Awake vs Start execution order in Unity - Hands-On Comparison

Awake vs Start Execution Order in Unity

📖 Scenario: Imagine you are making a simple Unity game where you want to understand when different parts of your game objects get ready to use. Unity uses special methods called Awake and Start to prepare game objects. This project will help you see the order in which these methods run.

🎯 Goal: You will create two scripts attached to two different game objects. Each script will print messages in Awake and Start methods. You will observe the order of these messages to learn how Unity runs Awake before Start.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create two C# scripts named FirstObject and SecondObject

In each script, implement Awake and Start methods

Print messages in each method to show when they run

Attach scripts to two different game objects in the Unity scene

Run the scene and observe the console output

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Understanding Awake and Start helps you set up game objects correctly in Unity games, avoiding bugs caused by wrong initialization order.

💼 Career

Game developers and Unity programmers must know the execution order to write reliable and efficient game code.

1

Create the FirstObject script with Awake and Start

Create a C# script called FirstObject. Inside it, write the Awake method that prints "FirstObject Awake" and the Start method that prints "FirstObject Start".

Unity

using UnityEngine;

public class FirstObject : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use Debug.Log inside Awake and Start methods to print messages.

2

Create the SecondObject script with Awake and Start

Create a C# script called SecondObject. Inside it, write the Awake method that prints "SecondObject Awake" and the Start method that prints "SecondObject Start".

Unity

using UnityEngine;

public class FirstObject : MonoBehaviour
{
    void Awake()
    {
        Debug.Log("FirstObject Awake");
    }

    void Start()
    {
        Debug.Log("FirstObject Start");
    }
}

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Repeat the same pattern as FirstObject but with different messages.

3

Attach scripts to two different GameObjects in the Unity scene

In the Unity Editor, create two empty GameObjects named FirstGameObject and SecondGameObject. Attach the FirstObject script to FirstGameObject and the SecondObject script to SecondGameObject.

Unity

// In Unity Editor, create two GameObjects and attach scripts
// Your code here (this step is done in Unity Editor, no code needed)

Need a hint?

This step is done in the Unity Editor by dragging scripts onto GameObjects.

4

Run the scene and observe the console output

Run the Unity scene and observe the console. You should see the messages printed in this order: FirstObject Awake, SecondObject Awake, FirstObject Start, SecondObject Start. Write a Debug.Log statement that prints "Check console for Awake and Start order".

Unity

Debug.Log("Check console for Awake and Start order");

Need a hint?

Look at the Unity Console window to see the order of messages.