Create with Code:

Scope & Sequence

In this introductory course, students will use Unity to learn the fundamentals of programming in the context of creating
their own projects. During the course, they will create several prototypes along with the instructor, manage a larger
personal project more independently, and complete challenges and quizzes along the way to solidify and expand their
new knowledge. The skills that they learn will align with the learning objectives from the Unity Certified User exam,
providing them with a foundational understanding of Unity and C# programming, preparing them for certification. In
addition to these core technical competencies, students will learn how to manage a project from start to finish: coming
up with a concept, creating a project plan, prioritizing tasks, and hitting milestones. By the end of the course, students
will have the confidence that, given enough time and resources, they can create anything they want with Unity and C#.

Table of Contents
Unit 1 - Player Movement (Driving Simulator Prototype) 2

Unit 2 - Basic Gameplay (Feed the Animals Prototype) 3

Unit 3 - Animation, Sound, & Effects (Run and Jump Prototype) 4

Unit 4 - Gameplay Mechanics (Sumo Battle Prototype) 5

Unit 5 - User Interface (Quick Click Prototype) 6

Examples demonstrating the variety of projects students will be able to make for their personal projects

© Unity 2021
Unit 1 - Player Movement (Driving Simulator Prototype)
UNIT SCOPE

In this Unit, students will be introduced to Unity for the first

time as they create a very basic mini-project in which they
control the side-to-side movement of an object to avoid
colliding with obstacles. In addition to becoming familiar with
the Unity editor and workflow, they will learn how to create
new C# scripts and do some simple programming. By the end
of the Unit, students will be able to call basic functions, then
declare and tweak new variables to modify the results of
those functions.

UNIT SEQUENCE

Lesson 1.1 In this lesson, you will create your very first game project in Unity Hub. You will choose and position a
Start your 3D vehicle for the player to drive and an obstacle for them to hit or avoid. You will also set up a camera
Engines for the player to see through, giving them a perfect view of the scene. Throughout this process, you
will learn to navigate the Unity Editor and grow comfortable moving around in 3D Space. Lastly, you
will customize your own window layout for the Unity Editor.

Lesson 1.2 In this lesson you will make your driving simulator come alive. First you will write your very first lines
Pedal to the of code in C#, changing the vehicle’s position and allowing it to move forward. Next you will add
Metal 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.

Lesson 1.3 Keep your eyes on the road! In this lesson you will code a new C# script for your camera, which will
High Speed allow it to follow the vehicle down the road and give the player a proper view of the scene. In order to
Chase do this, you’ll have to use a very important concept in programming: variables.

Lesson 1.4 In this lesson, we need to hit the road and gain control of the vehicle. In order to do so, we need to
Step into the detect when the player is pressing the arrow keys, then accelerate and turn the vehicle based on that
Driver’s Seat input. Using new methods, Vectors, and variables, you will allow the vehicle to move forwards or
backwards and turn left to right.

Challenge 1 & Use the skills you learned in the driving simulation to fly a plane around obstacles in the sky. You will
Quiz have to get the user’s input from the up and down arrows in order to control the plane’s pitch up and
Plane down. You will also have to make the camera follow alongside the plane so you can keep it in view.
Programming

Lab 1 In this first ever Lab session, you will begin the preliminary work required to successfully create a
Project Design personal project in this course. First, you’ll learn what a personal project is, what the goals for it are,
Document and what the potential limitations are. Then you will take the time to come up with an idea and outline
it in detail in your Design Document, including a timeline for when you hope to complete certain
features. Finally, you will take some time to draw a sketch of your project to help you visualize it and
share your idea with others.

Bonus Attempt these optional challenges at varying levels of difficulty to take your skills to the next level:
Features 1 Easy: Obstacle Pyramids | Medium: Oncoming vehicles | Hard: Camera switcher | Expert: Local
multiplayer.

© Unity 2021
Unit 2 - Basic Gameplay (Feed the Animals Prototype)
UNIT SCOPE

In this Unit, 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 by. In order to do this, you will
become much more familiar with some of the most important
programming and Unity concepts, including if-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
control the player to keep the game alive.

UNIT SEQUENCE

Lesson 2.1 You will begin this unit by creating a new project for your second Prototype and getting basic player
Player movement working. You will first choose which character you would like, which types of animals you
Positioning would like to interact with, and which food you would like to feed those animals. You will give the
player basic side-to-side movement just like you did in Prototype 1, but then you will use if-then
statements to keep the Player in bounds.

Lesson 2.2 In this lesson, you will allow the player to launch the projectile through the scene. First you will write a
Food Flight new script to send the projectile forwards. Next you will store the projectile along with all of its scripts
and properties using an important new concept in Unity called Prefabs. The player will be able to
launch the projectile prefab with a tap of the spacebar. Finally, you will add boundaries to the scene,
removing any objects that leave the screen.

