Unity: Make Your Own Flappy Bird Game in Unity

Introduction

• Presenter: Mark
• Objective: To teach users how to develop a Flappy Bird game using Unity.

Background

• Unity is a powerful game engine
  • Used in games like Cuphead, Outer Wilds, Hearthstone, etc.
• Personalized learning solution over traditional lengthy tutorials
  • Learn basics
  • Simple exercises
  • Figuring out the rest independently
• Mark's personal success and product development

Tutorial Breakdown

Step 1: Getting Started with Unity

• Download Unity Hub: Free account required
• Install Unity Editor: Version 2021.3 used
• Setup Visual Studio: Choose Game Development with Unity module

New Project Creation

• Create New Project: 2D Core template
• Interface Familiarization: Unity's default screen layout
  • Project Panel: Holds game assets (sprites, sounds, scripts, etc.)
  • Hierarchy Panel: Contains game objects in the current scene
  • Inspector Panel: Modify game objects
  • Scene View: Visualize the current scene

Making the Bird Appear

• Create GameObject: Named 'Bird'
• Add Components: Sprite Renderer to display bird image
• Scene Adjustments: Adjust camera, renderer, background, etc.

Step 2: Adding Physics and Programming

• Components:
  • Rigidbody 2D: Allows bird to be affected by gravity
  • Circle Collider 2D: Handles collisions
• Scripting: Create and edit scripts in C#
  • Add Rigidbody2D reference
  • Update method for real-time actions
  • Use 'if' statements for conditions (e.g., spacebar press)
  • Make variables changeable via Unity's inspector

Step 3: Spawning and Managing Pipes

• Prefab Creation: GameObject 'Pipe' that includes top and bottom pipes
• Script: Script to move pipes across the screen
  • Adjust movement with Time.deltaTime
  • Instantiate method to continually spawn new pipes
  • Timer for pipe spawning intervals
  • Random heights for pipes using Random.Range
• Memory Management: Destroy pipes once they move out of the screen
• Debugging: Use Debug.Log for tracking in the console

Step 4: Scoring System

• UI Creation: Text element for displaying the score
  • Adjust canvas and resolution settings
• Logic Script: Manage and update player's score
  • Use triggers for score increment events
  • Reference scripts using GameObject tags and GetComponent

Step 5: Game Over Mechanics

• Fail State: Bird collides with pipes or goes off-screen
• UI: Create Game Over screen with retry button
  • Button triggers script function to restart the game
  • Enable/Disable Game Over UI appropriately
• Booleans: Track bird's alive status for logical operations

Building the Game

• Build Settings: Set up and build the game project

Recap and Review

• Unity fundamentals covered (character movement, spawning objects, UI management, game over)
• Encouragement to explore additional Unity features and improve the game

Advanced Next Steps & Challenges

• Implement off-screen game over logic
• Fix score increment issues post-game over
• Add sound effects and particle systems
• Create animations and multi-scene structure
• Save high scores using PlayerPrefs

Conclusion and Encouragement

• Hands-on learning and further exploration
• Invitation to share creations and join community discussion

Additional Resources

• Unity documentation
• Community tutorials and forums

Patreon: Support GMTK