This document provides 9 tips for improving how one works in Unity3D and Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop. Some of the key tips include: configuring Xamarin Studio for better usability instead of treating it like a text editor, using layouts instead of dragging windows randomly, taking advantage of debugging tools instead of making variables public, leveraging attributes to avoid manual work, keeping prefabs separate from the scene hierarchy, avoiding nested prefabs, using icons to distinguish scripts and objects, and storing reusable data in asset files. The document emphasizes doing proper setup and organization to work more efficiently in these development environments.

1. Unity3D Tips and Tricks or
“You are doing it wrong!”
Taras Leskiv
Unity3D Developer

2. My experience
￭ Plumber Bob

3. 1. You don’t configure your
Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop
￭ In the perfect world (we all like to dream):
+
+

4. 1. You don’t configure your
Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop
￭ Problem – no iOS deployment.
￭ You probably do this
or more likely this
￭ When opened MonoDevelop the first time my reaction was like this:
(I am former Intellij Idea user)
– How does this IDE differ from text editor?

5. 1. You don’t configure your
Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop
￭ Do your homework and configure it! All you need is disabled by default.
￭ Use Monokai syntax highlighting! Why? More colors.

6. 1. You don’t configure your
Xamarin Studio/MonoDevelop
￭ Do your homework – it is not that bad.

7. 2. You drag windows all over the
screen!
￭ Use layouts!

8. 2. You drag windows all over the
screen!
￭ Rearrange items wisely

9. 3. You make variables public to
see them in the inspector!
￭ Debug mode
￭ Minor stuff :
– Lock inspector view
– Ctrl (cmd) + D, ctrl + shift + N, ctrl + alt + N
– Snapping

10. 4. You copy and paste component
values manually!

11. 5. You don’t use attributes!
￭ [Range(-1, 1)] – int, float
￭ [RequireComponent(typof(SomeType))]
￭ [ExecuteInEditMode]

12. 6. You have a lot of objects in
your scene that are not prefabs!
￭ Every distinct object should be prefab – make every gameobject a prefab,
exception – empty objects as folders (benefits – no scene changes)
￭ Link prefabs to prefabs – move your connections out of the scene
￭ Establish links at programmatically where possible.

13. 7. You are nesting prefabs!
￭Just NEVER do this – build your
hierachy of prefabs at runtime.
(Child prefabs just becomes a
part of its parent prefab)

14. 8. You do not take advantage of
icons!
￭ Distinguish scripts – color libs.
￭ Mark scripts – Interfaces, abstract and static classes

15. 8. You do not take advantage of
icons!
￭ Make custom icons for objects in scene you have to find frequently.

16. 9. You don’t use .asset files to
store data!

17. Questions
Taras Leskiv
Unity3D Developer
developers.nravo.com
leskiv.taras@gmail.com
@tarasleskiv