Lesson 2.3 Our animal prefabs walk across the screen and get destroyed out of bounds, but they don’t actually
Random appear in the game unless we drag them in! In this lesson we will allow the animals to spawn on their
Animal own, in a random location at the top of the screen. In order to do so, we will create a new object and a
Stampede new script to manage the entire spawning process.

Lesson 2.4 Our game is coming along nicely, but there are some critical things we must add before it’s finished.
Collision First off, instead of pressing S to spawn the animals, we will spawn them on a timer so that they
Decisions appear every few seconds. Next we will add colliders to all of our prefabs and make it so launching a
projectile into an animal will destroy it. Finally, we will display a “Game Over” message if any animals
make it past the player.

Challenge 2 & Use your array and random number generation skills to program this challenge where balls are
Quiz randomly falling from the sky and you have to send your dog out to catch them before they hit the
Play Fetch ground. To complete this challenge, you will have to make sure your variables are assigned properly,
your if-statements are programmed correctly, your collisions are being detected perfectly, and that
objects are being generated randomly.

Lab 2 You will create and set up the project that will soon transform into your very own Personal Project. For
New Project now, you will use “primitive” shapes (such as spheres, cubes, and planes) as placeholders for your
with Primitives objects so that you can add functionality as efficiently as possible without getting bogged down by
graphics. To make it clear which object is which, you will also give each object a unique colored
material.

Bonus Attempt these optional challenges at varying levels of difficulty to take your skills to the next level:
Features 2 Easy: Vertical player movement | Medium: Aggressive animals | Hard: Game user interface | Expert:
Animal hunger bar.

© Unity 2021
Unit 3 - Animation, Sound, & Effects (Run and Jump Prototype)
UNIT SCOPE

In this Unit, you will program a fast-paced side-scrolling game

where the player 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.

UNIT SEQUENCE

Lesson 3.1 The goal of this lesson is to set up the basic gameplay for this prototype. We will start by creating a
Jump Force new project and importing the starter files. Next we will choose a beautiful background and a
character for the player to control, and allow that character to jump with a tap of the spacebar. We will
also choose an obstacle for the player, and create a spawn manager that throws them in the player’s
path at timed intervals.

Lesson 3.2 We’ve got the core mechanics of this game figured out: The player can tap the spacebar to jump over
Make the incoming obstacles. However, the player appears to be running for the first few seconds, but then the
World Whiz By background just disappears! In order to fix this, we need to repeat the background seamlessly to make
it look like the world is rushing by! We also need the game to halt when the player collides with an
obstacle, stopping the background from repeating and stopping the obstacles from spawning. Lastly,
we must destroy any obstacles that get past the player.

Lesson 3.3 The game is looking great so far, but the player character is a bit… lifeless. Instead of the character
Don’t Just simply sliding across the ground, we’re going to give it animations for running, jumping, and even
Stand There death! We will also tweak the speed of these animations, timing them so they look perfect in the game
environment.

Lesson 3.4 This game is looking extremely good, but it’s missing something critical: Sound effects and Particle
Particles and effects! Sounds and music will breathe life into an otherwise silent game world, and particles will
Sound Effects make the player’s actions more dynamic and eye-popping. In this lesson, we will add cool sounds and
particles when the character is running, jumping, and crashing.

Challenge 3 & Apply your knowledge of physics, scrolling backgrounds, and special effects to a balloon floating
Quiz through town, picking up tokens while avoiding explosives. You will have to do a lot of troubleshooting
Balloons & in this project because it is riddled with errors.
Booleans

Lab 3 In this lesson, you program the player’s basic movement, including the code that limits that
Player Control movement. Since there are a lot of different ways a player can move, depending on the type of project
you’re working on, you will not be given step-by-step instructions on how to do it. In order to do this,
you will need to do research, reference other code, and problem-solve when things go wrong.

Bonus Attempt these optional challenges at varying levels of difficulty to take your skills to the next level:
Features 3 Easy: Randomize obstacles | Medium: Double jump | Hard: Dash ability and score | Expert: Game start
animation.

© Unity 2021
Unit 4 - Gameplay Mechanics (Sumo Battle Prototype)
UNIT SCOPE

In this Unit, you will program an arcade-style Sumo battle with

the objective of knocking increasingly difficult waves of
enemies off of a floating island, using powerups 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.

UNIT SEQUENCE

Lesson 4.1 First thing’s first, we will create a new prototype and download the starter files. You’ll notice a
Watch Where beautiful island, sky, and particle effect... all of which can be customized. Next you will allow the
You’re Going player to rotate the camera around the island in a perfect radius, providing a glorious view of the
scene. The player will be represented by a sphere, wrapped in a detailed texture of your choice. Finally
you will add force to the player, allowing them to move forwards or backwards in the direction of the
camera.

