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Spotlight on Playmaker: Visual scripting that lets you bypass the code and unleash your creative potential

May 4, 2017 in Technology | 3 min. read
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Playmaker the best-selling visual scripting tool on the Unity Asset Store, with over 2,800 reviews and a 5-star rating average.

Learning to create interactive experiences, including games, can be a challenge for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest challenges arises from the fact that, historically, the main mode of authoring interactive content has been through text-based programming.

Special Offer:
Get Playmaker Free

For a limited time, Playmaker is included free with Unity Plus subscriptions as part of the Accelerator Pack, which also includes 2 other top-selling productivity assets (normally a $190 value total) that will help you fast track your development and get your project to the finish line faster.

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In Unity, we support C# and Unityscript, with a primary focus on teaching people to program using C#.  When learning to create games with C#, there are two main areas that need to be understood: logic and syntax. We can think of the logic as ‘what is supposed to happen, in what order, or under what conditions’ and syntax as the language in which we communicate that to the compiler. Learning both of these things, simultaneously, for the first time can be very challenging.

Playmaker, a visual scripting tool created by Hutong Games, replaces the text-based paradigm with a visual metaphor. Logic is expressed through graphs that are wired together to create relationships and syntax is automatically expressed using pre-made ‘Actions’ that can be selected from a list.

Because of this, Playmaker can be a very useful tool for creators who are interested in exploring the logical side of creating interactivity without having to interface deeply with written code syntax.

Many users get stuck simply because they have neglected to place a semicolon, parenthesis, or other punctuation mark in the correct place and their code fails to compile, blocking their progress.

Removing the struggle with syntax allows creators to learn to ‘think like a programmer’ by focusing on creating logic for their game, without worrying about compiler errors.

For this reason, Playmaker presents a great opportunity for creators who are new to programming and want to begin creating interactive experiences — or even those who know that they have no interest in ever learning text-based programming but do want to be able to create interactivity.

See it in action...

I recently conducted a live training on Playmaker that I’m sharing online now. In the video below, you’ll get a short introduction to the core concepts of Playmaker including applications for both player mechanics and enemy intelligence. You’ll learn how to set up an invisibility mechanic for the player, a patrolling robot enemy, and a turret that will fire when it shoots the player. This training is part of a three-part series highlighting Playmaker, Ultimate FPS, and Amplify Shader Editor. These three top-selling productivity tools are included in the Accelerator Pack, which is free with all new Unity Plus subscriptions for a limited time.

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For a limited time, the Accelerator Pack, which includes Playmaker, Ultimate FPS, and Amplify Shader Editor (a $190 total value), is included free with new Unity Plus subscriptions.

Along with the amazing value of the Accelerator Pack, you’ll enjoy the enhanced features of Unity Plus:

  • Editor Dark Skin UI
  • 1 month of free access to Unity Certification Courseware
  • Performance Reporting: troubleshoot and identify issues in real time
  • VIP Cloud Build Queue, enhanced Unity Analytics, Multiplayer, and more!

For more information and frequently asked questions, please visit the Accelerator Pack page.

Already a subscriber?

The Accelerator Pack is included with new Unity Plus and Pro subscriptions. If you subscribed to Plus or Pro in the past 30 days, you are eligible to receive the Accelerator Pack at no charge, simply contact Unity Support for assistance.

For current Unity Plus and Pro subscribers, we are pleased to be able to offer you the Accelerator Pack for $75 —  a significant discount of 60% off the retail price of these assets. To claim your Accelerator Pack at this special discounted price, simply contact us at get@unity3d.com. Inquiries will be processed in the order they are received.

May 4, 2017 in Technology | 3 min. read

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