International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 9, Issue 3, March-2018 1353

ISSN 2229-5518

3D GAME DEVELOPMENT USING UNITY

GAME ENGINE
Pa.Megha 1 L.Nachammai 1,T.M.Senthil Ganesan2
U.G Students, Department Of Computer Engineering, Velammal College Of Engineering And Technology, Madurai, India1
Associate professor, Department Of Computer Engineering, Velammal College Of Engineering And Technology, Madurai, In-
dia2

Abstract: In this paper, we present the design and implementation of the game called Cognitive Arenas. It is a very common game and was
developed keeping the Mac OS X and Windows Operating Systems in mind. The aim behind the project was to promote education via inno-
vation. The students playing our game can learn their given material in one of our modules and answer the questions asked in the game
where simultaneously he play the shooter game. The player can move to three levels of scenes depicted in Unity3D Game Engine and 3ds
Max to play the game interestingly.

Keywords: Unity Game Engine, 3ds Max, Cognitive Arenas, Education

——————————  ——————————

INTRODUCTION 2.

IJSER
1. RELATED STUDIES
Game development has always been a controversial aca-
2.1 Introduction to Unity3D
demic topic. The computer gaming industry has grown by
leaps and bounds, becoming a mainstream software develop- The Unity game engine was introduced by Unity Technologies
ment sector, and earning billions of dollars in revenue each in 2005, and has since become one of the most popular platforms
year. The gaming industry has also been one of the main driv- for developing 2D and 3D games. It has been embraced both by
ing forces behind the development of advanced modern small, third party developers and by large commercial game de-
hardware such as multi-core, hyperthreaded processors, high- velopment companies. The functions thet are supported by Uni-
performance graphics processing units (GPUs), advanced ty3D are very abundant. Unity3D produces the applications based
sound processing devices, and extraordinary human- on JavaScript and/or C#. These are used to assign the animation
computer interface devices such as virtual reality helmets and or real-time transition of the Game-Objects defined in the appli-
brain sensor caps. Computer games are like a book, a movie, cation. GUI of Unity3D helps a new developer to approach easily
or a museum. and script and program the transition of the Game-Object. The
In this paper we present our experience in creating a latest version, Unity 5, is a fully functional game engine, with all
game based on the Unity game engine and promoting educa- advanced features enabled and freely available to developers.
tion via innovation. We want to use this more visual, more Unity is an integrated environment, which combines a number
easily accepted medium to depict the world through which we
of sophisticated components such as the PhysX physics engine,
can educate the people. Our game is a shooter game which
the Mechanim animation system, a self-contained terrain editor
also includes quiz based on the materials provided for learn-
and much more. It is also seamlessly integrated with the
ing. Shooter games are a subgenre of action game, which often
test player’s speed and reaction time. It includes many sub- Monodevelop code editor, so that any changes made in
genres that have the commonality of focusing on the actions of Monodevelop are transparently compiled by Unity’s C# or
the avatar using some sort of weapons. Javascript compilers, and inserted into game. Compilation errors
Unity3D Game Engine is an integrated development tool are displayedin the Unity console window.
used to develop interactive contents like video games, archi- >> Rendering:
tectural visualization and real-time 3D animations. Its editor Unity supports art assets and file formats from 3ds Max, Maya,
runs on Windows and Mac OS X platforms. though it runs on Softimage, Blender, Modo, ZBrush, Cinema 4D, Cheetah 3D,
only two platforms, it has the ability of developing applica- Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks and Algorithmic Substance.
tions for multiple platforms which are mentioned as follows – These assets can be added to the game projct, and managed
Windows, Windows Phone, Mac OS X, iOS, Linux, Android, through Unity’s graphical user interface. Unity also has built-in
Web Player, etc. All we need for it to develop the application support for Nvidia’s (formerly Ageia’s) PhysX physics engine,
on respective platforms is the software development kit (SDK) (as of Unity 3.0) with added support for real-time cloth simula-
for it. tion on arbitrary and skinned meshes, thick ray casts and collision
layers. 3D objects in made in 3dsMax, can be saved as .max files
directly into the project or export them into Unity using the Au-
todesk .FBX or other generic formats. Unity imports meshes
IJSER © 2018
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 9, Issue 3, March-2018 1354
ISSN 2229-5518