Lesson 4.2 The player can roll around to its heart’s content… but it has no purpose. In this lesson, we fill that
Follow the purpose by creating an enemy to challenge the player! First we will give the enemy a texture of your
Player choice, then give it the ability to bounce the player away... potentially knocking them off the cliff.
Lastly, we will let the enemy chase the player around the island and spawn in random positions.

Lesson 4.3 The enemy chases the player around the island, but the player needs a better way to defend
PowerUp and themselves... especially if we add more enemies. In this lesson, we’re going to create a powerup that
CountDown gives the player a temporary strength boost, shoving away enemies that come into contact! The
powerup will spawn in a random position on the island, and highlight the player with an indicator when
it is picked up. The powerup indicator and the powerup itself will be represented by stylish game
assets of your choice.

Lesson 4.4 In this lesson we will wrap things up by putting a bunch of the pieces together. First we will enhance
For-Loops For the enemy spawn manager, allowing it to spawn multiple enemies and increase their number every
Waves time a wave is defeated. Lastly we will spawn the powerup with every wave, giving the player a chance
to fight back against the ever-increasing horde of enemies.

Challenge 4 & Use the skills you learned in the Sumo Battle prototype in a completely different context: the soccer
Quiz field. Just like in the prototype, you will control a ball by rotating the camera around it and applying a
Soccer forward force, but instead of knocking them off the edge, your goal is to knock them into the opposing
Scripting net while they try to get into your net. Just like in the Sumo Battle, after every round a new wave will
spawn with more enemy balls. However, almost nothing in this project is functioning! It’s your job to
get it working correctly.

Lab 4 In this lab, you will work with all of your non-player objects in order to bring your project to life with its
Basic basic gameplay. You will give your projectiles, pickups, or enemies their basic movement and collision
Gameplay detection, make them into prefabs, and have them spawned randomly by a spawn manager. By the
end of this lab, you should have a glimpse into the core functionality of your game.

Bonus Attempt these optional challenges at varying levels of difficulty to take your skills to the next level:
Features 4 Easy: Harder enemy | Medium: Homing rockets | Hard: Smashingly good | Expert: Boss battle.

© Unity 2021
Unit 5 - User Interface (Quick Click Prototype)
UNIT SCOPE

In this Unit, you will program a game 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, you
will add a score display that will track the player’s points, 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.

UNIT SEQUENCE

Lesson 5.1 It’s time for the final unit! We will start off by creating a new project and importing the starter files,
Clicky Mouse then switching the game’s view to 2D. Next we will make a list of target objects for the player to click
on: Three “good” objects and one “bad”. The targets will launch spinning into the air after spawning at
a random position at the bottom of the map. Lastly, we will allow the player to destroy them with a
click!

Lesson 5.2 Objects fly into the scene and the player can click to destroy them, but nothing happens. In this lesson,
Keeping Score we will display a score in the user interface that tracks and displays the player’s points. We will give
each target object a different point value, adding or subtracting points on click. Lastly, we will add cool
explosions when each target is destroyed.

Lesson 5.3 We added a great score counter to the game, but there are plenty of other game-changing UI elements
Game Over that we could add. In this lesson, we will create some “Game Over” text that displays when a “good”
target object drops below the sensor. During game over, targets will cease to spawn and the score will
be reset. Lastly, we will add a “Restart Game” button that allows the player to restart the game after
they have lost.

Lesson 5.4 It’s time for the final lesson! To finish our game, we will add a Menu and Title Screen of sorts. You will
What’s the create your own title, and style the text to make it look nice. You will create three new buttons that set
Difficulty? the difficulty of the game. The higher the difficulty, the faster the targets spawn!

Challenge 5 & Put your User Interface skills to the test with this whack-a-mole-like challenge in which you have to get
Quiz all the food that pops up on a grid while avoiding the skulls. You will have to debug buttons, mouse
Whack-a- clicks, score tracking, restart sequences, and difficulty setting to get to the bottom of this one.
Food

Lab 5 In this lab, you will finally replace those boring primitive objects with beautiful dynamic ones. You will
Swap out your either use assets from the provided course library or browse the asset store for completely new ones
Assets to give your game exactly the look and feel that you want. Then, you will go through the process of
actually swapping in those new assets in the place of your placeholder primitives. By the end of this
lab, your project will be looking a lot better.

Bonus Attempt these optional challenges at varying levels of difficulty to take your skills to the next level:
Features 5 Easy: Lives UI | Medium: Music volume | Hard: Pause menu | Expert: Click-and-swipe.

© Unity 2021