Important Functions - Unity 4 Game Development - page 597

Awake()
The Awake() function is called when the script instance is being loaded.
Awake is used to initialize any variable or a game state before the game starts. It is called
only once during the lifetime of the script instance. It is also called after all the objects are
initialized, so you can safely speak to other objects or query them using, for example,
GameObject.FindWithTag . Each Awake() function of a GameObject is called in a
random order between objects. As a result of this, you should use Awake() to set up refer-
ences between scripts and use Start() to pass any information back and forth.
Awake() is always called before any Start() function. This allows you to order the ini-
tialization of scripts.
Tip
For C# and Boo users, use Awake() instead of the constructor for initialization, as the
serialized state of the component is undefined at construction time. Awake() is called
once, just like the constructor.
Awake() cannot be a coroutine (we will cover more about coroutines in Appendix B ,
Coroutines and Yield ).
An example of Awake() is as follows:
// JavaScript user:
private var myTarget : GameObject;
function Awake() {
myTarget = GameObject.FindWithTag("Target");
}
// C# user:
GameObject myTarget;
void Awake() {
myTarget = GameObject.FindWithTag("Target");
}