Learn to Code with Games

World leaders, governments, and organizations around the world are calling for citizens to learn to code. They have identified coding as an essential 21st-century skill for all people. Have you ever wanted to learn to code, but were turned off by the technical jargon? Are you an ambitious young coder or forging a new career path later in life? Have you ever dreamed of making your own games and software? Now is your time to shine. This book makes coding accessible to a broad audience of aspiring coders, including you.

Learn to Code with Games presents a novel approach to coding for the complete beginner. With this book, you will come to see coding as a way of thinking and problem solving, rather than a domain of obscure languages and syntaxes. If you’re looking to explore coding through a practical, hands-on approach, this is the book for you. This book will challenge you to code real game components and provide you with guidance along the way. With a little effort, you will come to think and act like the code hero that you truly are. Your quest begins today.

This book is structured as a series of challenges that help you learn to code by creating a video game. In each chapter, you will expand your coding knowledge by defining and implementing your own solutions to game development challenges. Guidelines and hints are provided along the way to help you put your ideas into code. Ultimately, your success as a coder is determined by you. This book puts you into the position to succeed today and in the future.

Goals 

Every challenge is accompanied by a set of goals. These are the coding techniques that you will be able to implement by the time you finish each challenge. They can be found in the Goals section at the beginning of each chapter.

Required Files 

Files have been provided for every challenge. You can find these in the Software folder for each chapter available at http://crcpress.com/product/isbn/ 9781498704687. The Challenge folder contains everything you need to code your own solution. The Solution folder contains a completed example project, which you can compare against your own solution. The Demo folder contains a playable version of the completed example project, which you can use to guide the development of your own solution. At the start of each challenge, the Required Files section describes exactly which files you will need to use.

Demo A demo is included for each challenge you will face in this book. It is a good idea to test the demo before attempting to code your own solution to each challenge. The demo will help you visualize what you are working toward. Both Mac and PC versions of each demo are provided.

Unity Game Engine 

The Unity game engine is used throughout the challenges in this book. The primary focus of this book is helping you learn to code by applying a variety of game development techniques. While the focus is not on learning Unity itself, you will become familiar with some of the basic features of Unity. This is because Unity is your gateway to rapidly coding and creating games. To complete the challenges in this book, you need to download and install Unity on your computer. Unity is free to use and available on both Mac and PC. You can download the Unity installer from http://unity3d.com. Once downloaded, open the installer on your computer and follow the step-by-step instructions. In no time at all, you’ll be ready to start making games.
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