Welcome to the pathway

This tutorial introduces the Unity Game Development pathway, showing how you’ll build skills across twelve units, choose between the 2D or 3D track (or both) to create your own game project, and optionally prepare for the UCA: Game Developer certification.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn what this pathway is about, how it’s structured, and what to expect.

At Unity, we have a suite of certifications that are aligned to the real-time industry. These certifications are designed to validate your skills and knowledge in using Unity to help you stand out in the job market.

Why get certified?

Having a Unity certification offers numerous advantages, particularly for those eyeing a future in game development or related tech sectors:

• Skill validation: Unity is the leading game development platform globally, and earning a certification validates your proficiency to potential employers.
• Hands-on experience: In preparing for the exam, you’ll get practical, hands-on experience, allowing you to translate theoretical knowledge into tangible projects. These projects can enhance your portfolio, presenting concrete examples of your skills to future employers.
• Preparing for the future: Mastering Unity not only opens doors across industries, but it also instills confidence in your abilities in yourself, ensuring you're prepared for the evolving tech landscape. Unity's broad applications, from game design to fields like architecture and film, ensure that your skills remain versatile and in demand.

The UCA Game Dev certification

In this pathway, we focus on the skills you need to create your own games. In the process, you’ll also build the skills and knowledge needed to take the Associate Game Developer certification, should you choose to pursue it. This exam covers foundational Unity skills for game development, including principles of creating with Unity, programming, art, audio, graphics, monetization, analytics, and more. It's aimed at beginner to intermediate Unity developers who want to demonstrate their job-readiness. This certification is also a stepping stone to the more advanced Unity Certified Programmer and Unity Certified 3D Artist certifications.

By the end of this pathway, you’ll have achieved the following things:

• Learned game development skills: You’ll build practical skills across both 2D and 3D workflows, including C# scripting, audio, visual effects, user interface design, animation, materials, and lighting.
• Verified your learning: Tutorials, assignments, and quizzes will help you check your understanding and strengthen your skills as you progress.
• Completed a game…or two: You’ll finish the pathway with a fully built game of your own, and you can choose to create a second one by following both the 2D and 3D tracks.
• Reviewed and prepared: The pathway also supports you in getting ready for the Associate Game Developer certification.

There are twelve units in this pathway. You’ll begin by creating a simple, playable, 3D game and a simple, playable, 2D game from scratch. Next, you’ll choose if you want to continue building on your 3D game, your 2D game, or both. Then, you’ll create a game design document that lays out a unique vision for your project.

In each of the units after that, you’ll learn a new skillset, like lighting, animation, or audio, for example. Then, you’ll have an opportunity to apply those skills to your own personal game project: a game that you develop from start to finish, adding one element at a time, throughout the pathway.

Here’s a diagram that outlines the structure of the pathway.

Below is a high-level breakdown of each of the twelve units:

Unit 1 - Get started in Unity

In this unit, you’ll learn the basics of Unity by creating a simple, playable experience.

Unit 2 - Create a basic 3D game

In this unit, you’ll create a simple game called Roll-a-Ball that could be the foundation for your personal game project if you choose to follow the 3D track.

Unit 3 - Create a basic 2D game

In this unit, you'll create a simple game called Sprite Flight that could be the foundation for your personal game project if you choose to follow the 2D game track.

Unit 4 - Planning a game

This unit introduces the next phase of the game development journey: transforming working prototypes into full game concepts, including learning about game design, game genres, platforms, and making a game design document.

Unit 5 - Audio

In this unit, you’ll learn how to implement audio effects in Unity. Then you’ll apply those new skills and add audio to your own game.

You'll also see how those audio elements are implemented in a 2D game environment.

Unit 6 - Visual effects (VFX)

In this unit, you’ll learn how to implement visual effects (VFX) in Unity. Then you’ll apply those new skills and add VFX to your own game.

You'll also see how these VFX are implemented in a 2D game environment.

Unit 7 - User Interfaces

In this unit, you’ll learn how to create user interfaces (UI) in a Unity project. Then you’ll apply those new skills and add UI to your own game.

You'll also see how user interfaces are implemented in a 2D game environment.

Unit 8 - Animation (5 hours)

In this unit, you’ll learn how to create and control animations in a Unity project. Then you’ll apply those new skills and add animations to your own game.

You'll also see how animations are implemented in a 2D game environment.

Unit 9 - Materials

In this unit, you’ll learn about shaders and materials in Unity. Then you’ll apply those new skills to your own game.

You’ll also see how materials are implemented in a 2D game environment.

Unit 10 - Lighting

In this unit, you’ll learn how to add lighting to your scene to make things more polished and visually pleasing. Then you’ll apply those new skills to your own game.

You’ll also see how lighting is implemented in a 2D environment.

Unit 11 - Iterate on your game

In this unit, you’ll reflect on the process so far, iterate on the player controller, swap out the assets in your game, and then you’ll learn some Unity tips and tricks to take your skills to the next level.

This pathway takes a project-based approach: as you learn each of these essential skills in the unit projects, you'll also apply them to your own custom personal project.

If you choose to do the 3D game, which begins as the default Roll-a-Ball project, you might have something like the example below by the end of the pathway.

Notice that the game below includes all of the elements covered in the units: audio, visual effects (VFX), user interfaces, animation, materials, lighting, and custom theme development.

And for the 2D game, you could have something like the examples below, which both build on the default Sprite Flight game.

However, depending on the design decisions you make, your game could look, feel, and play completely differently. Look at the three examples below — all of these started with the same basic mechanics, but ended up as completely different games:

Many learners began with the simple Roll-a-Ball foundation and went on to create unique, polished games that clearly show their own ideas and design choices. Have a look at some of the examples below for inspiration:

• Don’t Shatter
• Physics, Mechanics and Cubes
• Rollerball Royal
• The Lab Leak

You now have an understanding of the learning pathway ahead of you. Next, you’ll take the first critical step in your game development journey by creating your first Unity project and getting familiar with the Unity Editor.