Unit 4 - Introduction

Lesson 4.1 - Watch Where You’re Going

Lesson 4.2 - Follow the Player

Lesson 4.3 - PowerUp and CountDown

Lesson 4.4 - For-Loops For Waves

Challenge 4 - Soccer Scripting

Lab 4 - Basic Gameplay

Quiz 4

Learn how to implement new gameplay mechanics including powerups and increasing difficulty.

In this Mission, you will program an arcade-style Sumo battle with the objective of knocking increasingly difficult waves of enemies off of a floating island, using power ups to help defeat them. In creating this prototype, you will learn how to implement new gameplay mechanics into your projects, which are new rules or systems that make the game more interesting to play. On one hand, you will learn to program a powerup, which give the player a temporary advantage. On the other hand, you will learn to program increasingly difficult enemy waves, which make survival more challenging for the player. A good balance of powerups and increasing difficulty make for a much more interesting gameplay experience.

Gameplay Mechanics

Unity Junior Programmer

Kickstart your programming career with Unity's Junior Programmer Pathway. Learn coding fundamentals, C#, and game development to create your first interactive projects. Start learning for free!

Junior Programmer Pathway - Learn Coding & Game Development | Unity Learn

We recommend that you have basic knowledge of Unity or complete 

Ready to code? This guided learning Pathway will take you from zero to job-ready!

Welcome to Junior Programmer! Designed for anyone interested in learning to code or obtaining an entry-level Unity role, this pathway assumes a basic knowledge of Unity and has no math prerequisites. Junior Programmer prepares you to get Unity Certified so that you can demonstrate your job-readiness to employers.

Junior Programmer

Course Introduction

Install Unity Software

Unit 1 - Introduction

Lesson 1.1 - Start your 3D Engines 

Lesson 1.2 - Pedal to the Metal

Lesson 1.3 - High Speed Chase

Lesson 1.4 - Step into the Driver's Seat

Challenge 1 - Plane Programming

Lab 1 - Project Design Document

Introduction to project management and teamwork

Quiz 1

Learn how to create new C# scripts, call basic functions, and use variables to modify the results of those functions.

In this first mission in the Junior Programmer pathway, you will program a car moving side-to-side on a floating road, trying to avoid (or hit) obstacles in the way. In addition to becoming familiar with the Unity editor and workflow, you will learn how to create new C# scripts and do some simple programming. By the end of the Unit, you will be able to call basic functions, then declare and tweak new variables to modify the results of those functions.

Player Control

Unit 2 - Introduction

Lesson 2.1 - Player Positioning

Lesson 2.2 - Food Flight

Lesson 2.3 - Random Animal Stampede

Lesson 2.4 - Collision Decisions

Challenge 2 - Play Fetch

Lab 2 - New Project with Primitives

Quiz 2

Mod the Cube

Quiz: Create with Code 1

Gain familiarity with some of the most important programming and Unity concepts, including if-then statements, random value generation, arrays, collision detection, prefabs, and instantiation.

In this Mission, you will program a top-down game with the objective of throwing food to hungry animals - who are stampeding towards you - before they can run past you. In order to do this, you will become much more familiar with some of the most important programming and Unity concepts, including if-then statements, random value generation, arrays, collision detection, prefabs, and instantiation. In completing this Unit, you will learn how to program a basic game with the ability to launch projectiles and maneuver the player to keep the game alive.

Basic Gameplay

Unit 3 - Introduction

Lesson 3.1 - Jump Force

Lesson 3.2 - Make the World Whiz By

Lesson 3.3 - Don't Just Stand There

Lesson 3.4 - Particles and Sound Effects

Challenge 3 - Balloons, Bombs, & Booleans

Lab 3 - Player Control

Quiz 3

Learn how to add music, sound effects, and visual particle effects to transform the experience of your project.

In this Mission, you will program a fast-paced endless side-scrolling runner game where the player needs to time jumps over oncoming obstacles to avoid crashing. In creating this prototype, you will learn how to add music and sound effects, completely transforming the experience of your projects. You will also learn how to create dynamic endless repeating backgrounds, which are critical for any side-scrolling games. Finally, you will learn to incorporate particle effects like splatters and explosions, which make your games so much more satisfying to play.

