PC/Mac standalone build in Unity - Mini Project: Build & Apply

PC/Mac Standalone Build in Unity

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple Unity project that you want to build as a standalone application for both PC and Mac. This project will guide you through setting up the build settings, selecting the correct platform, and making a build.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to configure Unity to build a standalone application for PC and Mac platforms step-by-step.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Unity project with a simple scene

Set up build settings for PC and Mac

Switch platform to PC and Mac

Build the standalone application

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Building standalone PC and Mac applications is essential for game developers and software creators who want to distribute their Unity projects outside the editor.

💼 Career

Understanding how to configure and automate builds for multiple platforms is a key skill for Unity developers working in game studios or software companies.

1

Create a simple Unity scene

Create a new Unity scene and add a GameObject called Cube with a Transform component at position (0, 0, 0).

Unity

# Create a GameObject named Cube at position (0, 0, 0)
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use GameObject.CreatePrimitive(PrimitiveType.Cube) to create a cube and set its name and position.

2

Set build target to PC, Mac & Linux Standalone

Add code to set the build target to BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64 for PC and BuildTarget.StandaloneOSX for Mac using EditorUserBuildSettings.SwitchActiveBuildTarget.

Unity

using UnityEditor;

public class SetupScene : MonoBehaviour
{
    void Start()
    {
        GameObject cube = GameObject.CreatePrimitive(PrimitiveType.Cube);
        cube.name = "Cube";
        cube.transform.position = new Vector3(0, 0, 0);

        // Switch build target to StandaloneWindows64
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use EditorUserBuildSettings.SwitchActiveBuildTarget with BuildTargetGroup.Standalone and BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64.

3

Create build options and build player

Create a BuildPlayerOptions variable called buildPlayerOptions with scenes set to the current scene path, locationPathName set to "Builds/PCBuild.exe", and target set to BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64. Then call BuildPipeline.BuildPlayer(buildPlayerOptions).

Unity

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;

public class SetupScene : MonoBehaviour
{
    void Start()
    {
        GameObject cube = GameObject.CreatePrimitive(PrimitiveType.Cube);
        cube.name = "Cube";
        cube.transform.position = new Vector3(0, 0, 0);

        EditorUserBuildSettings.SwitchActiveBuildTarget(BuildTargetGroup.Standalone, BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64);

        // Create BuildPlayerOptions and build the player
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use BuildPlayerOptions to set scenes, locationPathName, and target, then call BuildPipeline.BuildPlayer.

4

Print build completion message

Add a Debug.Log statement to print "Build completed successfully!" after the build process.

Unity

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;
using UnityEditor.SceneManagement;

public class SetupScene : MonoBehaviour
{
    void Start()
    {
        GameObject cube = GameObject.CreatePrimitive(PrimitiveType.Cube);
        cube.name = "Cube";
        cube.transform.position = new Vector3(0, 0, 0);

        EditorUserBuildSettings.SwitchActiveBuildTarget(BuildTargetGroup.Standalone, BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64);

        BuildPlayerOptions buildPlayerOptions = new BuildPlayerOptions();
        buildPlayerOptions.scenes = new[] { EditorSceneManager.GetActiveScene().path };
        buildPlayerOptions.locationPathName = "Builds/PCBuild.exe";
        buildPlayerOptions.target = BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows64;

        BuildPipeline.BuildPlayer(buildPlayerOptions);

        // Print build completion message
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use Debug.Log to print the message after building.