Introduction to Unit 4

Tutorial

Beginner

+0XP

5 mins

Unity Technologies

Introduction to Unit 4

In this tutorial, you’ll get an introduction to this unit, where you’ll learn about game design, genres, and platforms, then build a GDD for your game and set up version control.

1. Overview

So far, you’ve created two working games — 3D Roll-a-Ball and 2D Sprite Flight — which established core loops and basic mechanics. This next phase of the game development journey is about transforming these prototypes into full game concepts with distinct identities and visions.

This tutorial introduces Unit 4: Planning a Game, where you'll refine your vision, define your game's identity, and prepare the design documentation needed to guide the rest of your development.

As inspiration, watch the video below to hear our established creators discuss the first projects they published with Unity and the challenges they ran into.

2. Where you are and where you’re going

Your two prototypes feature a core loop, but now it’s time to imagine what they could become with a bit of creativity, some polish, and additional unique elements.

As a reminder, consider what your games are like now, followed by examples of different directions you could take them.

3D Roll-a-Ball:

In 3D, what you have now is a plain ball collecting cubes and avoiding boxes in a minimal environment.

A top-down view of a simple 3D game arena with gray walls and obstacles. A light-blue sphere sits near the center, surrounded by scattered small yellow cubes. A red rectangular pillar stands near the center, while bright magenta stacked blocks appear in a few spots. The interface shows “Count: 0” in the upper-left corner.

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.

Three example game screenshots side by side. On the left is a game called Roll-a-Ball with brick and stone textures in a third-person view. In the middle is a game with a soccer ball at the top of a long ramp. On the right is a top-down game that looks like Pac Man.

2D Sprite Flight:

In 2D, what you have now is a triangle-shaped ship dodging hexagons.

Still from the sprite flight game, showing a small blue ship amidst hexagonal obstacles.

But depending on the choices you make, you could end up with games as distinct as the ones below.

3. What you’ll do in this unit

This unit focuses on planning, documentation, and foundational professional skills necessary to transform your prototype into a finished product.

You’ll complete the following tutorials:

  • Fill out a game design document: You’ll start by setting up a game design document (GDD) template to document your vision and guide for development.
  • Game design: You’ll learn game design principles, helping you break down a game into core building blocks like goals, rules, mechanics, challenges, and feedback. Then you’ll use this knowledge to fill out sections of your GDD.
  • Game genres: You’ll learn why game genres matter, identifying common player actions associated with genres. Then you’ll fill out this information in your GDD.
  • Game platforms: You’ll learn about common platforms, how input methods and display types affect design, and how monetization shapes core game mechanics.
  • Set up version control: You’ll set up version control for your project, which is an industry-standard practice essential for protecting your work and enabling collaborative development.
  • Helpful resources as you go: You’ll learn essential problem-solving skills. You’ll find out where to turn when stuck, including using AI assistants for coding and navigating official Unity documentation and community tutorials.

Complete this Tutorial