Code Like the Pros FLEX Unity C# Programming Reimagine the Chrome Dinosaur Game

In this class, students will learn how to use the Unity Programming Platform by engaging in a guided  “Game Jam” where students learn coding skills in an inquiry based environment. Unity is a professional game design platform used to develop 1000's of games and applications both web-based and actually mobile apps. We will be coding in C# using Visual Studio, a free Microsoft product. While no experience is necessary, any prior use of Unity is definitely a plus. 

After learning the basics of the software, students will be provided with a working 2D game design template and challenged to redesign the game with the elements they would like to add. The code and layout in this template will provide all the basic working elements of the Chrome Dinosaur game for students to experiment with. The use of a template is designed for students to experiment and manipulate leading to important lessons about problem solving and debugging.  All finished games will be uploaded to my website so they can be shared with classmates, family and friends.

The software for Unity and Visual Studio (C#) are free and instructions will be provided to explain to students how to download and install the software prior to our first week. The most important requirement about this class is for students to come to class ready to learn. This is not a cookie-cutter class and depends on students willing to push their abilities to their limits and ask questions to problem solve and overcome coding obstacles. This will be an exciting class and I truly look forward to our first week!

Important: This program will work with any Windows or Mac computer. It will NOT work on a Chromebook

Student-Teacher Interaction
Coders learn best when they have an experienced mentor to answer those difficult questions like “Why is my dinosaur falling off the screen?” Answer: Just look at the Rigidbody2D of course. Each week students will be able to send a copy of their current game to the teacher for feedback and suggestions. During their coding process students will be encouraged to experiment and with experiments come “bugs” I will be available during the entire process of the game development to help with glitchy code and will be able to schedule live meetings to eradicate those stubborn coding pests.

Student-Student Interaction
Students will have their own game testing section of the class where they can try out games in progress and provide constructive feedback. Students will also be presented with a catch the bug challenge where I will provide them with a game full of errors that don’t break the game, but lead to some off results. Students will be challenged to submit what they think is wrong and how it could be fixed. 

Class Agenda
Each week of the course will focus on a specific Unity component or coding skill:

Week 1: Introduction to the Unity Platform, Game Design and Game Layout
Students will jump feet first into their Unity Game Jam. Since we will be using a template based on the Chrome Dinosaur Game, students will learn how to switch their dinosaur into the creature of their choice. We will also discuss how to transform the Cacti as well as background. Week one will end with students sharing screenshots or video of their current game in progress. 

Week 2: Visual Studio Coding Begins!
This week students will begin to use Visual Studio to explore the endless number of ways they can manipulate the Dinosaur game through their code. We will add lines of code that will switch the Dinosaur with code to the creature they animated and added to the game in week #1. Several additional options will be presented including changing their creature’s size, rotation or even color all using code. 

Week 3: Fireballs, Prefabs and Instantiate Oh My! 
This week we will take our code to the next level by exploring how to “create objects” in the game using the Instantiate function. We will turn an everyday item into a “Prefab” and write code that will allow the Dinosaur to launch an object with the simple click of a key. We will also learn to build a cooldown time for our projectile and write the code to allow the projectiles to interact with the correct objects. One wrong move and our fireball might attack our Dinosaur!

Week 4: Powerups and Final Game Elements
During our final week we will add power-ups to the game with a variety of unique special abilities. Will you make your dinosaur fly, gain special ammo or something altogether different? We will also learn how to add elements to the game such as a high score board and custom game over graphics. We will conclude this week by learning how to turn our game into a package file to submit for possible publishing. All students will be given the choice to “publish” the game on my website so that they can share a link to their game with friends and family.