Course Introduction and Planning

Game Jams and Skilling Up

Set your goals and find your community

In this project you will learn about what's ahead for you on your journey to finishing a game! You'll also get a chance to confirm that you have the right knowledge and skills to get the most out of the course, along with links to useful resources that will help you on your way. You will also learn how to equip yourself for your journey, and meet some of your fellow adventurers.

Goal Setting and Community Building

What is the Design Process? 

Scope

Constraints and Our Theme

Concentric Design

Why Prototype? 

Assets shouldn't be liabilities

The Stages of Game Development

Planning your project

CRC Cards

Your First Milestone: Vertical Slice

Why Agile?

Vertical Slice - Part Two

Refactoring

Sprint Planning

Alpha Build

What is Playtesting?

How To Playtest

Sprint Plan

Review and Redesign

How to Release your Game

Alpha and Beyond

Bonus Content

In this project you will learn about using a design process to take your idea from a broad concept into a finished, polished game, the concept of scope will help you achieve your goal of making a game, how constraints can help you create rules to keep you in scope,  and how to use the specific design process, concentric design.

The Design Process

In this project you will find out if your game idea is fun through Prototyping. You will also learn how to make a plan for assets you will use in your game – the sounds, images, models, animations and other resources that make up a game – to avoid nasty surprises later in development. 

Prototyping

In this project you will learn how to keep a sense of the big picture by dividing the game development process into stages and milestones, hit your first major milestone in the development of a game through creating a vertical slice, and learn two planning tools you can use to plot a course to a finished game. 

Milestones

Agile Development

Professional teams schedule some time for code cleanup after each milestone so their code stays flexible and easy to work with. This project will give you some tips and general principles for this process, known as refactoring. With your vertical slice done and your code in good shape, this is where you’ll start down the road to alpha.

Writing Better Code

Playtesting is more than just asking people if your game is fun. It's a structured process for collecting useful information about specific parts of your design. In this project you will learn why Playtesting helps you collect useful information on your design and how to execute the entire process. 

Playtesting

In this project you will learn how to release your game, what the next steps are after game release, and additional tips for getting to the end. 

Release your game

Lots of people start games, but it’s surprisingly hard to finish one. This course guides you through the process used by professional game makers to develop their ideas, keep their projects on track and deliver a complete, released game. 

Explore the Unity Asset Store for game toolkits and template assets that will help you quickly design and prototype your games. These resources can accelerate your development process and help you achieve your goal of releasing a polished game!

Design and Publish Your Original Game: Unity USC Games Unlocked

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Course Introduction

Planning for Success

Self-Assessment Prior to the Learning Experience

Course Toolkit

Unity Learning Action Plan

Course Structure

UNITY_UNIT_1_VIDEO_1.mp4

In this tutorial you'll learn about what's ahead for you on your journey to finishing a game! You'll also get a chance to confirm that you have the right knowledge and skills to get the most out of the course, along with links to useful resources that will help you on your way.

Unity + USC Games Unlocked

Games

Learning-Action-Plan-Template.pdf

Unity + USC Games Unlocked Syllabus.pdf

Unity + USC Games Unlocked Course Toolkit.pdf

Plan for 30-60 minutes per week to work through the course content

Plan for 2-4 hours per week of game development in the Unity Engine

Plan and prepare game development milestones

You will work at the pace that works for you, however we do recommend to make sure you finish your game that you plan to spend 4-6 hours per week on the course over 8-10 weeks. Some assignments take a bit more logistical planning and time then others. Use this sample timeline to help you plan. 

The course is self-paced and you can take as long as you like. To get the most out of the course use the Learning action plan to realistically plot your course time commitment. 

If you have questions or need advice use the commenting tools to ask questions of your fellow learners. In the next tutorial you will formally be asked to introduce yourself in the group. 

