http://www.virtualgamelab.com/unity-resources.html
Which license do you need? http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses
Download the free version of Unity to get started: http://unity3d.com/unity/download/
If you have no previous experience with Unity, start with these six video tutorials which give a quick overview of the Unity interface and some important features
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/video/
Continue with a more in-depth text-based walk through of very basic Unity functionality and work flow http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Unity%20Basics.html
To get you started with scripting, have a look at the following PDF document. It was written for an older version of Unity, but still covers relevant aspects of scripting with JavaScript. (2 hours to complete, no previous JavaScript knowledge required)
http://docwiki.unity3d.com/uploads/Main/Scripting%20Tutorial.pdf
Unity features three scripting languages; JavaScript, C#, and Boo. Depending on your scripting language of choice, you might want to choose different tutorials to get started with Unity. Each tutorial link will also mention which scripting language is used. Most Unity tutorials available on the web are using JavaScript. Notice that JavaScript is commonly used for web applications. Unforunately, books which cover JavaScript are normally of little use for Unity's implementation of JavaScript. But worry not, a vast amount of tutorials will follow...
If you want to familiarize yourself with Unity's functionality more, browse through Unity's manual. You can skip the “Basics” section as we already went through this (see above).
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/index.html
For a printable version of the 600+ pages manual, see
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/printable.html
Unity Videos (including Tutorials)http://video.unity3d.com/
Live Online Unity Classes (currently for basic introduction to Unity)
http://unity3d.com/support/online-training/
A complete list of Unity books and their descriptions can be found here: http://gamefromscratch.com/page/Unity-Book-Roundup.aspx
1) Author Will Goldstone guides you through a complete project and introduces most of Unity's functionality (using JavaScript). The book is available as print and digital version and all needed assets and resources can be downloaded with the book. It's been a helpful investment from my point of view.
http://www.packtpub.com/unity-game-development-essentials/book
This forum thread discusses the book and its content.
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=29041
The updated version of this book for Unity 3 can be found on Amazon.
Amazon Link
2) Ryan Henson Creighton more recently published "Unity 3D Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide". Find out more about the book here: https://www.packtpub.com/unity-3d-game-development-by-example-beginners-guide/book
and the forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/61349-Unity-3D-Game-Development-by-Example
3) Craig Stevenson and Simon Quiq (publisher Deep Pixel) released "Unity 3 Blueprints: A practical guide to Indie games development". Their website provides all the art assests and code to create four classic games from scratch (Match the Pairs, Top-Down Shooter, Tower Defense, Marble Madness).
Amazon link
4) Sue Blackman wrote a book in which she guides the reader through the development of a Javascript-based project which resembles an adventure-type of game. Sue highlights the viewpoint of an artist working in game development. See the forum thread and the amazon link.
5) Coming up on 07/17/2012, Deniz Opal, Sean McCracken and Mike Renwick are publishing "Professional Unity and C#: Multi-Platform 3D Game Development" on Amazon. See this link for a special pre-order price. As the name implies, this book will focus on C# development.
Download the latest version of Unity here: http://unity3d.com/unity/download/
Beta Release Notes: http://unity3d.com/unity/beta/notes
Forum Threads:
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/140313-Unity-Announces-4.0 http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/140299-Unity-4-Details
Blog Post
Press Release
Previous Unity Versions
Unity 3 - What's new?
http://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-3
- Beast lightmapping Basics -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Lightmapping.html
- Beast Lightmapping In-Depth -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/class-LightMapping.html
- Tree Creator -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/class-Tree.html
- Umbra Occlusion Culling -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Occlusion%20Culling.html
New Unity 3.5 functionality (link)
- Shuriken particle system
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/class-ParticleSystem.html
- Built-in Pathfinding
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/comp-AIGroup.html
- LOD System
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Manual/Level%20Of%20Detail.html
3D Platform Game
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/3d-platform-game
2D Platform Game
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/2d-gameplay-tutorial
Iphone tutorials and more example projects
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/
More Unity Example projects
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/example-projects/
Car Tutorial by Unity Technologies
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/car-tutorial
Official Unity Tech. Tutorial for the Animation View - 3-part-series of video tutorials
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/video-animation-view
Series of Unity tutorials in C# (among many other tutorials)
registration required (free)
website - http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_home.php
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/37093-Over-7-hours-of-Unity-Training-Videos-Download-them-now!
Advanced Media Lab at North Carolina State University
http://vimeo.com/channels/ncsuunity
BurgZergArcade - Unity Tutorials
Hack&Slash Tutorial using C# and plenty of other information and useful tutorials
website - http://www.burgzergarcade.com/
CannedMushroom Video Tutorials (Unity and other software)
This is a series of projects intended for 2-hour self-instructed lessons using JavaScript
http://www.youtube.com/user/cannedmushrooms
Car Tutorial
Physics Setup for a car, AI for driving around racetrack (from 2009)
http://www.gotow.net/andrew/blog/?page_id=78
Catlike Coding C# Tutorials - text-based tutorials that walk you through creating simple projects, the most complex being a side-scroller game. http://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/
GamerToGameDeveloper Tutorials Series 1
This series of video tutorials covers the development of a multiplayer first person shooter prototype from scratch and focuses on C# scripting.
