Get started with Creator Kit: Beginner Code

Get started with code in Unity

Introduction to variables

Write your own instruction

Introduction to functions

Write your own spawn function 

Introduction to classes

 Write your own spawner class

Introduction to the public keyword and inheritance

Customize the health potions

Customize your game

Homework Submissions

WebGL Submissions - Create your first Action-RPG with C#

Live Session - Create your first Action-RPG Game with C#

Creator Kit: Beginner Code

In this activity, students customize their own 3D role-play video games using Unity technology and C# computer coding. All activity assets and step-by-step tutorials are included, helping learners to get started quickly. By the end of the project, students will have customized their own playable 3D games and have gained a better understanding of scripting, variables, functions, and classes. 

Participating in the global Hour of Code? Visit our Hour of Code Edition of this Creator Kit.

No coding experience? No problem! In this beginner project, you’ll explore the basics of C# code for Unity in the context of an action RPG. 

To get the most out of this project, you’ll have completed one of the three introductory Creator Kits (Puzzle, FPS, RPG), so you can apply your knowledge of the Unity Editor and focus on customizing the game with scripts.

Important: This learning content requires at least Unity 2019.2, and will not work correctly on older versions.

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 What is programming?

How do computers understand the instructions?

How do I use instructions to create a game in Unity?

Open the SpawnerSample script file

Tutorial summary

Open a script from the Creator Kit: Beginner Code game in a script editor

When you’ve finished, you’ll be ready to review your first script.

Games

Hour of Code - Creator Kit: Beginner Coding

Before you begin changing the game, let’s review some basic principles for this Creator Kit.

In the simplest sense, programming is giving a computer a list of instructions that it will complete sequentially. This is quite similar to a recipe for a particular food. Just as three bakers might use different recipes to make a cake, three people writing code might approach a problem in a slightly different way. 

At the most basic level, computers only understand numbers. This can be challenging for humans; expressing instructions as pure numbers is difficult, if not impossible. To translate between human language and numbers, computers use a type of program called a compiler.

Natural languages are languages which have evolved over time through use (for example, the English language or American Sign Language). It’s hard for computers to understand natural languages — they’re incredibly complex and can be full of nuance. Instead, programmers use specific programming languages. 

Programming languages are formal languages, constructed with clear sets of rules. There are a wide range of programming languages currently used for a variety of different purposes. 

You need to use the C# programming language to write code for Unity.

When you write C# code for Unity, you need to organize it into documents called scripts. These are sets of instructions telling the computer to do a specific thing. The compiler then turns each script into numbers that the computer can understand, allowing it to run the game as you’ve instructed.

Separating instructions into different scripts is useful because it enables you to:

Find and change information quickly when you need to.


This Creator Kit will show you how to find the information that you need in a script, even if you don’t understand everything in it. Its script files are very small, but the same principles apply to the larger scripts you will find elsewhere.

GameObjects have components attached. These give specific instructions about their behavior to Unity. There are many built-in components available, which enable you to control different aspects of a GameObject’s behavior. However, to create your own game you will need to use custom scripts and attach them to GameObjects as components. 

When you tested the game in the previous tutorial, you may have noticed that three health potions appear around the PotionSpawner GameObject at game start.

Let’s start by finding the script file that spawns (or creates) these health potions:

1.  In the Hierarchy, select the LevelDesign > PotionSpawner GameObject.


2.  In the Inspector, find the Spawner Sample (Script) component.


This component is the script which makes the three potions appear.


3.  In the Script field of the component (which will appear greyed out), click on the name of the script (SpawnerSample). This will highlight the script file in the Project window.

4.  Double-click the SpawnerSample script. This will open the file in your default installed code editor — unless you have changed the default, this will be Microsoft Visual Studio.

5.  This is what you will see in the code editor:

using UnityEngine;
using CreatorKitCode;

public class SpawnerSample : MonoBehaviour
{
    public GameObject ObjectToSpawn;

    void Start()
    {
        int angle = 15;
        Vector3 spawnPosition = transform.position;

        Vector3 direction = Quaternion.Euler(0, angle, 0) * Vector3.right;
        spawnPosition = transform.position + direction * 2;
        Instantiate(ObjectToSpawn, spawnPosition, Quaternion.identity);

        angle = 55;
        direction = Quaternion.Euler(0, angle, 0) * Vector3.right;
        spawnPosition = transform.position + direction * 2;
        Instantiate(ObjectToSpawn, spawnPosition, Quaternion.identity);

        angle = 95;
        direction = Quaternion.Euler(0, angle, 0) * Vector3.right;
        spawnPosition = transform.position + direction * 2;
        Instantiate(ObjectToSpawn, spawnPosition, Quaternion.identity);
    }
}

If you've never read any code before, this may look overwhelming ⁠— don’t panic! In the next tutorial, you’ll learn to identify basic code elements in a script file even if you don’t understand all of its content.

Learned that scripts are a series of instructions for the computer written in code

Opened the script in your computer’s default code editor


In the next tutorial, you’ll explore your first C# script and learn about a key ingredient for writing efficient code: variables.

Get started with code in Unity

1. What is programming?

2. How do computers understand the instructions?

3. How do I use instructions to create a game in Unity?

4. Open the SpawnerSample script file

5. Tutorial summary

Complete this tutorial