Suggested Timeline for 8 week game production

Before you get to far into the course there are foundational Unity development skills you will need to successfully create your first games. Some questions to ask as you map out your course approach and duration: 

1. Where do you feel your skills are at right now with Unity? Use this to be honest about your skill set, in order to think about the kind of game you can realistically build. 

2. What Unity skills do you still need to learn and how will you build time in for that? 

3. Who can you connect with to get feedback on your game and learning goals?

The below questions are intended to help you understand the course and evaluate whether it’s right for you.

1. How familiar are you with burndown charts?
    a. I have never heard of them or I have heard of them but don't know what they are.
    b. I have some idea what they are, but don't know when or how to use them.
    c. I have a clear idea what they are, but haven't used them.
    d. I can explain what they are and what they do, and I have used them. 

2. Do you know what milestones are in game development?
    a. I know what a milestone is in general, but I haven’t heard of milestones specific to game making.
    b. I can name them but I’m not sure I could define them.
   c. I know what they are but I’ve never worked on a project that used them.
    d. I can define them and I’ve worked with them in previous game projects.

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECK: If you haven't worked with or even heard of these things, you're in the right place. Keep going. If you have already worked with game producing tools and the development lifecycle, you may find you already know a lot of the material. You can still benefit from the game design content and the unique insights of our guests.

3. Have you ever participated in a game jam?
    a. I have heard of them but don't know what they are.
    b. I know what they are but I’ve never been to one.
   c. I have attended at least one.

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECK: We do recommend that you participate in at least one game jam, preferably in person, before taking this course. Once you get a feel for how they work, you'll feel more comfortable with the structure of this course.

4. How familiar are you with Unity (the application)?
    a. I’ve opened it but I couldn’t figure out how to do anything.
    b. I’ve spent a few hours with it and done parts of some tutorials.
    c. I’ve finished at least one tutorial that resulted in a complete game.
    d. I’ve done a few tutorials and I’m starting to feel comfortable using it.
    e. I’ve made several games with it and feel very comfortable using it.

5. How comfortable are you with using Unity’s collision system in scripts?
    a. I know it exists but I haven’t used it.
    b. I’ve used it as part of a tutorial, but I didn’t understand what was happening.
    c. I can set up the components and write the scripts from scratch, but it takes a while and I never get it right on the first try.
    d. I understand them well and I know where they fit in the script lifecycle.

6. How many of the following terms from game scripting could you define without looking them up?

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECK: If you know five or more, you're in good shape! If you know fewer than six of the scripting terms, or you haven't got a solid grasp of Unity collisions, you may not be ready for this course yet – you'll get more out of it once you've picked up some more scripting. See the below resources for some tutorials and other courses you can use to build your skills. 

Even if you have seen everything in this survey or have taken this course before, you can repeat it, just like a game jam, and make a different game each time to practice your skills and build your portfolio.

Regardless of how much knowledge you bring to the course, you are welcome!

If you feel you're not quite ready for this course we recommend the following resources to get you started. Once you complete them consider returning and completing this course: 

The Roll-a-Ball tutorial is particularly recommended for a quick overview of Unity’s basic features. 

Creator Kits - Beginner Projects introducing core gaming concepts. 

Throughout the Unity + USC Games Unlocked course, we created assignments to simulate real game development practices. This course is all about learning by doing. We created this course toolkit to help you plan your game development and production. The more you continue to practice a game development process, the better you’ll get at bringing your games to life. 

Lots of people start games, but it’s surprisingly hard to finish one. This course guides you through a process to help you build a game from idea to release. We’ll teach you the same design and production techniques used by professional game makers to develop their ideas, keep their projects on track and deliver a complete, released game. This process will help you choose an idea that’s the right size, refine and test it to “find the fun”, and make a workable plan to finish it. 

Every game starts with a concept. We’ll give you examples, guidelines and a theme to help you come up with an idea that you can implement within weeks rather than years.

Then you’ll prototype your game – test different parts of your idea and see whether they’re fun and whether you can actually pull them off.