Website: http://www.gamertogamedeveloper.com
GearTech Games
4 Videos on how to work through a project (and more videos)
http://www.geartechgames.com/GearTech_Games/Beginning_a_Project/Beginning_a_Project.html
InfiniteAmmo Tutorial
General Introduction to Unity (3 parts so far)
Some scripting covered using Javascript (e.g. movement controls)
http://infiniteammo.ca/blog/impromptu-unity3d-intro-tutorial/
InsurgentX Advanced Video Tutorials
Series of JavaScript tutorials starting from the very basics and slowly increasing in complexity to build a sophisticated game from scratch
http://www.youtube.com/user/InsurgentXdotcom
LOD Tutorial (Level of Detail, Unity3.5 Pro Feature)
By Manuel Schererhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX-9ofr2D5w
Making Sense of Unity
These video tutorials provide more indepth coverage of unity scripting using Javascript (not meant to be introductory material)
http://www.youtube.com/etphonemyhome
Paul Bourke - Unity for stereoscopic display (from 2008)
text-based with screenshots
http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/stereographics/Unitystereo/
Paul Bourke – Unity and Idome (from 2008)
text-based with screenshots
http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/miscellaneous/domemirror/UnityiDome/
Robotduck - Blog
The blog of this Unity user provides tips on Unity scripting and functionality and showcases some of his projects
http://robotduck.wordpress.com/
Technicat
Introduction to Game Development with Unity including Workflow, Scripting, GUI, Version Control, etc.
http://technicat.com/games/unity.html
Terrain Tutorial
seven videos on how to create terrains in Unity from heightmaps to finish (from 2010)
http://vimeo.com/album/156452
Terrain Tutorial In-Depth
text-based with screenshots
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Terrain_tutorial
forum thread
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=16941
TornadoTwins Video Tutorials
They show step by step how to create a simple game using Javascript.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TornadoTwins
Unity Gems
A website of text-based tutorials. This is a mix of introductory (intermediate) scripting tutorials and more advanced tutorials. Themes currently cover general tips for Unity scripting, Memory Management, Finite State Machines, Quaternions/Rotations and Coroutines. Some content for Boo and Unity Script is provided, several tips and descriptions are more conceptual and should be helpful regardless of the language that is used.
website: http://unitygems.com/
Unity Jumpstart
Proof of Concept Game to learn creating your own game from the ground up (JavaScript)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=28433
http://www.unityjumpstart.com/ProofOfConcept_1/
UnityCookie (CGCookie)
A series of tutorials for an introduction to Unity and several scripting video tutorials (using Javascript)
http://cgcookie.com/unity/
UnityScript Basics (Scripting Basics for Noobs)
If you're new to scripting, read up on this good introduction to scripting in Unity. Lots of analogies are provided which makes it really easy to understand. The details are explained for UnityScript, but the introduction is great for any scripting language.
website - http://www.unityscript.com/lessons1/basics.php
Virtual Autonomy
Guide for working with Google SketchUp and Unity
(also shaders and multi-user environments)
text-based with screenshots
http://virtualautonomy.com/blog/index.php/tutorials/
Walker Boys Studio - Unity Tutorials from the Guildhall at SMU (an extensive list of tutorials with more on the way)
http://walkerboystudio.com/html/unity_training___free__.html
Will Goldstone, author of the Unity Game Development book, worked on a series of helpful video tutorials here (using JavaScript):
http://learnunity3d.com/ (also http://learnmesilly.com/).
More recently by Will Goldstone: http://www.unity3dstudent.com/
PAID TUTORIALS
Design3.com (subscription-based tutorials, Unity-related content among other software like Maya, 3DS Max, Photoshop)
http://www.design3.com/software/unity
Digital Tutors - (250+ subscription-based tutorials)
http://www.digitaltutors.com/training/unity-tutorials
Polypusher.net Tai-Pan Development Set Tutorial Series
For an annual payment of 40 Euros, PolyPusher.net offers insights into the complete development process of their RTS Tai-Pan. All assets are included royalty-free and tutorials are delivered as videos or pdf-documents. I have not tested their tutorials yet, but their work seems impressive and of high quality.
website - http://www.polypusher.net/taipan.php
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/104599-Tai-Pan-Development-Set-Tutorial-Series
VTC - Unity tutorial using JavaScript (subscription based content on vtc.com)
http://www.vtc.com/products/Introduction-to-Game-Development-Using-Unity-3D-Tutorials.htm
Unity-Tutorials (mostly paid and some free tutorials)
http://www.unity-tutorials.com/
Searching for resources - The All-In-One Unity Reference Search
http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=001712401338047450041:csfhqk-trfa
credit goes to Robotduck for providing this link to the public; tremendous time saver (see http://robotduck.wordpress.com/)
Unity Scripting Reference
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/index.html
Unity Component Reference
each available Component described in detail
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/index.html
Unity Wiki (UnifyCommunity)
http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
UnityScript Keywords: http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=UnityScript_Keywords
Unity Answers
Invaluable when you have specific questions about Unity or Scripting
http://answers.unity3d.com/
This link should also get you started on learning Unity
http://answers.unity3d.com/search?q=learning+tutorial
Unity Forum
http://forum.unity3d.com/
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=30633
Unity Feedback
feature requests go here
http://feedback.unity3d.com
Unity IRC
Point your favorite IRC client to irc.freenode.net and join #unity3d to chat in real time.
