assignment.md

Create a Basketball Game App in Unity: Part 1

Prerequisites

Unity

The activity requires you to create an app in Unity. If you don't already have Unity installed, visit unity.com/download to download the Unity Hub. This activity can be completed with Unity version 2020.3.20f1 or newer.

Visual Studio

This activity requires you to create code in Visual Studio. Ensure that Visual Studio is downloaded and set as the default editor for Unity. If you're unfamiliar with the steps to set Visual Studio as the default editor, review Set Your Default Script Editor. This activity can be completed with Visual Studio 2019 or newer.

Instructions

In this activity, you'll create a Unity project for the basketball game and add GameObjects to the scene. You're welcome to use your own models if you prefer, however, recommended models are provided.

Project Setup

1. Create a new Unity project using a 3D template. Name the project BasketballGame and save it to your desktop.

   

2. In the Unity editor, navigate to File > Save As to save the scene. Name the scene Unit-6.

3. Provide a Company Name and Product Name for the app. To do so, navigate to Edit > Project Settings > Player.

4. In the Project window, create the following 4 folders inside the Assets folder:

   • Materials
   • Models
   • Prefabs
   • Scripts

   To create a new folder, right click into the Assets folder and select Create > Folder.

   

Create a Basketball Court

The scene needs to be grounded onto a flat surface so that the player has a surface to move back and forth on to take a shot. The Plane primitive is ideal for creating flat ground surfaces. Create a basketball court for the game.

1. In the Hierarchy window, right click and select 3D Object > Plane. Name the object Court.

   

   

2. Create and assign a Material to the Court GameObject. To create a new material, in the Project window, right click into the Materials folder and select Create > Material. Using the Albedo property, choose a color of your choice. Then, drag the material to the Court GameObject.

   

Create a Player

The game needs an object to serve as the player for the game. Since this is a prototype, you can use a Unity primitive (such as a Cube reshaped to a vertical rectangle) to represent the player. Create a player and reposition so that they're leveled with the basketball court.

1. In the Hierarchy window, right click and select 3D Object > Cube. Name the object Player.

   

2. Modify the Player Transform Scale Y to 4. This extends the height of the Player GameObject to create a vertical rectangle.

   

3. Create and assign a Material to the Player GameObject. To create a new material, in the Project window, right click into the Materials folder and select Create > Material. Using the Albedo property, choose a color of your choice.

   

4. The Player is positioned in the middle of the court. Raise the player so that they're leveled with the ground. Modify the Player Transform Position Y to 2.

   

5. Since the basketball hoop will display on the far end of the court, the Player should be positioned at the opposite end of the court. Modify the Player Transform Position Z to -4.

   

Create a Basketball Hoop

Create or import a basketball hoop model position towards the back of the court.

1. Download the basketball hoop model from CGTrader. Make sure to select the .fbx file.

2. Rename the model basketball-hoop and drag the model into the Project window's Models folder to import into your project.

   

3. Drag the basketball-hoop model into the scene. The model comes with it's own Camera GameObject. Expand the children of the basketball-hoop GameObject and disable the Camera GameObject.

   

4. The basketball-hoop needs to be resized to fit the scale of the Player. Modify the basketball-hoop Transform Scale to 0.5, 0.5, 0.5.

5. The basketball-hoop should be positioned at the opposite end of the Court. Modify the basketball-hoop Transform Position Z to 4.

   

Create a Basketball

Each time the player takes a shot, a new ball instantiates so that they can take another shot. Create or import a basketball model and turn the model into a prefab.

1. Download the basketball model from Sketchfab. After the model downloads, unzip the content within the folder.

   

2. Drag the model's folder into the Project window's Models folder to import into your project.

   

3. Drag the basketball model into the scene. The basketball needs to be resized to fit the scale of the Player.Modify the basketball Transform Scale to .04, .04, .04.

   (Note: To fully view the basketball, you may need to increase the Position Y. Be sure to change back to 0 before proceeding to the next step.)

   

4. Imported models are already created as a prefab. However, you can modify the prefab and either save the changes to the original prefab or create as a new prefab variant. Drag the basketball model into the Prefabs folder and create as a Prefab variant. Rename the model basketball.

   

   Note: If you chose to create your own basketball from scratch, drag the basketball model into the Prefabs folder to create as a prefab.

5. Now that the basketball prefab has been created, delete the existing basketball GameObject into the Hierarchy. If you drag the new prefab into the Hierarchy window, the prefab will reflect the configuration you created for the prefab.

   

Solution

To view the project sample for this activity, import the Unit 6 Assignment Unity package that's within the XR Development for Beginners repository.

How to Import a Package into Unity

1. In top navigation menu, select Assets > Import Package > Custom Package.
2. In the Import Unity Package window, select All then Import.
3. Once the package is imported, open the Unit-6 scene.