3 code snippets every Unity beginner should bookmark
Quick Unity dev note for you.
If you're newer to Unity, there's a small set of patterns you'll lean on in almost every project. Here are three worth bookmarking:
1. Start() vs Update()
void Start() { // runs once, use it to grab references and set initial state }
void Update() { // runs every frame, use it sparingly }
Start is for setup. Update is for anything that genuinely needs checking every frame (input, movement). If it doesn't need to run 60 times a second, it doesn't belong in Update. Unity's script execution order docs lay out exactly when each function fires if you want the full picture.
2. TryGetComponent instead of GetComponent
if (other.TryGetComponent<Health>(out var health))
{
health.TakeDamage(10);
}
This avoids the null reference exceptions that come from calling GetComponent on something that doesn't have the component you expect. One line, no crash. Full details in the TryGetComponent docs.
3. Coroutines for anything with a delay
IEnumerator RespawnAfterDelay(float seconds)
{
yield return new WaitForSeconds(seconds);
Respawn();
}
Any time you need "wait, then do something," a coroutine is almost always cleaner than a hand-rolled timer variable in Update. Unity's coroutines manual covers the rest of what you can do with them (chaining, stopping them early, running several at once).
None of these are advanced. They're just the ones that show up constantly once you start building anything real, including the local multiplayer brawler we build step by step in the Local Multiplayer Brawler Workshop.
From my desk
Honest confession: I couldn't tell you the last time I sat down and played a game just to play it, not to study it, not to steal a mechanic for a tutorial, just to enjoy it. Somewhere between four kids, a wife who deserves more of my evenings than she gets, and building this business on nights and weekends, playing games quietly stopped being something I do. It's a strange thing to notice about yourself when making games is the whole point.
I don't have a tidy lesson to wrap that in. Mostly I just think it's worth saying out loud, because I'd guess a few of you reading this are in some version of the same spot: building toward something you love with less and less time to actually enjoy the thing itself. If that's you, you're not doing it wrong. You're just in the trenches with the rest of us.
Unity News
If you missed it, Unity 7 quietly got shelved. At Unite 2025 in Barcelona, Unity confirmed the ambitious "Unity Next Generation" overhaul announced back in 2023 (new render pipeline, CoreCLR, built-in ECS) isn't shipping as its own version. Instead, those pieces are getting folded into the regular Unity 6.x release cycle one at a time. Practically, that means no scary "wait for the next major version" cliff, the improvements just show up as 6.x updates as they're ready.
A couple things worth a look
If project setup is the part of starting a new Unity project that makes you want to close the editor, ORDO does one-click folder structure and project cleanup for you. $19.99, yours to keep.
And if you want to go past snippets and build something real start to finish, the Local Multiplayer Brawler Workshop walks you through a full 4-player party game in Unity 6.
Hit reply and let me know what topic you want covered next.
Know another Unity dev who'd like this? Forward it their way, it helps a lot more than you'd think.
Dan
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