Setting up the Project

Download Unity

Download/Install Unity Hub

https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download

Install Unity

• Open Unity Hub
• Go the Unity Download Archive and install version 2022.3.1f1 via the Unity Hub link

Download this Project

You can download and install the project either via Github Desktop or by using the git CLI (command-line interface) -- most folks should opt to use Github Desktop unless you're already comfortable with - or want to learn how to use - the CLI

Using Github Desktop

• If you don't know git very well, the best way to clone this project is to use https://desktop.github.com/ -- the website will have instructions for setting up github and cloning this repository.
• To open the project, you will need to have the git CLI installed

Using git CLI

• You may need to manually initialize git LFS. Once cloned use git lfs install and git lfs pull to pull any binary files

Open the Project in Unity

From the Unity Hub | Projects tab, click "Open," navigate to where Git checked out the project, and select the SSJ23-Idle directory

Project Best Practices

DO Namespace your code with namespace LeftOut.GameJam

This will help us find each other's code in our IDE's and will make refactoring later easier.

DO Work in your own branch

Name your branch with a prefix unique to you, and a small phrase describing what you're working on, e.g. devin/pickup-system -- if you're just working a bunch of things it's fine to use something like myname/staging or myname/dev

DO Create a new Unity scene to test your feature

Create a scene for yourself and do new work there. Only include the bare minimum objects and components in your scene to validate what you're working on. If you're building/testing a lot of things, consider making your own directory to store your Scenes.

DO Use ScriptableObjects for exposing state and events (and avoid Singletons)

Unity youtubers will often encourage the use of the Singleton pattern for holding all the state in a scene. This is usually not a great approach! Review this blog post or this quick tutorial to observe how - if your code doesn't need a Transform or any Update() calls - you can put it into a ScriptableObject that can be referenced by anything that needs access to that information. Note that I've added a package called Unity Atoms to the project which has built-in implementations for the most common types.

DO NOT Modify shared resources unless you are integrating features.

... and check with people first before merging changes back in. Prototype in your own scenes, don't apply prefab overrides until they're ready to be merged into main. If you're working extensively on shared prefabs across multiple scenes, consider working with a Prefab Variant until you're ready to replace the original.

DO Squash merge back to main

Merging your whole branch history will make it hard to revert out breaking commits. Make sure github desktop is set to squash merge, or use git merge --squash when merging your branch in. You can also use an interactive rebase (git fetch && rebase -i origin/main) to ensure your side branch is up to date and will merge cleanly.

DO Respect the separation between Runtime and Editor code

If it says using UnityEditor at the top, it should be in an Editor folder. If you absolutely need to do an Editor thing in Runtime code, consider whether you can add a static utility function inside an Editor script instead.

DO Check for permissively licensed Open Source or free Asset Store projects before starting a new system

Always double-check that you aren't about to write a bunch of code that already exists in a useable format. But, be wary of free Script assets... most of the time they're more of a pain to integrate than they're worth.

DO Always ask for help when you need it

The point of the Game Jam is to Learn New Things! Check the Resources channel for previously shared resources or ask for help/feedback in the support channel!