Sound and Effects

Unit 5 - Introduction

Lesson 5.1 - Clicky Mouse

Lesson 5.2 - Keeping Score

Lesson 5.3 - Game Over

Lesson 5.4 - What’s the Difficulty?

Challenge 5 - Whack-a-Food

Lab 5 - Swap out your Assets

Quiz 5

Introduction to user feedback and testing

Learn how to implement a User Interface - or UI - into your projects, such as a title screen and score display.

In this Mission, you will program a game to test the player’s reflexes, where the goal is to click and destroy objects randomly tossed in the air before they can fall off the screen. In creating this prototype, you will learn how to implement a User Interface - or UI - into your projects. You will add a title screen with a difficulty select menu that will control how challenging the gameplay is, you will add a score display that will track how many points the player has earned, and you will add a Game Over screen, which will allow the player to restart and try again. In learning these skills, you will be able to create a fully “playable” experience that the user can enjoy from start to finish without having to restart the application to try it again.

User Interface

Next Steps - Introduction

Lesson 6.1 - Project Optimization

Lesson 6.2 - Research and Troubleshooting

Lesson 6.3 - Sharing your Projects

ECS Survival Guide

Career research and preparation

Introduction to portfolios

Debug the App

Counting Prototype

Quiz: Create with Code 2

Prepare to continue developing your Unity and C# skills independently, including learning how to complete your personal project.

In this Mission, you'll prepare to continue developing your Unity and C# skills independently, including learning how to complete your personal project and how to prepare for the Unity Certified User: Programming exam, which you can take through your school program, if available.

Publishing Your Project

Introduction to real-time 3D experience design

Set up version control

Explore the sample project

Principles of object-oriented programming

Create a scene flow

Implement data persistence between scenes

Implement data persistence between sessions

Quiz: Manage scene flow and data

Submission: Data persistence in a new repo

Learn about data persistence and an introduction to the core pillars of object-oriented programming.

In this mission, you’ll learn about data persistence, or how to manage the loading and unloading of data between both scenes and sessions. Along the way, you will be introduced to the core pillars of object-oriented programming, which will help you structure your code throughout the mission. There will only be one practical example throughout the mission, which will build on the new functionality you create with each tutorial. At the end of this mission, you’ll take everything you learned and apply it to a new project by building a persistent score system for a small game.

Manage Scene Flow and Data

Abstraction in object-oriented programming

Inheritance and polymorphism in object-oriented programming

Encapsulation in object-oriented programming

Profile code to identify issues

Job preparation: Junior Programmer

Quiz: Apply object-oriented principles

Submission: Programming theory in action

Deep-dive into the pillars of object-oriented programming and their application, then learn how to profile and optimize code.

In this mission, you’ll refactor the inventory project you completed in the previous mission using the pillars of object-oriented programming as a guide. You’ll deep dive into the inner workings of each pillar individually, so you can better understand its value in developing applications. Next, you’ll learn how to profile your code to identify any optimization bottlenecks that would slow down the final build of your application. To close out this mission, you’ll develop a small application for your portfolio that uses fully optimized code built on OOP principles. 

When you complete this mission you will complete the Junior Programmer pathway - CONGRATULATIONS!

Apply Object-Oriented Principles

92e232aa-01ca-46e3-8396-91b2bd997185:34536a756a3b

Choose and prepare a powerup

Destroy powerup on collision

Test for enemy and powerup

Apply extra knockback with powerup

Create Countdown Routine for powerup

Add a powerup indicator

Lesson Recap

Control the execution of code with common logic structures 

Level 1 Application Scripting

Joy Horvath

Instructional Designer

CWC_U4.L3.S1_U6.mp4

CWC_U4.L3.S2_U6.mp4

CWC_U4.L3.S3_U6.mp4

CWC_U4.L3.S4_U6.mp4

CWC_U4.L3.S5_U6.mp4

CWC_U4.L3.S6_U6.mp4

The enemy chases the player around the island, but the player needs a better way to defend themselves... especially if we add more enemies. In this lesson, we’re going to create a powerup that gives the player a temporary strength boost, shoving away enemies that come into contact! The powerup will spawn in a random position on the island, and highlight the player with an indicator when it is picked up. The powerup indicator and the powerup itself will be represented by stylish game assets of your choice.

