Total Beginner... where do I start... information is unclear on "structured learning path"

I do not understand the "structured learning path" information.

I'm a new unity user.. as in it is downloading right now for the 1st time. I'm a old user, I have no interest in making games for profit, but as a hobbiest. I have spent years using AGS and Wintermute making adventure games and what to try Unity's "Adventure studio" plugin thing.

What I am looking for is a well sorted learning path that introduces the application through video tutorials (not live) that I can download / watch and work through at my own pace. The internet is absolutely stuffed with unity tutorials but most are badly done or requires previous knowledge.

If I click on "learning" and "get started" it tell me this (quoted above)... but that is it.. there is literally no other information I can find out.

Questions.

1. What is a structured learning path?
2. Will the "path" take me through beginner stuff like explaining the interface and build up like an actual course I might attend at tech or uni?
3. Are they vods that I can watch and go through at my own pace?
4. Will they focus on the application and provide materials so I do not have to worry about making GFX and stuff?

Basically I am interested in moving my hobby to a this engine and I am finding the sheer amount of information confusing. The choice is so large for learning materials. I just would like some recommendations and how to get started from scratch or if this path is the way to do that, then some more information on what it is.

Thanks!

 

The courses are probably videos since the intro video talks about hours total. They are a linear path of building upon knowledge, starting from zero.

The cheapest way to get started is this though:
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials

There's a mix of text and video. Lots of important editor basics are taught along with each, so you should take a peek at all of them. If you scroll farther down on some of the top-level pages under Learn you'll find a list of topics too, which takes you to a lot more different videos.

A few of the old ones could use some updating (GUIs have changed a lot over time since 5.x, scripting has changed a little), but most teach you something new about the engine.

Because videos for coding are a silly idea: Dot Net Perls is a good supplementary site for C#/.NET-specific reference as their examples are much clearer and straight to the point than MSDN documentation.

 

thanks for the reply.

While I am not a rich man, the UNITY stuff is so ridiculously cheap. I mean it is like 300 bucks or something. Anyone that can not afford to buy that is failing at life big time, if they are over the age of 20.

Still these tutorials are exactly what I am talking about. They are just so random, and also so spesific and messy. I look at that list of stuff and it makes no sense to me.

This is what I am afraid the tutorials will be. I am trying to find a "structured" path, as in the kind of thing you would get if you went to a university or something.

My experience with applications is that if you learn with specific usages in mind you seriously gimp yourself. I mean sure I could watch a 5 part tutorial on how to make a adventure game, but that dosn't give me the tools to really work on live project. I need something more holistic, that can teach me a foundation of how the application functions. Then I can look at more specifics. Basically that massive endless list of old and new tutorials is exactly what this thread is about.. and how to avoid it.

 

You won't really learn how to work on a live project from a tutorial. That comes with the experience. The tutorial will give you the framework how to experiment with the tools you have.

If you want to have more structured tutorials, I can recommend you these: https://www.udemy.com/unitycourse2/
But still, these are teaching through examples, because practice is the best bet you have to learn.

Practice, practice, practice.

 

Unity was originally made for professional game designers who were already using older game engines and know all this stuff. The normal manual is for them. Only recently did Unity start adding stuff for beginners, but teaching is hard - it's a whole different skill - and IMHO Unity's Learn is a work in progress.

My longer explanation (it had better formatting when I first wrote it): https://answers.unity.com/questions/1252826/is-unity-for-beginners-if-not-what-else-should-i-k.html

My main point is if you want to focus on writing scripts, which you would know after playing around with them a bunch, a normal book on computer programming is a good deal.

 

I ended up buying UnityPro with the "free" year of Unity "Learn"... I'll report back on my experiences. Thanks guys for your advise. I also picked up Adventure Creator from the unity store. Experience has told me a single credit card bill, over many small ones over time gets less agro from the wife lol So thought I would just grab it now even though I am not ready for it.

Thanks I have access to the official ones now.. but I will keep these in mind.

I'm pretty good at c++ and LUA. I have not done cSharpe or w/e it is Unity uses.. but in general all programming languages are basically the same. It is just minor implementation formatting that is different. As long as there is a good API and I have access to stackExchange for code snips.. I think scripting (as I understand it) shouldn't be an issue.

 

C# is an overcomplicated version of Java. The biggest difficulty is getting used to reference types and all the NEW's. On C++ we could just write Cat c1;. In C# you're required to use Cat c1=new Cat();, then abandon it later to be garbage collected. Actually, I have http://www.taxesforcatses.com/codeNotes/csForCpp.pdf. I used to teach both.

StackExchange C# is so-so. Lots of flavor-of-the-month stuff from 4 years ago, and pasted text from the microsoft site with only a few mistakes added.

 

I saw things like ... LUA FRAMEWORK on the asset store or MiniScript (that looks kinda like Lua) or MOONSHARP (Lua Framework seems to use this?)
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/moonsharp-33776
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/lua-framework-30055
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/integration/miniscript-87926

Do things like this allow me to code in those languages completely?

I think I will try and get into C-Sharpe as it is natively supported..

 

Nope. Replacing the scripting runtime of the engine would be an impressive feat, and a crazy involved job requiring constant updates to catch up with UT's developments. All they do is add a potential modding language, which can be easier for 3rd party developers to handle than trying to match up Unity asset bundles.

For example, a Lua framework could be used to write the GUI and a few utility functions in it. Anyone who's made interface extensions for an MMO would feel right at home. An external script language can also be useful as a configuration language, as it gives you and users more powerful options for a server build.

Or you could use the scripting language without file access and make it possible to program in-game robots, weapons, security systems and whatever else you can think of.

You're best off starting with that, yes. It's what the engine is mostly based on, and you might find other uses for it outside Unity and game engines. And it's "C#" or "C Sharp"

 

Start with the ultimate guide to game development with Unity created in-partnership with Unity Technologies! Check my signature.