from 3ds Max. Export 3D file formats such as .fbx or .obj from platform the game supports.
3D modeling software in generic formats that can be imported Currently supported platforms include for Windows,
and edited by a wide variety of different software. Mac, Linux/Steam OS, Unity Web player, Android, Ios,
>> Scripting: Blakberry 10, Windows Phone 8, Tizen, Windows Store apps,
The game engine is based upon the JavaScript and C#. WebGL, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U.
Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Oculus
Rift and Gear VR.

2.2 Autodesk 3ds Max

Autodesk 3ds Max is a professional 3D computer graphics
program for making 3D animations, models, games and images.
It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertain-
ment. It is frequently used by video game developers, many TV
commercial studios and aechitectural visualization studios. It is
also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. In addi-
tion to its modeling and animation tools, the latest version of 3ds
Max also features shaders ( such as ambient occlusion and sub-
surface scattering ), dynamic simulation, particle systems,
Unity’s scripting is built on Mono, an open-source implementa- radiosity, normal map creation and rendering, global illumina-
tion of .NET Framework. MonoDevelop is an open-source IDE tion, a customizable user interface, and its own scripting lan-
for Linux, MacOS X and Windows. It supports Boo, C, C++, C#, guage.
CIL, D, F#, Java, Oxygene, Python, Vala and VB .NET. Scripts

IJSER
Modeler and texture artist could increase the speed of working
are used to respond to input from the player and arrange events in and efficiency because of extensive polygon modeling and tex-
the gameplay to happen when they should. They can also be used ture mapping tool set. CAT ( Character Animation Toolkit ) that
to create graphical effects, control the physical behavior of ob- is completely integrated provides advanced rigging and anima-
jects or even implement a custom AI system for characters in the tion system that can be used immediately. Artist could create
game. very realistic or great image by using mental ray renderer and
integrated 3ds Max scan line including mental ray network that
can finish rendering faster. Since it supports C++ and .NET,
model with Autodesk 3ds Max, send it to Autodesk FBX ex-
change technology file after animating it and then bringing it to
Unreal Editor Contents production software.

2.3 Importing from 3ds Max to Unity

The things that are imported from 3DS MAX from Unity3D
can be largely divided into five parts. First, it is every node that
has position, rotation, scale. Second part includes pivot point,
names, vertex and meshes with colors. Third, they are normal and
one or two UV sets. Fourth, they are diffuse texture and materials
with colors. Fifth, they are many materials per mesh, animation,
>> Asset Tracking: and bone based animations. Tus, these five parts are the ones that
Unity also includes the Unity Asset Server – a version Unity recognizes from 3DS MAX. Also, Unity3D could import
control solution for the developer’s game assets and scripts. It FBX file. FBX provides supports for software and applications
uses PostgreSQL as a backend, an audio system built on the that are both independent and from certain companies. FBX is
FMOD library ( with ability to playback Ogg Vorbis compressed used within e tertainment pipeline or as a part of design produc-
audio ), video playback using the Theora codec, a terrain and tion. Files can be sent more smoothly, more data is maintained,
vegetation engine ( which supports tree bill boarding, Occlusion and the work flow is more efficient. To send a file from 3DS
Culling with Umbra ), built-in light mapping and global illumina- MAX to Unity3D, first convert to FBX file with export from 3DS
tion with Beast, multiplayer networking using RakNet, and built- MAX, and send it. Then the file can be imported from Unity3D.
in pathfying navigation meshes. Only, if the name of FBX file is in Korean, Unity3D cannot rec-
>> Platforms: ognize it.
Unity supports deployment to multiple platforms. With-
in a project, developers control over delivery to mobile devices,
web browsers, desktops and consoles. Unity also allows specifi-
cation of texture compression and resolution settings for each
IJSER © 2018
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 9, Issue 3, March-2018 1355
ISSN 2229-5518

