10 Best Unity Books For Game Development[2024]

You must have heard of the fact that not all fingers are the same, but each of the ones is useful when a different condition is met. Similarly, in real life, not all human beings have the same qualities, some may be good in athletics, academics and some may be in drama, etc. Meanwhile, coming the point, there will be people who know that their ace is in game development, and they want to learn how to develop a working game but are confused about where to start and how to take their first step toward this goal.

For such individuals, here, we’re going to mention the best Unity books for Game Development. But before that…what is game development? Okay, Game development is a combination of several skills to develop a game. These skills are game design, programming, sound effects, and more.  

As a beginner in game development, you do not need to learn everything. As you grow in this area, you will get in contact with them. Now, let’s go to our topic:

10 Best Unity Books For Game Development

Here are the 10 best Unity Books you need to learn A-Z of Game Development

1. Unity Game Development in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself

This book will give you an understanding of the Unity game engine and editor, which will help you to create 2D games with Unity’s 2D tool and Tilemap. This book teaches you from the basics of game development to the concepts of physics like gravity, collision, etc. You will also learn animation and work efficiently with Unity’s graphical asset pipeline. In this book, you will find 24 chapters that will help you to learn game development in at most 24 hours. The book contains various interesting quizzes and exercises that help to boost your knowledge, about whatever you have learned from it. You will learn things in a phased manner. 

What you’ll learn:

• Physics, animation
• Mobile device deployment
• Repeatable, reusable game objects with prefab
• Audio integration into your games
• Control players through built-in and custom character controller

2. Unity in Action: Multiplatform Game Development in C# with Unity 5

If you are an app developer or have no previous knowledge about game development, then this book is a great option to learn. Going through this help you to understand how Unity and C# programming language work together to make a game. This book covers a sample project that will help in understanding the characteristics of Unity and game development strategies. With this book, you will learn how to use the C# language, Unity’s intuitive workflow tool, and more.

This book covers:

• How to write and deploy games
• Creating graphically driven 2D and 3D game applications
• Build code architecture that manages the game’s state
• And more

By the time you finish the book, you will be able to create a successful game with the Unity game development platform and deploy the game on the game store. And you would have also gained a strong knowledge of the Unity toolset.

3. Unity 5.x Cookbook

In this book, you will walk around with cool recipes that will teach you the concepts of game development. It requires something from you, i.e., familiarity with the C# programming language and Unity game engine. With these recipes, you can learn both 2D and 3D game development. It makes us go through the core concepts of game development, including animating 2D characters in the development of new GUI systems, new audio mixers, external files, and 2D games. It also contains some enhanced interesting concepts such as new standard shaders, Mechanism systems, cameras, and new lighting features. The concepts given in this book will help you to brush up on your game development skills as well as enhance them. You’ll find out how these recipes will give you step-by-step instructions and explanations of how these things work. It does not matter who you are, if you want to learn the development of the game or increase your knowledge of the development of the game, you can go for it.

4. Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development

This book is going to teach you the concept of game design theory, solid rapid prototyping practices, and programming skills. Do you know that a game design is required before the game can be developed? A good game design attracts more attention.

As you walk through the book, it will help you to understand the important practice of iterative prototyping using unity and programming concepts to develop a game. By the end of this book, you will master the concepts from designing to digital prototypes. This book incorporates the knowledge provided by award-winning game designer and Professor Jeremy Gibson.

What you’ll learn:

• In-depth tutorials for eight different game prototypes
• Developing new game design concepts
• Learning C# the right way
• Debugging your game code
• Getting into the highly competitive, fast-changing game industry

5. Learning C# from Developing Games with Unity 5.x

It is one of the best books for beginners to fully learn the concepts of game development. This book focuses on elaborating your game development skills using the power of C# and Unity scripting. This book will help, you to learn the fundamentals of C# scripting, and develop GameObjects and it will also help you master the basics of the new UI system in Unity. This book also helps you understand C# and Unity to develop 2D games using object-oriented programming principles.

What are you going to understand?

• Fundamentals of variables, methods, and code syntax in C#
• How to turn your game idea into a working project
• How to reduce the amount of code by using loops and collections efficiently in Unity
• Object-oriented programming principles in-game development
• And many more

6. Developing 2D games with Unity: Independent Game Programming with C#

This book helps to learn and clear our concepts that revolve around the development of 2D games. By the way, 2D game development is easier than 3D game development. With 2D games, you will easily be able to build a complete running model which results in developing your interest and confidence in this field. This book will help you learn the deployment of a game easily and quickly.

This book covers –

• Fundamentals of 2D game development
• Best practices and helpful game-architectural patterns
• Concepts such as working with image assets, animations, cameras, collision detection, and state management
• And many more

If you are interested and want to build a trip to game development, then can surely go for it. One thing you have to keep in mind before jumping onto it is that it requires basic programming knowledge and skills.

7. Mastering UI Development with Unity

A game is not just about the game’s logic or programming. It is also something that matters more to the user to fulfill their demands, and this book will guide you to that one. With this book, you will be able to learn how to create the best UI for your game, how to use the UI elements provided by Unity’s system, and develop a UI to scale approximately indifferent resolutions. In this book, you will find step-by-step examples of creating user interface components in top game genres, and you will also be able to get an in-depth understanding or idea of how each individual Unity component works together. If you are looking for a book that will make you learn how to develop a UI of the game, then this is your choice.

8. Unity UI Cookbook

Originally published in the year 2015, Unity UI Cookbook was written by Francesco Sapio. It is one of the best books if you want to learn UI design for Unity games. The book provides you with 60 examples and helps you create professional and amazing UIs in order to make your games mesmerizing. Unity UI Cookbook is for game developers who have some experience in C# and want to create an interactive experience for their users. Along with these things, this book also teaches you to create a minimap of the gaming world and helps in enhancing the complete gaming experience. 

9. Unity AI Game Programming 

As the name suggests, Unleash the power of artificial intelligence (AI) in your games with Unity AI Game Programming – Second Edition. This comprehensive guide empowers you to master the essential concepts of AI and transform them into engaging gameplay experiences using the powerful tools of Unity 5.

Dive into hands-on examples that showcase the practical application of Unity’s built-in AI features. Whether you’re a beginner taking your first steps in game development or an experienced programmer seeking to refine your skills, this book provides the foundational knowledge and practical exercises you need to

10. Unity from Zero to Proficiency (Foundations)

Published in the year 2017, Unity from Zero to Proficiency (Foundations) was written by Patrick Felicia. The book guides you from the beginning and takes you to become proficient just as the name suggests and requires no prior knowledge. The book is divided into 6 chapters with numerous topics including core features of unity, basics of unity, unity interface, etc. Unity from Zero to Proficiency is best for those who want to learn game development easily and aspiring game developers. 

Conclusion

So, these are the best books that will teach you game development in Unity and will also increase your Unity knowledge. You can choose any one of them based upon your requirements and knowledge interest. 

10 Best Unity Books For Game Development – FAQs

Is Unity good for game development? 

Yes, Unity is one of the best game development engines and is used for creating most mobile applications. 

Can a 10-year-old learn Unity? 

Children of any age, who have a basic knowledge of programming in C# can learn Unity, then be it any age.

Is game development in Unity easy? 

Yes, it is quite easier than other codes due to its visual scripting system and intuitive editor as they enable the first timers to write down the entire code without writing any code. 

Is C++ or C# better for Unity?

C++ codes are much faster and more efficient thus allowing manual memory management whereas C# program of unity has out of reach efficiency.