Beginners to Unity might imagine that you develop your game from start to finish in Unity, including writing code, creating 3D models and textures, and so on.

In reality, a better way of thinking about Unity is as an integration tool. Typically, you will write code or create 3D models or textures in a separate program, and use Unity to wire everything together.

For this series, there are several assets provided for you, but you’d need to either create your own, or hire an artist.

But before you get started importing assets, it pays to be organized. In this game, you’re going to have a lot of assets, so it’s critical to organize them in way that makes them easy to find.

Note: This tutorial is part of a collection that teaches Unity development from the ground up. You can read the entire series over here. This series is free and does not require any account creation. All assets are provided. If you find it useful, feel free to buy me a coffee.

Understanding the Project window

The Project window is a key aspect of Unity development. It essentially acts as a file system and mirrors the actual file system on your computer. You can create files and folders, and move various assets around. When you do this, these changes are made in the file system as well.

You may feel tempted to create folders and manipulate files in your file system instead of the Project window. When you add a file to the file system, Unity will detect the change then update the Project window.

This is actually a bad idea. Unity creates metadata for each asset. Creating, altering or deleting assets on the file system can break this metadata in Unity and thus, break your game. Make all your changes in Unity.

Here is the Project window:

This shows the Unity Project window and with different numbered sections.

Here is the breakdown:

  1. This Create button allows you to create assets directly in the Unity editor. This isn’t the only way to create things in Unity, but you’ll a rich assortment of items.
  2. The Search section contains only the various search tools. As you can imagine, your projects will acquire a large assortment of assets. These search tools will help you find your asset.
  3. The Favorites section is meant for easy access to commonly used assets.
  4. The Assets section is where you’ll spend the most amount of time. The Assets section is where you’ll create folders and add import models. You’ll notice your project already comes with a few assets included with it.
  5. The Packages section is where you can find imported packages from either Unity or other third parties.
  6. Finally, the slider is used for increasing or decreasing the information in the window. The far left of the slider makes assets appear in a list whereas the far right shows large icons.

You can learn more about the Project window from the official documentation.

Organizing your assets

In the Project Browser, select the Assets folder and click the Create button. Select Folder from the drop-down menu.

This shows create button being pressed with a new folder created.

Name your folder: Models

This shows the new Models folder created in the Project window.

You’ll notice an empty folder next to the Models name. This empty folder indicates that there are no assets inside of it. You’ll also notice the other folders are filled. For example, if you open the Settings folder, you’ll see a lot of included assets.

This shows all the included assets in the Settings folder.

Create the following folders: Animations, Materials, Prefabs, Presets, Scripts, and Textures.

Your Project window should look like the following:

This show the Project window with all the new folders.

Finally, you may want to change the name of an asset. For instance, your current scene is called SampleScene. By the way, a scene is a part of your game. It could represent a single level, or the entire game itself. This game will use just one scene but you could also break up into multiple scenes for different environments or levels.

Select the Scenes folder, and then select SampleScene file. The name will become highlighted. Single click it one more time and you’ll be to write a new name. Change it to Main.

This screenshot shows the Main scene file being renamed.

Note: The previous screenshot was taken using the Wide layout. For the duration of this tutorial series, screenshots are captured using the 2 x 3 layout.

Where to go from here

You’ve set up your Project window to start accepting assets. Your next step is to actually import the assets. Don’t worry, all assets are free to download. You don’t even need to sacrifice your email address.

As mentioned, the best place to learn more about the Project window is the official documentation. Otherwise, head over to the next article to learn about importing assets.


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By Brian Moakley

Brian Moakley is a writer and editor who lives amongst the quiet hills in New England. When not reading tales of high adventure, he is often telling such stories to all who will listen.

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