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

Lesson 1.1 - Start your 3D Engines 

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

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

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

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

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Create and apply your first script

Add a comment in the Update() method

Give the vehicle a forward motion

Use a Vector3 to move forward

Customize the vehicle’s speed

Add RigidBody components to objects

Duplicate and position the obstacles

Lesson Recap

CWC_U1.L2.S4_U6.mp4

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CWC_U1.L2.S2_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L2.S7_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L2.S6_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L2.S3_U6.mp4

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In this lesson you will make your driving simulator come alive. First you will write your very first lines of code in C#, changing the vehicle’s position and allowing it to move forward. Next you will add physics components to your objects, allowing them to collide with one another. Lastly, you will learn how to duplicate objects in the hierarchy and position them along the road. 

You will have a moving vehicle with its own C# script and a road full of objects, all of which may collide with each other using physics components.

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

Create C# scripts and apply them to objects

Use Visual Studio and a few of its basic features

Write comments to make your code more readable

Utilize fundamental C# methods and classes like transform.Translate and Vector3

Add Rigidbody and Collider components to allow objects to collide realistically 

Duplicate objects in the hierarchy to populate your scene

Unit 1 - Player Control

We will start this lesson by creating our very first C# script that will control the vehicle’s movement.

In the Project window, Right-click > Create > Folder named “Scripts”

In the “Scripts” folder, Right-click  > Create > Monobehaviour Script named “PlayerController”

Drag the new script onto the Vehicle object

Click on the Vehicle object to make sure it was added as a Component in the Inspector

In order to make the vehicle move forward, we have to first open our new script and get familiar with the development environment.

Double-click on the script to open it in Visual Studio

In the Update() method, add a comment that you will:  // Move the vehicle forward

Now that we have the comment saying what we WILL program - we have to write a line of code that will actually move the vehicle forward.

Under your new comment, type transform.tr, then select Translate from the autocomplete menu

Type (, add 0, 0, 1 between the parentheses, and complete the line with a semicolon (;)

Press Ctrl/Cmd + S to save your script, then run your game to test it

Note: For the autocomplete to work correctly, your IDE must have the correspondent Unity plugin installed

We’ve programmed the vehicle to move along the Z axis, but there’s actually a cleaner way to code this.

Delete the 0, 0, 1 you typed and use auto-complete to replace it with Vector3.forward 

Right now, the speed of the vehicle is out of control! We need to change the code in order to adjust this.

Right now, the vehicle goes right through the box! If we want it to be more realistic, we need to add physics.

Select the Vehicle, then in the inspector click Add Component and select RigidBody

Select the Obstacle, then in the inspector click Add Component and select RigidBody

In the RigidBody component properties, increase the mass of the vehicle and obstacle to be about what they would be in kilograms and test again

Last but not least, we should duplicate the obstacle and make the road more treacherous for the vehicle.

Click and drag your obstacle to the bottom of the list in the hierarchy

Press Ctrl/Cmd+D to duplicate the obstacle and move it down the Z axis 

Repeat this a few more times to create more obstacles

After making a few duplicates, select one in the hierarchy and hold ctrl + click to select multiple obstacles, then duplicate those

Vehicle moves down the road at a constant speed

When the vehicle collides with obstacles, they fly into the air

We’ll add some code to our camera, so that it follows the player as they drive along the road.

Lesson 1.2 - Pedal to the Metal

Overview Video

1. Create and apply your first script

2. Add a comment in the Update() method

3. Give the vehicle a forward motion

4. Use a Vector3 to move forward

5. Customize the vehicle’s speed

6. Add RigidBody components to objects

7. Duplicate and position the obstacles

8. Lesson Recap

Complete this tutorial