A powerup will spawn in a random position on the map, eagerly awaiting the player. Once the player collides with this powerup, the powerup will disappear and the player will be highlighted by an indicator. The powerup will last for 5 seconds after pickup, granting the player super strength that blasts away enemies!

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Write informative debug messages with Concatenation and variables

Repeat functions with the power of IEnumerator and Coroutines

Use SetActive to make game objects appear and disappear from the scene

Select the appropriate common Unity methods to use, e.g., Awake, Start, Update, FixedUpdate, Collision, and Trigger Events, given a desired feature to code

Achieve a desired result by using Unity API methods, given Unity’s script documentation

Achieve a desired result with different parameters by using various method overloads

Distinguish a correct use of any given Unity API method from an incorrect use

Control or trigger the state of components, such as an Animator Controller, Light, AudioSource, or User Interface element by using appropriate methods

Construct an input listener, given a scenario where a specific type of input is required

Print a message consisting of concatenated strings and variable values to the console by using Unity's Debug.Log method

Compose scripts that utilize various APIs

Unit 4 - Gameplay Mechanics

Create with Code - Unit 4: Gameplay Mechanics

Unit 4 - Gameplay Mechanics (Unity EdLab Edition)

In order to add a completely new gameplay mechanic to this project, we will introduce a new powerup object that will give the player temporary superpowers. 

From the Library, drag a Powerup object into the scene, rename it “Powerup” and edit its scale & position

Add a Box Collider to the powerup, click Edit Collider to make sure it fits, then check the “Is Trigger” checkbox

Create a new “Powerup” tag and apply it to the powerup

Drag the Powerup into the Prefabs folder to create a new “Original Prefab”

As a first step to getting the powerup working, we’ll make it disappear when the player hits it and set up a new boolean variable to track that the player got it.

In PlayerController.cs, add a new OnTriggerEnter() method

Add an if-statement that destroys other.CompareTag("Powerup") powerup on collision

Create a new public bool hasPowerup; and set hasPowerup = true;  when you collide with the Powerup

The powerup will only come into play in a very particular circumstance: when the player has a powerup AND they collide with an enemy - so we’ll first test for that very specific condition.

Create a new “Enemy” tag and apply it to the Enemy Prefab

In PlayerController.cs, add the OnCollisionEnter() function

Create the if-statement with the double-condition testing for enemy tag and hasPowerup boolean

Create a Debug.Log to make sure it’s working

With the condition for the powerup set up perfectly, we are now ready to program the actual powerup ability: when the player collides with an enemy with the powerup, the enemy should go flying!

 In OnCollisionEnter() declare a new local variable to get the Enemy’s Rigidbody component 

Declare a new variable to get the direction away from the player

Add an impulse force to the enemy, using a new powerupStrength variable

It wouldn’t be fair to the enemies if the powerup lasted forever - so we’ll program a countdown timer that starts when the player collects the powerup, removing the powerup ability when the timer is finished.

Add a new IEnumerator PowerupCountdownRoutine () {}

 Inside the PowerupCountdownRoutine, wait 7 seconds, then disable the powerup 

When player collides with powerup, start the coroutine

To fix the error under IEnumerator, add the following using directive to the top of your code: using System.Collections;

To make this game a lot more playable, it should be clear when the player does or does not have the powerup, so we’ll program a visual indicator to display this to the user.

From the Library, drag a Powerup object into the scene, rename it “Powerup Indicator”, and edit its scale

Uncheck the “Active” checkbox in the inspector

In PlayerController.cs, declare a new public GameObject powerupIndicator variable, then assign the Powerup Indicator variable in the inspector

When the player collides with the powerup, set the indicator object to Active, then set to Inactive when the powerup expires

In Update(), set the Indicator position to the player’s position + an offset value

When the player collects a powerup, a visual indicator appears

When the player collides with an enemy while they have the powerup, the enemy goes flying

Lesson 4.3 - PowerUp and CountDown

Overview Video

1. Choose and prepare a powerup

2. Destroy powerup on collision

3. Test for enemy and powerup

4. Apply extra knockback with powerup

5. Create Countdown Routine for powerup

6. Add a powerup indicator

7. Lesson Recap

Complete this tutorial