2.4 Summary of the Game Development

In this research paper
1) Game Name: Cognitive Arenas
2) Game Genre: Quiz, Shooter
3) Platform: Supports Multi-platform (Wiindows PC, An-
droid, etc.)
4) Game Characteristics: Our game has three levels for
the player to travel through. The various scenes depicted
in those levels are
Level 1>> The Snowies:
This level contains snowy mountains and sereny place
for the player to travel.
The player will travel through all these levels to com-
plete the game. The player can learn the material given
in the game for answering the questions. The learning
material will be available in the LEARN module of the
game. The rules and controls of the game will be given
in the modules of the game for the player to follow. The
PLAY module of the game will direct the player to the
game scenes to play. The player has to answer the ques-

IJSER
tions asked in the game by exploring the answers from
the given environment and has to undergo offending and
defending activities agains the enemies in the game.

Level 2>> Deserted Area:

This level scene looks like a desert that also contains
sand houses.

The object that helps the player to score points.

5) Core Idea of the Game:

Level 3>> Mayan area:
The objective of our game is to promote education via
The building in this level looks like Mayan buildings
innovation. We want to use this more visual, more easily
which will be in old-fashioned style.
accepted medium to depict the world through which we
can educate the people. Our game is not just entertain-
ment, it’s a channel that is responsible for promoting
education. It gives the feel of intangible treasure through
the environment provided. We found there is a need of a
medium that will provide education through entertain-
ment. And this may be a solution for lack of interest as
well as getting bored in learning.

IJSER © 2018
http://www.ijser.org
International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 9, Issue 3, March-2018 1356
ISSN 2229-5518

3 MODULES 4 CONCLUSION
This study aims to design and develop a gaming application
3.1 Game UI screen
using Unity Game Engine. Through this cornerstone for a new
>>Modules: concentration on Game Development, we have conveyed our
• Play views and ideas on promoting education via innovation. The
• Settings functions that Unity3D supports autonomously are very abun-
• Rules dant. All game developments are possible such as shader, physics
• Learn engine, network, terrain manipulation, audio, video, and anima-
• Quit tion, and it is enabled so that it is possible to revise, meeting de-
mand of user according to the need.
3.2 Module description
>>Play:
This module directs the player to the depicted scene
of the game where the player can play the main game. The
REFERENCES
player can pause and resume or restart the game.
• http://seriousgamesnet.eu/mod/elgg_segan_frame
work/static/conferences/2013/presentations/10_Ga
The player in the first level. me_Development_Using_Unity_David_Gouveia.pd
f
>>Settings: • http://ds.nashobmen.org/fo/get/2655976/Packt_Uni
This module can be used to modify the volume for ty_Game_Development_Essentials_2009-
the game. wapdisk_ru.pdf

IJSER
>>Rules: • http://trcf52.okstate.edu/GPU/u3d-tut-1.pdf
This module shows the rules and controls required • https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/680
for the movement and exploration by the player in the game 68/Dansie_Jason.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
and constraints need to be followed by the player. • https://gamifique.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/5-
>>Learn: game-design-theory-and-practice.pdf
This module provides the materials published for the • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subnautica
game to answer the given questions. The materials given can • https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-
be read by the player and use those information to answer the max/getting-
questions asked in the game. start-
>>Quit: ed/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMax-
This module is used to close the game window that is Tutorial/files/GUID-C99064E7-7E14-4F98-9A41-
to exit from the game application. 796BFC5613EF-htm.html

IJSER © 2018
http://www.ijser.org