We are a team of three 2nd year university students looking for some tips and suggestions from seasoned veterans and fellow devs. We are versed in C , java, and basic data structures and algorithms. We have what we believe to be a very original and fun "game idea" and lets just say its some thing similar to the likes of a Moba or autochess and it involves characters with abilities on a map. Now we are faced with the problem of not knowing where to start exactly, like we have decided on using Unity as an engine but we dont know where to start making the map and characters themselves and the abilities and such. Any kind of suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Since you've decided on Unity, I suggest you start with Unity's tutorials. This will help you learn how to use your tools.

I'd also recommend you start sketching out and documenting what you want for your game idea, and think about those designs as you work through the tutorials.

A MOBA style game is quite out there for a first project. I'd recommend starting much simpler, just extend the tutorials a bit.

That said …

Answering more directly, your characters will likely be built out of prefab game objects, basically they are game objects in Unity that you can reuse, create, destroy, and otherwise manipulate at will. Game objects are a collection of data attributes and behaviors. Behaviors (MonoBehaviours) are building blocks of functionality written in C# with the data provided through a mix of your game code or through values you edit inside the Unity engine. You'll start with some simple behaviors that you attach to game objects, and over time you'll gradually introduce more behaviors and more game objects until you can do what you wanted in the game. Over time you'll fill up your maps with game objects, such as object and creature spawners, objects to interact with, and more, which will build out to your full game.

@frob Thank you very much for your reply, we'll dwell on your suggestions now. Also it's not really a moba style game but the only similarity being it will have characters with abilities is all.