🧠 Why You Need Visual Studio
Visual Studio is where you’ll actually write all your C# code.
Unity handles the game objects and scenes, but the logic—like when to jump, count coins, or yell “Game Over!”—is written in scripts, and Visual Studio is your go-to code editor for that.
💻 Step 1: Do You Have Visual Studio Already?
If you installed Unity using Unity Hub and left the Visual Studio box checked, you might already have it.
To check:
- Open Unity Hub
- Click the gear icon (⚙️) → Go to Installs
- Click the three dots next to your Unity version → Add Modules
- Make sure “Visual Studio” is installed
If not — don’t worry. You can install it manually.
📥 Step 2: Download Visual Studio (Community Edition)
Go to the official Visual Studio download page and download:
👉 Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition (it’s free)
During installation, make sure you check this workload:
✅ Game Development with Unity
That’s it! Visual Studio will automatically install all the Unity integration you need.
☕ This might take a while, so grab a snack or stretch. Game dev is a marathon, not a bug-free sprint.
🧪 Step 3: Open a Script from Unity to Link Them
Once Visual Studio is installed, let’s test it:
- Open Unity
- Create a new GameObject
- Add a new C# script to it
- Double-click the script
If everything’s set up correctly, it should open in Visual Studio and look like this:
csharpCopyEditusing UnityEngine;
public class HelloWorld : MonoBehaviour
{
void Start()
{
Debug.Log("Hello, Game World!");
}
}
Boom. 🎉 You’re ready to write code like a real game dev.
🧰 Bonus: Tweak Visual Studio for Comfort
Once it’s installed and working, you might want to:
- Turn on line numbers
- Set the theme to dark/light (your eyeballs will thank you)
- Install Unity-related extensions (optional but cool)
You can find these under Tools → Options or via the Extensions tab.
🚀 What’s Next?
Next, we’ll open Unity for the first time and explore the interface together.
Get ready to meet the Scene View, Game View, Hierarchy, and all the panels you’ll fall in love with (and sometimes curse).
🕹️ Go to Lesson 5 → First Look at Unity (Interface Overview)