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

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

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

b997e2fa-4519-41fd-a6d6-b9b1d787c0fb:0ca84f2fd40a

Overview

Warning

The difficulty buttons look messy

The food is being destroyed too soon

The Score is being replaced by the word “score”

When you lose, there’s no way to Restart

The difficulty buttons don’t change the difficulty

Bonus: The game can go on forever

Hints

Want even more challenges?

Control the execution of code with common logic structures 

Level 1 Application Scripting

Joy Horvath

Instructional Designer

Identify and resolve common programming errors, such as null reference exceptions, logical errors, and misuse of API calls.

Level 1 Debugging

P5-All_Bonus.mp4

CWC_Chal5_Overview_U6.mp4

Put your User Interface skills to the test with this whack-a-mole-like challenge in which you have to get all the food that pops up on a grid while avoiding the skulls.  You will have to debug buttons, mouse clicks, score tracking, restart sequences, and difficulty setting to get to the bottom of this one. 

All of the buttons look nice with their text properly aligned

When you select a difficulty, the spawn rate changes accordingly

When you click a food, it is destroyed and the score is updated in the top-left

When you lose the game, a restart button appears that lets you play again

In this challenge, you will reinforce the following skills/concepts:

Working with text and button objects to get them looking the way you want

Using Unity’s various mouse-related methods appropriately

Displaying variables on text objects properly using concatenation

Activating and deactivating objects based on game states

Passing information between scripts using custom methods and parameters

Challenge 5 - Whack-a-Food.pdf

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

Identify bugs caused by failure to use the correct object lifecycle method, such as Awake, Start, or OnEnable

Diagnose and fix code that compiles, but fails to perform as expected

Challenge 5 - Starter Files.zip

Unit 5 - User Interface

Unit 5 - User Interface (Unity EdLab Edition)

Download the Challenge 5 Starter Files from the Tutorial Materials section, then double-click on it to Import

In the Project Window, Assets > Challenge 5 > Instructions folder, use the Challenge 5 - Outcome video as a guide to complete the challenge

When you import the challenge into your project, it is supposed to have bugs. 

The purpose of the challenge is for you to fix those bugs, which are listed below. There are also hints at the bottom of the page to help you if you get stuck.

If you cannot fix the bugs and wish to delete the challenge files from your project, in the Project window, right-click on Assets > Challenge 5 and select Delete. 

Center the text on the buttons horizontally and vertically

The food should only be destroyed when the player clicks on it, not when the mouse touches it

It should always say, “Score: __“ with the value displayed after “Score:”

Make the Restart button appear on the game over screen

The spawnRate is always way too fast. When you click Easy, the spawnRate should be slower - if you click Hard, the spawnRate should be faster.

Add a “Time: __” display that counts down from 60 in whole numbers (i.e. 59, 58, 57, etc) and triggers the game over sequence when it reaches 0.

Center the text on the buttons horizontally and vertically
Hint - If you expand one of the button objects in the hierarchy, you’ll see a “Text” object inside - you have to edit the properties of that “Text” object

The food should only be destroyed when the player clicks on it, not when the mouse touches it
Hint - OnMouseEnter() detects when the mouse enters an object’s collider - OnMouseDown() detects when the mouse clicks on an object’s collider

It should always say, “Score: __“ with the value displayed after “Score:”
Hint - When you set the score text, you have to add (concatenate) the word “Score: “ and the actual score value

Make the Restart button appear on the game over screen
Hint - In the GameOver() method, make sure the restart button is being reactivated

The spawnRate is always way too fast. When you click Easy, the spawnRate should be slower - if you click Hard, the spawnRate should be faster.
Hint - There is no information (or parameter) being passed from the buttons’ script to the Game Manager’s script - you need to implement a difficulty parameter

Bonus - Add a “Time: __” display that counts down from 60 in whole numbers (i.e. 59, 58, 57, etc) and triggers the game over sequence when it reaches 0.
Hint - Google, “Unity Count down timer C#”. It will involve subtracting “Time.deltaTime” and using the Mathf.Round() method to display only whole numbers.

If you want, you can challenge yourself even more by attempting to add special bonus features to your main prototype, which range from Easy to Expert in difficulty. 

These extra bonus challenges are entirely optional. If you are not interested and just want to continue with the course, simply mark this step complete and move on to the next tutorial.

If you are interested, check out the Bonus Feature tutorial and remember to return here when you're done to keep learning!

Challenge 5 - Whack-a-Food

1. Overview

2. Warning

3. The difficulty buttons look messy

4. The food is being destroyed too soon

5. The Score is being replaced by the word “score”

6. When you lose, there’s no way to Restart

7. The difficulty buttons don’t change the difficulty

8. Bonus: The game can go on forever

9. Hints

10. Want even more challenges?

Complete this tutorial