Overview of Unity Resources
http://www.reddit.com/r/unity_tutorials/
Overview of Unity blogs
http://www.reddit.com/r/unity_blogs/
overview of some extensions – Unity youtube and vimeo channels
http://www.youtube.com/user/Unity3D
http://www.vimeo.com/unity3d/videos
Visual C# Express- free IDE for your C# development
http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/#2008-Visual-CS
3DAttack - Tools and Home of Unity Creative Magazine
First Person Shooter Developer Kit
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=53136
website - http://www.3dattack.us/3DAttack/News.html
AngryAnt
One of Unity's developers provides projects to extend Unity's functionality (e.g. pathfinding and AI)
http://angryant.com/
forum thread Path - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/19341-Pathfinding-in-unity-First-Path-1.0-tutorial-now-available!
sturestone's A* Pathfinding (currently version 2.9)
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/67417-A*-Pathfinding-2.9-Is-Released-(Unity-3-Compatible)
Weltenbauer
Augmented Reality / Webcam Input
http://produktion.weltenbauer.com/#/5
forum threads:
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=32613&highlight=toolkit (Webcam Toolkit)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=11889&highlight=toolkit (ARToolkit Extension)
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=32669&highlight=toolkit (UnityAR)
SeeingMachines FaceAPI / VisionBlaster – Head Tracking in Unity (purchase required)
http://visionblaster.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48&Itemid=62&lang=en
and http://www.seeingmachines.com/product/faceapi/downloads/
Mostly Tigerproof – Using Google Analytics and Unity to track game stats
This is a blog entry about Google Analytics and Unity
http://blog.mostlytigerproof.com/2009/10/06/gathering-statistics-using-google-analytics-and-unity-3d/
Antares Project - Extensive Set of Tools to extend the Unity Editor - Open Source
Also available: Antares.dll (free for non-commercial work)
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=50843
Antares Deformator - Deform your meshes (Beta Version)
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=54290
UniWii – WiiMote implementation
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=UniWii
forum thread
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=7284
Unity Terrain Tools - EasyRoads (purchase required)
http://unityterraintools.com/downloads.php
forum thread
http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=23519
Six Times Nothing - Road/Path Tool and River Tool http://www.sixtimesnothing.com/
Dastardly Banana - FPS Weapon Tool, Radar example
http://dastardlybanana.com/Downloads.htm
Starscene Software - Tools, Games and Utilities for Unity (purchase required for utilities)
http://www.starscenesoftware.com
e.g. Vectrosity - Line Drawing Tool
http://starscenesoftware.com/vectrosity.html
Fractscape - Terrain Tool
Stitchscape - Stitch multiple terrains together
GUIX - visual Menu/GUI builder (purchase required)
http://www.ennanzus.com/developer/GUIX/buy.htm
NGUI - GUI builder/editor (purchase required)
http://www.tasharen.com/?page_id=140
EZ Game Saver - saving tool (purchase required)
http://www.anbsoft.com/middleware/ezs/index.htm
Note that I will cover saving to text file in a later blog
Decal Framework - Easily place decals in your scene
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=54613
Visual Logic Editor by NeoDrop (Antares VIZIO, Work in Progress)
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=31132
Nimbus Volumetric Clouds
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=51972
RapidUnity Vehicle Editor Resource Pack
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=56257
Ocean 3D - Ocean Simulation
website: http://www.nikko3d.com/index.php/downloads-2/
ShaderFusion - Node-Based Shader Editor (Requires Unity3)
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=60611
Strumpy Shader Editor - Node-Based Shader Editor
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/56180-Strumpy-Shader-Editor-Beta-3.1-released-(performance-usability-upgrade)
Overview of extensions on UnifyWiki
http://www.unifycommunity.com/wiki/index.php?title=Extensions
LightUp (purchase required)
Extension of Google Sketchup (Lighting Solution) which works nicely for exporting lightmaps to Unity
http://www.light-up.co.uk/
Stereoscopic Solutions
3D Anaglyph System (purchase required)
Stereoskopix3D
Plugin for Kinect's Primesense Camera
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/67982-Kinect-plugin
Unity Web Suite - tutorials and examples in C# to create online content
forum thread - http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/17674-Unity-Web-Suite-(Examples-Tutorials)
website - http://www.nickbreslin.com/2009/04/phphandler-20-released/
Tools for Visual Programming:
Antares Universe - Vizio (forum thread)
cost (as of 05/22/11) Euro 142.50
Visual programming tool similar to the approaches of Quest3D and Virtools.
Playmaker by Hutong Games
cost (as of 05/22/11) Euro 95.00
Visual State Machine Editor (website and forum thread)
uScript by Detox Studios
website and forum thread
Visual Scripting Tool based on UDK's Kismet
Brain Builder by boldai
website and forum thread