlayMaker and others),
but pretty sure it has some learning curve also, to learn the operations and methods?

 

some of these should do. And if they won't work, get some of these

 

Mainly, I'm afraid of creating the music and art, writing all the values in Unity, etc, then it all going to waste because of some line of code missing that I don't know how to implement. Plus, I'm planning on doing a solo project instead. Short scripts are fine, just wanting to know if I can get away with not writing large pieces of code.

 

Actually, I saw that most of the visual scripters are 50 bucks plus. Any free scripters for a game that I'm looking to monetize (eventually)? Big ask but if there is one it'll help!

 

There's GameFlow, which takes a different approach on visual scripting (no "boxes and arrows"). Sadly, it's no longer under active development and the developers won't provide further support.

To be honest, though, you can't go wrong with buying PlayMaker.

Just keep in mind that all visual scripting tools require you to have at least a basic understanding of C#.

 

Also keep in mind that visual scripting is still programming. All it does is remove the need to remember syntax, but learning syntax is the easiest part of programming. The hard part is thinking logically, breaking hard problems down into smaller ones, keeping everything organized so you can understand and maintain it later, etc. Visual scripting doesn't change any of that.

 

Proper coding does not require LARGE chucks of code anyway. If you code it properly most of your classes should be a max of 300 lines. Each class is responsible for 1 job. If something goes wrong, you know where to look becuase you simply looka t the class that handles that function.

 

The only easy way is to hire somebody to do it for you. Even still, things will go much more smoothly if you at least understand common game logic.

Visual scripting isn't simpler than writing code. It just helps visualize logic chains easier.

 

Yes.

Games need logic and logic must be coded, there is no way around it.

 

That's why we need to move the syntax out of the way to help beginner learn imho. They can come back to text whenever they master logic and start to feel limited by a certain implementation of visual language.

 

Thanks for the advice, I found out about GameFlow yesterday. Logic is not the issue, the syntax is.

 

I really think it depends. I know unity has playground where you can create simple 2D games without coding.
https://learn.unity.com/project/unity-playground

You said nothing about what you are making, or how complex it is. But if your making anything half serious and want to be a solo dev your gonna need to learn programing. There's but's or if's about it. There will be instances where you run into where you're gonna hit some limitations.

I think you just have to take the plug. Yes coding can be scary, but just do it man. I believe if this is something you really want to do you will figure it out and it will not be that bad.

Also i have bought bolt and was using it for 3 months or so. It is cool and neat though, if you can actually code i feel coding is just way more efficient. And visual scripting is just a hindrance, slower and just interrupts my flow of thought. I also would consider myself a visual learning partly because i am dyslexic.

 

You can do some cool things in Unity without writing any scripts. Create a hill, roll a ball down it, see what happens when it hits a stack of other balls, etc. You aren't going to be able to create an actual game without programming though. Unless your game is extremely simplistic, you'll find that a majority of the work going into the game involves programming.

 

I have long wanted to try it, but I was afraid because I do not have the necessary skills.

 

@gtrcrazynik
How are you going to get the skills tho?

 

The only skills you need to become a programmer are the basic skills everyone learns in the first few years of school. You need to be able to read, you need basic math skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, whole and real numbers), you need a basic understanding of problem solving. Anything more than that is handled by modern programming tools.

 

How long it takes to learn cprogramming on average for unity?

 

Nobody can say that for sure because it depends on the person. If you're motivated and a quick learner you can get the hang of it quite quickly.

 

Thank sir, how quick you learn cprogramming and you recommend any good books?

 

It took me a few months to get started with C# Unity.

I literally watched tons of youTube videos, I still do.
Between the youtube videos and the ScriptReference page I had enough to start.

Start Tiny though.
Figure out one task,..just to keep your scope manageable while you get comfortable with the syntax.


pour over the videos until you find something relevant. Along the way you will find tutorials for stuff that you may need later, Bookmark them immediately. You will go back to it. Do not move forward until you get this working.

Ignore models and graphics. use cubes and colors for now.

Keep layering as you go. Building upon the last and soon you will have a framework. Which you will no doubt tear down and refactor as you get more knowledgeable.

This guy has alot of great clear videos.

and this one too
https://www.youtube.com/user/Brackeys


good luck!

 

Is just there is so much to learn, I feel overwhelm even with text game and structure implementation.

 

Here you go.

Creating a Text Based Adventure

Literally, follow this demo.

Type it all out as you go. The real scripting doesn't start until episode 3, but you should listen to what they have to say.

Don't worry if it make no sense.

Type it out, go back and scan it, trying to find the pattern or Logic. Take note of what function does what.
You should start to 'get' what things are doing.

Eventually you can replace things to be more specific to your game.

It will break,..that's ok. Always keep a backup of when it Did work so you can go back and rethink it.

As you lay in bed, have this playing. soak in it. lol.

