Beginning Unity and 2D Toolkit

[bhutunga]

Hi Guys,

Just purchased the 2D toolkit as I've heard good things about it, but it's a shame that there aren't any tutorials on how to do some basic things (create a background for a 2D game, or how to structure menus)...I did the poll actually and it looks like 50% of the people that took it are from the same background as me, little to no unity experience and a beginner.

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself though, perhaps I should go back to regular unity tutorials (I see you have mentioned learning unity basic to a lot of beginners in this forum).

I am reading "Unity 3.x Game Development Essentials" by William Goldstone and so far it's a good read but slightly feel I am wasting time building something in 3D as ultimately I love 2D and will focus on that in future.

Are you close to making tutorials for 2D toolkit? Also how would you shape a total beginner's learning path in Unity if they wanted to build a 2D game with your toolkit?

[unikronsoftware]

The first few walkthroughs here go though how to create sprites - the most basic thing in Unity
http://unikronsoftware.com/2dtoolkit/doc/
Aren't background just a bunch of sprites arranged in the way you need?

You do need to know some basics of using Unity before using 2D Toolkit. The component based architecture is very different to other engines, and that in itself is a much bigger "jump" than 3d -> 2d in my opinion. You're definitely not wasting your time with that Game Dev Essentials book, it goes through and covers a lot of the core features in Unity. Building a 2D game in Unity is just like building a 3D game in Unity, except its displayed in 2D - none of the stuff you learn will actually go to waste.

I'm working on a bunch of tutorials that go through building a simple bug squashing game from start to end, with a basic and functional start and difficulty selection screen. It expects you to know how to do basic things in Unity, though, for example navigating the scene view, how it relates to the hierarchy view, the distinction between the project & hierarchy windows and so on.

[bhutunga]

Thanks for your response, I think I'll finish the book and check out the walker boys tutorials...then come back to your manual...exciting times.

[fierywater]

I worked through that same book and found it to be extremely valuable. Something about written text/pictures works better for me than video tutorials.

[attak]

I'm working through the same book. Very helpful.

[apbilyk]

Hey unikron, when do you expect your bug squashing game tutorials to be complete?  I'm a new Unity/2D Toolkit user and am interested in checking them out once they're ready.  Thanks!

[unikronsoftware]

I've got all the assets for it now (Its a whack-a-mole game) and it is kinda set-up, but I haven't had the time to actually finish it up yet. It will likely be after 2.0 is released, which is very close now.

[apbilyk]

Thanks for the quick reply!  And of course, I realize that 2D Toolkit itself takes priority.  I'll keep an eye out for it. 

[eindoofus]

unikron, just came across this posting and I'm in the same boat as the poster. Has that tutorial you we're working on been completed by any chance?

I'd rather go with Unity for a future 2d game I'd like to develop, since I'd like for it to work on multiple mobile platforms, but at the moment I just want to do game development and I'm about to drop a $100 on just impactjs.

Even a basic tutorial would be greatly appreciated.

[unikronsoftware]

Yup. The first pretty sizeable chunk of the tutorial is out, but requires 2D Toolkit 2.1
http://unikronsoftware.com/2dtoolkit/doc/2.10/tutorial/whack_a_mole/index.html

2D Toolkit 2.1 is still in beta - you can get beta3 from the forum here, but I'm prepping the final release right now, so it should be out soon

[eindoofus]

Great to hear! 

[unikronsoftware]

So... 2.1 final is out, and the tutorial is ready Let me know your thoughts - is it worth developing more of these?

[Earend]

I just picked up 2D Toolkit and so far I'm really impressed with it.  One of the main reasons I picked this instead of some other plugin is the help resources available - those being the tutorials, and the fact that basically anything else I've thought to ask so far has been pretty easily found through googling your forums.  Just FYI since you're asking if tutorials are worth developing!

[unikronsoftware]

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.

[bitcrusher]

Thanks for the tutorial, really help me as a newbie.