Unity operates a store called the Unity Asset Store. There are a great number of assets available to Unity developers. The store is accessible directly on the web at http://assetstore.unity3d.com. You can also open a window within Unity to display the Asset Store. This is done by selecting Window | Asset Store.
Regardless of how you connect to the Unity Asset Store, you will see a hierarchical category listing in the top-right-hand corner of the store. As you can see in the following screenshot, there are eleven asset categories:
Clicking on the triangular icons to the left of each category reveals subcategories. Some categories have multiple subcategories, which helps you find what you are looking for quickly. You can also use the Asset Store's search functionality.
When you click on a category, its contents will be viewable. Clicking on a specific asset will display several characteristics of that asset. These characteristics include the following:
- Title
- Publisher
- Rating
- Price
- Add to Cart button, or, in the case of free assets, a Download button
- Version of Unity required
- Release date
- Description
- Package contents
- File size
- Version number (of the asset)
- Images
- Videos (not always available)
- Link to publisher's website
- User reviews
There are a couple of things to consider regarding obtaining assets from the Unity Asset Store. First, you will want to make sure you have the requisite rights to use the asset as you plan to. For example, if you do not have commercial use rights, you will not want to use that particular asset in your commercial game.
Another thing to consider before selecting assets from the Asset Store is how large the files are. Fortunately, this information is part of the metadata displayed when you preview an asset.
In the next section, we will visit the Unity Asset Store, select an asset, and add that asset to our game project.