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Building a runner game

Overview

Before you begin

Complete the in-Editor tutorials

Ideation and resources for developing runner games

Explore mobile publishers

Congratulations!

Publish your first mobile runner game

Get ready to build and publish your own mobile runner game with ease!  

This template accelerates the game development process. It includes end-to-end runner game mechanics, custom presets, and a level editor. The template also gives you easy access to useful resources, including a curated page on the Unity Asset Store and custom in-Editor tutorials.  

Publish your first mobile game — even if you’re new to Unity! The Runner Game Template includes built-in, end-to-end game mechanics, a Level editor, and an in-Editor tutorial to make it fast and easy for you to prototype and build a shippable mobile game. 

By the end of this learning project you will be able to do the following:

Create multiple levels of your game using the template’s level editor.

Prototype your game rapidly to increase the volume of submissions and the likelihood of getting published.

Games

Runner games are some of the most popular on mobile because they’re intuitive and easy to learn, quick to play, and can go viral. With this template, you’ll be able to iterate and prototype faster so you can spend more time making your mobile runner game great. 

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Runner Game Template. In the template, you’ll benefit from the core end-to-end game mechanics that are built-in so that you can focus on how to customize and differentiate your game. 

Before you continue with this tutorial, take a few minutes now to come up with a concept for your runner game. Think about certain mechanics, themes, and even visual elements that you might want to include in your game. 

Remember, these are just initial ideas and you shouldn’t feel bound to them as you move forward in the game design. For a refresher on planning your game, check out this tutorial on Project pre-production.

To get ready to use the Runner Game Template, follow these instructions:

1.  Install the Unity Hub and Editor. When you select an Editor version, select 2021.3.

Note: The Runner Game Template is not available in editor versions newer than 2021.3.

2.  Add the WebGL module to your installed Unity version.

3.  Create a new Unity project using the Runner Game Template.

4.  If you are new to Unity or need a review of the Unity Editor basics, refer to Explore the Unity Editor.

After opening the Runner Game Template, you'll be greeted with the choice to either load the in-Editor tutorials (IETs) or continue on your own. Select Start Tutorials.

The IETs will appear in a panel within the Unity Editor.

From the Welcome screen, follow the instructions step by step until you're ready to publish and share your game!

You can build the game based on the creative theme that you envisioned in Step 1. All preloaded assets are grayboxed, so you need to add your own environment, characters, gates, and so on. You can visit the Unity Asset Store page of curated low-poly assets to check out assets you might want to add to your game.

Welcome screen with buttons to Start Tutorials or Continue On My Own.

The following courses and videos can help you with the more advanced aspects of mobile game development. Whenever you’re ready, check them out:

Determining a theme: To help you come up with a creative theme that’s trending right now, you can visit Supersonic Ideation Kit for Devs. Use the prompts to get inspired for your next hit runner game. 

Trends, tips, and templates for building runner games: In this webinar, Supersonic from Unity shares actionable insights about how to turn runners into hits - expect marketability tips, hybrid runner trends, and a special Build A Queen case study, one of the top runner games of last year. 

Supersonic Runners Kit: In this blog, Supersonic from Unity dives into the basics and best practices of how to design a hit gate runner. 

Mobile development techniques (Intermediate level): Trash Dash is a mobile game that is an example of how to use Unity Services in a mobile game. It also contains some useful examples of coding for solving common game programming problems. 

Now that you’ve got the right template to build your runner game, a great game idea, and the skills to actually create your game, how do you actually get your game out there? With publishers, of course! Partnering with a publisher helps you maximize the business success of your game while streamlining the launch process. Game publishers can contribute financially to your project, and working with them gives you access to monetization expertise, best-in-class tools, game design and creative support, and the ability to focus on what you do best: create and develop your game

For example, Unity’s publishing solution, Supersonic, has worked closely with many developers to publish chart-topping runner games, like Tall Man Run, Build a Queen, and Rope Man Run. In fact, this template was built in collaboration with Supersonic experts to help game developers like you create stronger prototypes. You can submit your runner game to Supersonic to get all the benefits of a mobile game publisher.

In addition to Supersonic, other mobile game publishers to consider are Voodoo, TapNation, Lion, Ketchapp, and more. 

Some key things that publishers look for include bright and contrasting colors, popular themes as shown in top game charts and social media, simple and consistent backgrounds and characters, and additional game mechanics.  

Congratulations, you have learned how to build and publish your very own runner game with the template!

Publish your first mobile runner game

1. Overview

2. Before you begin

3. Complete the in-Editor tutorials

4. Ideation and resources for developing runner games

5. Explore mobile publishers

6. Congratulations!

Complete this tutorial