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

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.

2022.3

2021.3

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 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

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

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

bd53bf32-4385-47d4-a3d7-90aab0711610:92f8dc78503e

Data-Persistence-Starter-Files.zip

This mission has been updated!

Overview

Create a new repo 

Open the project and do an initial commit

Implement data persistence

Submit your project

Data Persistence Project

bilmania11

It features a start menu with player name input, real-time score tracking, persistent high score saving between sessions, and a back-to-menu option after the game ends. The project demonstrates the UI design, scene management, and data persistence.

Breakout Game with Data Persistence

fsiewsui

Arkanoid-style

DeanAkles

danielgonzalez205

Compete locally with other players to get the highest score!

Breakout!

ICARUS_jc

Recording 2025-09-11 122642.mp4

Counting game

parth29072004

High score list updates and data persistence between sessions

data persistence in a new repo

yumopino

In this game you need to bounce a ball back and forth between colorful platforms to destroy them.

This game saves the highes score player. Are you curious if you can beat BigChungus?

You can find the game at this Git Hub repository: https://github.com/MrHi00/Data-Persistence-Unity_Junior_Task

Wrecking Ball!

csbalit42

Understand high-level programming concepts (such as inheritance, encapsulation, data abstraction, and polymorphism) and how they are implemented. 

Level 2 Programming theory

Joy Horvath

Instructional Designer

Create user interfaces in an application and write code to implement defined functionality.

Programming User Interfaces

Write code to implement systems and structures for complex projects.

Level 2 Application scripting

Use best practices and Unity's Profiler window to improve performance in code.

Level 1 Code optimization

Warehouse-data-persistence.mp4

M1-7.1_Breakout-game-complete.mp4

M1-7.1_Breakout-game-complete (1).mp4

Now that you know how to save data between scenes and between sessions in an application, you’re ready to put those skills to use in a brand new project. This is also a good opportunity to set up a new repo and use version control.  

Explain how abstraction is used to expose only necessary script components

Explain how inheritance is used to share functionality between a parent and child class

Define the relationship between a parent and child class, including what a child class can and cannot do with respect to its parent class

Recognize opportunities where inheritance could be used to simplify code

Describe how polymorphism can be applied at compile time (method overloads) and run time (method overrides)

Explain how polymorphism is used to modify parent class functionality in a child class

Explain how encapsulation is used to write code that can only be used as intended by the programmer

Recommend a high-level system architecture for a given project 

Simplify code and make it reusable by correctly implementing the principles of inheritance and polymorphism

Expose only the important details of an object by correctly recognizing opportunities to implement abstraction

Control access to data within a class by applying encapsulation with getters and setters

Explain the purpose of interfaces, including their functional usability advantages over standard classes  

Make code more secure and usable by correctly implementing the principles of abstraction and encapsulation, including the use of interfaces

Configure UI components to be used with scripts. 

Arrange UI components on the canvas according to a defined layout using anchors, pivots, and groups. 

Organize UI components using optimization best practices such as using nested canvases. 

Configure UI components to be used with scripts.

Arrange UI components on the canvas according to a defined layout using anchors, pivots, and groups.

Organize UI components using optimization best practices such as using nested canvases.

Create user interfaces as defined in design documents.

Write methods that can be called with UI event triggers to add UI functionality from Unity's Inspector window. 

Write code to access UI components during runtime for systems such as tracking score or responding to user interaction. 

Interpret existing code to predict the outcome of an event assigned to a UI component. 

Interpret UX wireframes to create a defined menu flow. 

Write methods that can be called with UI event triggers to add UI functionality from Unity's Inspector window.

Write code to access UI components during runtime for systems such as tracking score or responding to user interaction.

Interpret existing code to predict the outcome of an event assigned to a UI component.

Interpret UX wireframes to create a defined menu flow.

Write scripts for interactive user interfaces.

Call the appropriate start-up methods in the initialization sequence of the app

Save user data in a the shutdown sequence of the app

Load the next scene when triggered by an event

Create the scene flow in an application state

Ensure data is preserved throughout an application session by using the Unity DontDestroyOnLoad method

Modify a GameObject with a script that contains the variables to be saved between Scenes

Recognize when to use static classes, singletons, and static variables to implement data persistence

Implement data persistence across scenes and user sessions

Identify potential simplification opportunities in code, such as splitting methods and reusing variables

Identify unnecessary nested if statements

Differentiate between public variables (properties), private variables (fields), and local variables

Store and organize data by applying data structures such as lists and dictionaries

Maximize code efficiency by correctly executing coding best practices

Enable easier readability and debugging by correctly organizing classes to include only singular purpose code

Add new functionality to non-editable classes by applying extension methods

Organize and prevent conflicts between scripts by using namespaces

Manage the communication of a GameObject’s status changes to other objects in the application by using Events 

Write efficient, organized, and comprehensible code by correctly implementing the principles of object-oriented programming

Just in case we refreshed this mission while you weren't looking, please be sure you have completed this content before attempting this submission:

Submission: Data persistence in a new repo

1. This mission has been updated!

2. Overview

3. Create a new repo

4. Open the project and do an initial commit

5. Implement data persistence

6. Submit your project

Please login to submit