Beginning Unity Editor Scripting : Create and Publish Your Game Tools

Learn about editor scripting in Unity, including different possible methods of editor customization to fit your custom game workflow or even to create assets that could be published on the Asset Store to earn a passive income. The knowledge of editor scripting, although rarely covered in books, gives a game developer insight into how things work in Unity under the hood, which you can leverage to create custom tools that empower your unique game idea. This book starts with the very basics of editor scripting in Unity, such as using built-in attributes to customize your component’s editor and creating custom editors and windows with IMGUI and UI Toolkit. Next, we move to a general use case example by creating an object spawner EditorTool for the scene view. Later, we dive straight to in-depth stats and detailed case studies of two Unity assets: ProArray and Rhythm Game Starter. Here you’ll get more context on how editor scripting is used in published assets. You will also learn how to set up a better workflow for editor scripting, asset publishing, maintenance, and iterative updates. You will leverage the power of modern web technology to build a documentation site with GitBook and DocFX. Finally, you will see some tips and tricks for automating asset versioning and changelogs. **What You Will Learn** * Get started with Editor scripting in Unity * Work with advanced editor topics such as custom EditorWindows and EditorTool * Structure your C# code with namespaces and asmdef * Use IMGUI and UI Toolkit for creating editor GUIs * Master packaging and selling your own editor tools * Set up a better workflow for asset publishing, maintenance, and iterative updates **Who This Book Is For** Readers who want to learn about editor scripting to improve their game-development process and create tools for themselves. Moderate experience with C# and a fundamental knowledge of Unity is expected. Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewers Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Getting Started Unity’s Modularity Possibilities of Editor Scripting Creating Your Own Asset or Editor Extension What to Expect in the Book Setup and Tips Summary Chapter 2: Customizing the Editor with Attributes and Callbacks Using the Property Attribute The Range Attribute The Header Attribute The Multiline and TextArea Attributes The Tooltip Attribute The HideInInspector Attribute The SerializeField Attribute The Space Attribute Other Useful Attributes ContextMenu The HelpURL Attribute AddComponentMenu ExecuteAlways RequireComponent MonoBehaviour Editor Messages OnValidate OnDrawGizmos OnDrawGizmosSelected Reset Summary Chapter 3: Custom Editor with IMGUI Differences Between Editor Scripts and Normal C# Scripts Editor Folder Custom Editor Script Example #if Preprocessor Assembly Definitions Custom Editor CanEditMultipleObjects IMGUI Debugger Editor GUI Layout Layout Options Coloring the Button Custom Undo/Redo Drawing the Property Field Yourself Getting a Value in SerializedProperty HelpBox Property Drawers Custom Property Attribute Custom Serializable Class Custom Editor Window Extending EditorWindow GenericMenu Summary Chapter 4: Custom Editor with UI Toolkit Custom Editor with UI Toolkit via C# Displaying a Button Detecting a Button Click Inline Styling in Code UI Toolkit Debugger UI Toolkit Samples Layout in UI Toolkit Justify-Content Property Field HelpBox Value Change Callback Final Layout Custom PropertyDrawer with UI Toolkit via C# Custom Editor Window with UI Toolkit via UI Builder Summary Chapter 5: Object Spawner Tool Using EditorTool and ScriptableObject Overview of the Tool EditorTool ScriptableObject Setting Up the Project Structure Scriptable Structure Implementing a Custom EditorTool Wrapping Up Summary Chapter 6: Case Study: ProArray Idea and Concept Implementation Structure Editor Foldout Layout Custom Toolbar Layout Custom Animatable Properties Support Component Icon Scene Gizmos Icon Hierarchy Overlay Toggle Box Prerelease Preparation Post-Release Analysis Summary Chapter 7: Case Study: Rhythm Game Starter Idea and Concept Implementation Editor Midi Import AssetPostprocessor “Abusing” PropertyDrawer in Rhythm Game Starter Custom Sequence Editor Onboarding Experience Prerelease Preparation Post-Release Analysis Summary Chapter 8: Asset Workflow for Publishing Version Control with Git Do You Git? Git init Git Ignore Git LFS Git Client Remote Commit and Push Submodules Are Key Changelog and Versioning Standard-Version Using standard-version Documentation GitBook Creating a Space Editing Content Wrapping Up DocFX Installing DocFX Setting Up a DocFX Project C# Code Documentation Basic Customization in DocFX Web Hosting Conclusion Chapter 9: Package Distribution and Publishing UPM Packages Creating a Local Embedded Package Publishing to GitHub Publishing to OpenUPM Unity Asset Store Publisher Portal Drafting Packages Description Media Pricing Uploading Packages Publisher Forum Conclusion Chapter 10: Conclusion Key Takeaways Afterthoughts Tips Further On Index