Once you’ve got an idea that seems workable and fun, we’ll give you tools to plan your code and show you how to avoid common pitfalls, like writing all your code and then realizing you can’t find the right visual assets.

As you work on your project you’ll check your progress against the specific development milestones used by game professionals. You’ll get weekly feedback from your fellow students to keep on track, and we’ll show you how to playtest your game – observe how your players see the game so you can refine the design.

At the end of the course, you’ll release a small but finished game, and you’ll have the skills to bring your other game ideas to life.

Setting yourself up for success
We know time can be precious and work, life, school, and so on can be hard to balance with an online course.  Ideally you will fly through this and get it done in 8 weeks. Then again it may take you much longer - you can take all the time you need. Using the above sample timeline think about how you will structure your time to complete the course and your game. To help you structure your time further you can also use our Learning Action Plan.

Use the Unity Learning Action Plan to help you set your goals and figure out how you can best achieve them. Map out the amount of time you will take for each course project and assess if, in addition to what you learn in the course about the game development process, if you need to build your Unity skills to help you reach your goals. 

Now that you've assessed your current skills, download the Learning Action Plan template, a PDF file is also provided in the tutorial materials tab and create your course plan of action so you can create your game!

To get the most out of this course, it is highly encouraged that you engage with and provide feedback to your fellow learners. This course relies on you self evaluating your work along the way. Use the guiding questions provided with each assignment to get the most out of these assessments. 

Project 1: Goal Setting and Community Building

Identify Unity skills and knowledge areas for review

Understand course structure and resources

Assignment #1: Introduction and Course Planning

Understand role of constraints in design process

Understand your own skills and resources as constraints

Assess your own skills and resources (including time) as part of scope

Use a given constraint to develop an original game concept

Assignment #1: Review examples of concept documents

Step 1: Fill in the Concept and Scope Check template with information about your game concept.

Step 2: Take screenshots of your document and upload it to the gallery.

Step 3: Provide peer feedback in the gallery to at least 2 other learners.

Understand the purpose of prototyping and the practice of divergent prototyping

Project 4: Milestones & Agile Development

Determine design priorities, identify features that can be cut

Understand the importance of creating and testing asset plans

Create a production plan for a small game project

Assignment #2: Class-Responsibility-Collaboration (CRC) Cards

Milestone Assignment: Build your Vertical Slice

Step 1: Identify the core of your game and make a list of the features and assets you will need and prioritize them 

Step 2: Use CRC cards and a digital prototype to build your first vertical slide of your game

Step 5: Provide peer assessment for at least one fellow learner

Understand and apply Agile methodology to a game project

Understand Agile terms and artifacts: backlog, sprint plan, burndown chart

Create a sprint plan for this week’s iteration

Assignment #1: Sprint Plan for Vertical Slice Part 2

Milestone Assignment: Vertical Slide Part 2

Step 3: Browse the gallery and provide feedback to your fellow learners

Understand the concept of code architecture

Understand the concrete consequences of good or poor architecture

Understand the relationship between game design and code architecture

Use tools (CRC cards and class diagrams) to develop a class diagram for a small game

Assignment #2: Sprint Plan for Playtest Build

Milestone Assignment: Game Build 1 for Playtesting

Step 3: Use peer feedback instructions, and provide peer review for someone else's game

Determine the best method for playtesting a game

Implement Unity Analytics to measure key game metrics (optional)

Generate action items from playtest and (optionally) Unity Analytics reports

Assignment #2: Sprint Plan after Playtest 

Milestone Assignment: Game Build 2 after Playtesting

Understand the pros and cons of developing custom tools for production

Identify and describe professional tools, such as version control and project management/Agile software, that support a structured production process

Course Introduction and Planning

1. Course Introduction

2. Planning for Success

3. Self-Assessment Prior to the Learning Experience

4. Course Toolkit

5. Unity Learning Action Plan

6. Course Structure

Complete this tutorial