Repositories, Git & SCM

Other Courses Talk
#1

Hello All,

After having a number of problems with code in Unity, after making changes and being unable to get things working again and being able to roll back to earlier code or track the changes I had made, and also with the idea of making significant changes to scripts @Rob suggested that I look into Source Control Management. And I did - I looked at two free alternatives. The first being GitKraken, so, I downloaded that software, and went to install it and was notified that the software installation failed - the log came up and decided to have a quick look at it, not that it would’ve helped in any way, but, one line was on interest. “This user should never install anything beta”, so … now I’m being insulted by software that won’t install. Just great - had pretty much the same experience with Discord.

Ok, then, I’ll try SourceTree it came in pretty high in the Google search and try as I might I couldn’t make head or tail of the thing - I had no idea what I was doing. So does anyone now of any Programs that will make SCM software for Unity easy for the completely uninitiated. Or a link to a website that will allow me to setup repos for the complete noob.

Thankyou and Regards,
Vaughan.

#2

Hi @Vaughan_MacEgan,

Can you send me a copy of that log, I can bring it to the attention of the team at Axosoft. If it does say that, or words to that effect, one thing to take into account, which if you’ve not seen their blogs, is that they do that a bit of a tongue in cheek sense of humour. I have seen various posts in which they talk like a pirate because of the Kraken reference in their product title. I wouldn’t take it to heart.

So, how can we get you over this little hurdle, some things to consider;

  • There is a really good, and short, course on Git and GitHub available on Udemy for free, I used this myself as I had no previous experience with Git (I had used an alternative in the past). It’s called Git Started with GitHub. It covers the basics of getting installed and setup. Note, it focuses on using Git via the Command Prompt rather than uses a GUI Client. When I saw that, I immediately turned to find a GUI client.

  • I would suggest, initially, getting used to Git with content other than your code/game from Unity, thus removing a level of complexity. In the repository you create (commonly called a repo) you could simply drop one text file into it. The content could just be something simple, like the actions you have performed that day, e.g.got out of bed, ate breakfast, turned on the computer

    Each one of these being added to the text file after each commit, thus you build up a simple history of revisions, and can play with reverting back to a specific revision, e.g. “I’m going to go back to before I had breakfast”.

    Whilst this might sound a bit daft, if you put it into context of your game, “I’m going to revert back to before I tried adding projectiles” etc. You could also have a play with branches. This would all be safe as none of it would effect any of your game code/project. Then when you feel happier with it you could create a repo for your code/project and confidently progress.

  • I like GitKraken, mainly because of its interface, it’s just so, well, pretty! :slight_smile: But they do also provide a lot of guides and information on their website for how to perform specific tasks. At the end of the day, which ever GUI client you use, they are all just firing off those Command Prompt statements in the background anyway, so if you take the time to learn some of those you will most likely have a much better understanding of whats going on.

  • I’m not sure if you had installed Git prior to GitKraken? If not, this may be why you ran into problems, I already had it installed and don’t recall any issues with the installation. There are also some very good tutorials on the Git website

  • SourceTree is covered later in the Unity course, so for specifics on that it may well be worth waiting until you get to that section, it will invariably but performing the same actions under the bonnet, the interface is slightly different.

#3

Hi, Vaughan! I answered a similar question on the Unity RPG course, maybe it could be of some help for you too. Here are my two cents:

I think that installing Visual Studio Code (mac) can get your projects running smooth.

What I usually do is to start a new project on GitLab, then open my scripts with Code. There is a terminal inside the Code project then most of the time I use it to init git, create a new branch and push updates to my remote source.

Some useful links:

Integrating Code with Unity: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/other/unity

Free unlimited private repo: look for GitLab on google.

I’m really happy using Gitflow workflow: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows#gitflow-workflow

Privacy & Terms