 

Thank u sir! I was expecting shorter but maybe i wrong

 

hey , if it was easy , everyone would be doing it.

Gotta dive in at some point. Good luck!

Once even the first step clicks in, it can be addictive. At least for me.
I search Unity C# and just browse tutorials for fun.

And still I am sure I am only scratching the surface.

 

haha am sure

 

I feel overwhelmed = I feel impatient.

You'll learn fastest by taking time to experiment and have fun. You'll learn slowest by stressing over how much there is to learn.

Having too much to learn is a good thing.

 

sir check ur email

 

Yes, there is a great deal to learn and that's because game development isn't one single field of study but rather multiple fields of study. You need some understanding of art, you need some understanding of the theories behind game design, you need some understanding of programming, etc.

Becoming an expert in each of these fields will easily take you years of study. This is why most of us become specialists and then hire other developers. It's far less time and effort to hire an artist to make our artwork than it is to try to learn how to make it ourselves.

My recommendation if you're overwhelmed by Unity is to set aside your current goal of making a text adventure game and just focus on learning the tools individually. Start by learning the C# programming language by following along with the following tutorials.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/tutorials/intro-to-csharp/
https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CSharp-101/?WT.mc_id=Educationalcsharp-c9-scottha - Video tutorials
https://try.dot.net/ - Online C# compiler

Once you have a grasp of the language you can either make your text adventure game using the Console Application template in Visual Studio, or you can come back here and try that text adventure tutorial series mentioned earlier.

 

Thank u sir, was very helpful.

I not really interested in graphics. See I like writing. My first program was in dos prompt. But I try to write story and events like nanowrimo, my friend she recommends. But first i must gather friends to help and write datastructure for text game.

 

Honestly I wouldn't waste my time gathering friends to help write a text game. You don't need multiple people for that nor do you even need a "data structure". You could write the game in the worst way possible and it wouldn't matter at all. The first commercial text games were made for computers a million times weaker than a modern budget computer, and even then the hardware was often capable of more than the games needed.

That said this is one advantage to choosing Unity. If you use it in the way it is intended to be used Unity provides you with a basic data structure for free in the form of an Entity Component framework. An EC framework is where you have containers (GameObject) that hold components (MonoBehaviour) that store data and provide functionality.

Just as an example a room would need a way to hold the description of the room (a description component), a way to handle exits (an exit component), a way to handle if it's lit (a lightsource component), etc. From there you can then handle item descriptions by simply attaching the description component to an item rather than having to code anything new for it.

 

https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/CSharp-101/?WT.mc_id=Educationalcsharp-c9-scottha

Sir u are my hero, I was looking for full course like this. I can go through next week. Can you recommend editor for cprogramming, all recommends are too heavy so far, this is for dos prompt like game.

 

Visual Studio. It's designed to be easy to use and it's the one that the overwhelming majority of tutorials will show their code written in, and if something goes wrong there is a ton of support available for it. Just about everything else is for experienced developers. System requirements are about the same for all of them too.

You don't have to install everything either. Just select the ".NET desktop development" pack. Totally installation size should be around 3GB. If you want it a little smaller you can disable the optional components that show up in the right side panel.

 

I am not trying beat on you anyway but you are your own biggest obstacle. you are totally blowing this into a bigger problem then it is. Like you are over annualizing everything beyond measure. You are saying things like "I need to figure out a data structure", "I need to find an editor for programming" Just start and use what unity gives, you. Figure out how to get text on the screen. then able to change text through a button first. I'm sure the tutorials will walk you through that. Start and figure out things as you go on.

I know i am experience but i can probably do this project within 2 hours. maybe less. I'm not trying to gloat but to emphasis this is a simple project.

 

Oh wow, I must be over complicating things, or you're a genius. I estimated at least 2-3 weeks to write the story with different branches of the narrative expanding like a tree. Half a week to write the datastructure, I still think some structure is needed.

A week or two to write the front end GUI using unity's UI, including accepting user input, different fonts, colours and music to set the ambiance, at least a week to deploy and test to ios and android, further days to get the sizing of the UI's consistent. A month to write the potential multiplayer functionality - photon kinda sucks in my opinion.

So all in all, half a year lol. I'd be interested to see how you can speed that up into two hours? But I'm open to suggestions.

 

Well i met just mostly to, get the structure going. not including story or anything. Here dude, unity has a few tutorials on how to do it.
https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/recorded-video-session-text-adventure-game-part-1
I'm not smart or genius. I'm like a C+ student. i just learn one thing, then another thing and another till i have a toolbox of useful techniques.

I used to in a meetup with a lot of business people wanting to run their own business with people who would read every book, goto every seminar but they never had a business because they didn't take any action because, they never felt ready or overthink everything.

You just start and expect to suck badly and horribly. and stay on it and the next time suck slightly less and less.