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

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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Add a speed variable for your vehicle

Create a new script for the camera

Add an offset to the camera position

Make the offset into a Vector3 variable

Smooth the Camera with LateUpdate

Edit the playmode tint color

Lesson Recap

CWC_U1.L3.S3_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L3.S6_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L3.S2_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L3.S4_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L3.S1_U6.mp4

CWC_U1.L3.S5_U6.mp4

Keep your eyes on the road! In this lesson you will code a new C# script for your camera, which will allow it to follow the vehicle down the road and give the player a proper view of the scene. In order to do this, you’ll have to use a very important concept in programming: variables.

The camera will follow the vehicle down the road through the scene, allowing the player to see where it’s going. 

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

Declare variables properly and understand that variables can be different data types (float, Vector3, GameObject) 

Initialize/assign variables through code or through the inspector to set them with appropriate values

Use appropriate access modifiers (public/private) for your variables in order to make them easier to change in the inspector

Use the Update and LateUpdate appropriately in order to call one action after another has already happened

Unit 1 - Player Control

Unit 1 - Player Control (Unity EdLab Edition)

We need an easier way to change the vehicle’s speed and allow it to be accessed from the inspector. In order to do so what we need is something called a variable.

In PlayerController.cs, add public float speed = 5.0f;  at the top of the class

Replace the speed value in the Translate method with the speed variable, then test

Save the script, then edit the speed value in the inspector to get the speed you want

The camera is currently stuck in one position. If we want it to follow the player, we have to make a new script for the camera.

Create a new Monobehaviour Script called FollowPlayer and attach it to the camera

Add public GameObject player; to the top of the script

Select the Main Camera, then, drag the player object onto the empty player variable in the Inspector

In Update(), assign the camera’s position to the player’s position, then test

We need to move the camera’s position above the vehicle so that the player can have a decent view of the game.

In the line in the Update method add + new Vector3(0, 5, -7), then test

We’ve fixed the camera’s position, but we may want to change it later! We need an easier way to access the offset.

At the top of FollowPlayer.cs, declare private Vector3 offset; 

Copy the new Vector3() code and assign it to that variable

Replace the original code with the offset variable

You may have noticed that the camera is kind of jittery as the car drives down the road - let’s fix that.

Test your prototype to notice the jittering camera as the vehicle drives.

In FollowPlayer.cs, replace Update() with LateUpdate().

Save and test to see if the camera is less jittery.

If we’re going to be creating and editing variables, we need to make sure we don’t accidentally try to make changes when in “Play mode”

From the top menu, go to Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Unity > Settings (Mac) 

In the left menu, choose Colors, then edit the “Playmode tint” color to have a slight color

Play your project to test it, then close your preferences

Camera follows the vehicle down the road at a set offset distance

In the next lesson, we’ll add our last lines of code to take control of our car and be able to drive it around the scene.

Lesson 1.3 - High Speed Chase

Overview Video

1. Add a speed variable for your vehicle

2. Create a new script for the camera

3. Add an offset to the camera position

4. Make the offset into a Vector3 variable

5. Smooth the Camera with LateUpdate

6. Edit the playmode tint color

7. Lesson Recap

Complete this tutorial