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

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 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

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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Researching possible solutions

Use an AI tool

Troubleshooting

Final Thoughts

CameraSwitch.mp4

Adding new features to a game often involves research and problem-solving. In this lesson, we’ll simplify the process by adding a new feature to the Prototype 1 game. You’ll learn how to conduct online research, troubleshoot bugs, and overcome unexpected challenges—skills you can apply to your own projects. 

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to switch between two cameras in the scene by pressing a specified key.

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

Use AI tools, Search Engines and Unity Discussions  to implement new features and troubleshoot issues with your projects.

Next Steps

Create with Code - Unit 6: Optimization & QA

Next Steps (Unity EdLab Edition)

You want to add a feature to our Prototype 1  game that allows players to switch between two cameras by pressing the C key.  

When searching through a search engine, you’ll often find valuable discussions on Unity Discussions. Below is an example of a search and the results provided by the search engine.

These are great resources because they showcase how others have tackled and solved similar challenges. However, we also have another powerful tool at our disposal: AI solutions like ChatGPT or Unity Muse.

Let’s look at the results we get when using these tools.

To complete this step, you’ll need to use an AI tool of your choice. We recommend Unity Muse for Unity-specific tasks, but you can also use other AI-powered tools like ChatGPT (by OpenAI), Google Bard, or Anthropic Claude.

I have two cameras in my Unity game, I want the game to switch between the two cameras when the player presses the C button. How can I do that?  

In our case, this was the reply we received:

To switch between two cameras when the player presses the C button in Unity, you can use a script to toggle their enabled state. Here’s how you can do it:

Make sure both cameras exist in your scene and are properly positioned.

Assign meaningful names, like Camera1 and Camera2.

Disable one of the cameras in the Inspector (e.g., Camera2) so that only one is active at the start.

Step 2: Create the Camera Switching Script

Create a new script called CameraSwitcher and attach it to any GameObject in the scene (e.g., an empty GameObject named CameraManager).

using UnityEngine;

public class CameraSwitcher : MonoBehaviour
{
 public Camera camera1; // First camera
 public Camera camera2; // Second camera
 private bool isCamera1Active = true; // Tracks which camera is active

 void Start()
    {
 // Ensure one camera is enabled, and the other is disabled at the start
        camera1.enabled = true;
        camera2.enabled = false;
    }

 void Update()
    {
 // Check if the C key is pressed
 if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.C))
        {
            SwitchCameras();
        }
    }

 void SwitchCameras()
    {
 // Toggle cameras
        isCamera1Active = !isCamera1Active;

        camera1.enabled = isCamera1Active;
        camera2.enabled = !isCamera1Active;
    }
} 

2. Follow the steps above or the steps from your AI tool to add the new function to your game. 

If you followed the instructions from our responses, you will notice that the switch is not working and that an error is generated in the console. This is a common problem that can arise, and knowing how to troubleshoot is a critical skill.

The error we received in the console was:

“UnassignedReferenceException: The variable camera1 of CameraSwitcher has not been assigned.”

We went back to our AI tool and replied with this prompt:

The script is not working and I get this error when running the game: UnassignedReferenceException: The variable camera1 of CameraSwitcher has not been assigned.
What is wrong and how can I fix it? 

The error "UnassignedReferenceException: The variable camera1 of CameraSwitcher has not been assigned" occurs when the camera1 or camera2 variables in your script have not been assigned in the Unity Inspector.

Make sure the CameraSwitcher script is attached to a GameObject in your scene. If it’s not attached, Unity cannot execute it.

Select an existing GameObject (or create a new empty GameObject).

Drag and drop the CameraSwitcher script onto the GameObject.

Select the GameObject with the CameraSwitcher script.

Look for the CameraSwitcher script component.

You will see two public fields: Camera1 and Camera2.

Drag and drop your cameras from the Hierarchy into these fields:

Drag the Main Camera (or whichever is Camera1) into the camera1 slot.

Drag the second camera (e.g., SecondaryCamera) into the camera2 slot.

Step 3: Verify Cameras Exist in Your Scene

Make sure both cameras exist in your scene Hierarchy and are enabled.

If you accidentally deleted one, recreate it via GameObject > Camera.

The UnassignedReferenceException occurs because public variables like camera1 and camera2 are exposed in the Inspector. Unity requires you to manually assign references for these fields in the Editor; otherwise, they remain null, causing the error.

Looking at the response and my current setup in the scene, it is clear that step 2 addresses the problem, since we forgot to assign the cameras in the Inspector.

To fix it, we select the CameraManager GameObject in the Hierarchy. In the Inspector, we assign the cameras to the respective slots in the script component.

If we run the game now, the cameras should switch when you press the C key.

AI tools are excellent for this type of research because they allow you to ask questions using natural language and provide step-by-step solutions tailored to your specific needs. This significantly speeds up the research process, as you no longer need to sift through countless forum threads or documentation to find a solution.

However, be careful when relying on AI tools. Current AI models can sometimes "hallucinate", meaning they may generate incorrect or misleading responses. If what you're trying doesn't work, give feedback to the AI tool about what went wrong, make your prompt more specific, or try a different AI Gen tool.

Lesson 6.2 - Research and Troubleshooting

1. Researching possible solutions

2. Use an AI tool

3. Troubleshooting

4. Final Thoughts

Complete this tutorial