Unity Game Design and Coding - Level 0 (Introduction)
In this popular introductory class, kids learn how to create video games using Unity - the most popular, professional game engine in the world. Students learn the basic fundamentals of game design and coding with C# while mastering Unity.
STEAM K-12: Coding & Game Design Education
Average rating:
4.8
Number of reviews:(402)
Popular
What's included
8 live meetings
6 hrs 40 mins in-class hoursProjects
1-2 hours per week. Students will work on several projects (Unity Modules) throughout this course.Certificate of Completion
includedClass Experience
Beginner Level
This class is a great entry point into the world of game design and coding for your kids. In this extremely accessible course, beginner-focused course, students will journey through the entire game development process with Unity: from concept to design to development to porting & publishing on mobile platforms. The Unity Game Engine is free, and is one of the most popular and accessible game engines for both aspiring and professional developers to create cross platform games for PC, Mac, iPad, Android and more. Even many popular console games (PS4, Xbox, Switch) are made with UNITY engine. Unity Engine was created to fulfill the desire of creating any type of video game such as 2D platformers, racing games, FPS games, maze games, arcade, action games, etc. Unity Engine is available on Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. In this course, students will first learn the basics of using the UNITY Engine Engine and begin building a full-fledged 2D game from start to finish. Students will be provided with all the necessary tools and resources and guided through the entire game development process. Students will be encouraged to be as creative and original as possible throughout the entire course. What differentiates this course from others is that this course focuses on the digital arts as well: Visual Arts, Graphic Design, Audio & Music Production, Reading and Creative Writing. Intro to Game Design & Coding With UNITY Engine is truly a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) course. By the end of this class, students will have have not just created their own video game from scratch, but also be able to play it on any desktop computer or mobile device. COURSE OVERVIEW Week 1 (Classes 1 & 2): Unity Engine Fundamentals & Platform Microgame Class Introduction Download Course Resources / Technical Assistance UNITY Engine, GIMP, Visual Studio Code, etc. UNITY Engine Engine Fundamentals + Overview A World of “Kits” Platform Microgame Physics and Mechanics Modding the Kit Tile Edting Week 2 (Class 3 & 4): The Platform Microgame (Building a 2D World) Prefab C# Script Fundamentals Adding Color & Tint Animating the World Platformer Microgame Tile Editing Visual Enhancements Week 3 (Class 5 & 6): 2D Game Kit (2D Action-Adventure) Triggers & Switches Title Screen, Menus & UI Background Music & Sound Effects Moving Platforms Teleporters Audio & Sound Effects Tile Editing and Advanced Level Design Week 4 (Classes 7 & 8): 2D Game Kit and Beyond Package Managing and the Asset Store Final 2D Game Kit Project Reviews Porting & Publishing Your Game What’s Next: Exploring the 3D Kits
Learning Goals
For this class, students don't need to have any previous coding or game design experience UNITY Engine is a great entry into design and programming skills. Students will follow a kid-friendly process similar to real video game designers who create the games they play at home!
Students will learn how to design, develop and produce games with Unity Engine's interface and prefabs (C# scripts)
Students will learn programming and logic to code character, enemy behaviors and reactions to events in their games through If/Then Statements, Switches, Variables and Loops, all done through a clickable, drag and drop interface.
Students will learn the basic fundamentals of game design.
Students learn more advanced coding techniques and algorithms to enhance gameplay mechanics such as power-ups and custom graphical user interfaces.
Students learn to use the tools available in UNITY Engine such as C# Plugins, Animation,
Students will create interesting terrain, towns, villages and dungeons.
Students will write dialogue for their in-game stories and in-game non-playable characters (NPC’s)
Students will make use of Graphic Design techniques and programs such as GIMP/Photoshop and Powerpoint (Slides/Keynote) to enhance the visual appeal of their game.
Students will learn about the importance of audio and sound design and implement appropriate music and sound effects into their games. Students complete game design planning through a Master Design Document process, prior to starting their final projects.
Students will learn how to PORT their games and play them on various platforms (desktop, mobile, etc).
Syllabus
8 Lessons
over 4 WeeksLesson 1:
Unity Engine Fundamentals & Platform Microgame
Installation, Troubleshooting and the Basics of the Unity Engine 50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 2:
Unity Engine Fundamentals & 2D Platform Microgame
Basics of the Unity Engine / 2D Platform Game 50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 3:
Unity Asset Store & Package Manager
2D Platform Game / Unity Asset Store / The Package Manager (Critical) / Installing the 2D GameKit or Karting Microgame 50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 4:
3D Kart Racing
Game Design 50 mins online live lesson
Other Details
Parental Guidance
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CLASS - PARENTS PLEASE READ:
- This is a Game Development class that primarily uses the Unity Game Engine and Visual Studio Code to teach game design and coding respectively.
- Planning, design, art, coding, math, science, music writing, reading, logic, coding, social science, etc., are some of the many topics covered in this class - NOT JUST CODING (like in real game / software development).
- This is not a drop in class. Each class session and class level leads into the next.
- Unity Engine is professional software and we do our best to make it accessible to everyone. Please be patient as this is a group class and everyone is at different levels (this is a GREAT thing).
- Troubleshooting is a major part of software/game development. You do not just write code and expect things to happen. There will be a lot of troubleshooting and learning why things fail in this class. PLEASE BE PATIENT as this is a massive part of the LEARNING PROCESS and of teaching SOFTWARE ENGINEERING skills.
- Game development is very complex and does not happen in a bubble. Multiple programs will (must) be used. These programs include (but are not limited to) Unity Hub, Unity Engine (Game Development), Visual Studio Code (Coding) and more. These programs are also updated frequently (sometimes weekly) so there is a a lot of downloading, installing and troubleshooting in this class - just like in real professional game development.
- Coding is NOT the sole focus of this class. While there will be coding (and it significantly increases by class level), coding alone does not make a video game.
- Finally and most importantly, this is class is both EDUCATIONAL and FUN!!!!!!!!
Supply List
For this course, students will use the UNITY Game Engine. To install the Unity Game Engine you must first install Unity Hub (https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download). After installing Unity Hub, sign in with Google and/or create a unique Unity ID. On the left hand side of Unity Hub you will see an option that says "Installs". Click on the installs tab and then click the blue "Add" button on the top right corner. Install the latest "LTS" release (2019 as of this writing). This will install the actual Unity Game Engine. Unity runs on most Windows, Mac and Linux machines but the better your video card (GPU) and the more RAM you have (8GB bare minimum) the better the experience (regardless of platform). Please try and install the UNITY Engine PRIOR to class starting. Please see link above for downloading and installing. Please be aware that UNITY is a professional software suite (that's great for kids!) but it does require a decent computer. The more RAM and the faster the hard drive (SSD's) the better it'll perform and the happier our learners will be! URLs for primary software used in this class: Unity - https://unity3d.com/get-unity/download Visual Studio Code - https://code.visualstudio.com/download Blender - https://www.blender.org/download/ GIMP - https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Joined October, 2020
4.8
402reviews
Popular
Teacher expertise and credentials
STEAM K-12 is an organization focused on coding and game design classes for K-12 Learners and professional learning opportunities for K-12 Educators. In our classes, kids learn to code, design video games and build software. Our learners have fun while learning the critical skills of tomorrow. We strive for the highest quality instruction. All of our teachers are either credentialed K-12 educators and/or have a background in Computer Science/Tech.
STEAM K-12 was founded in 2020 by Giancarlos Alvarado - a certified K-12 Educator and Professional Senior iOS Developer from San Diego, California. Giancarlos has has over 14 years of classroom experience in K-12 with degrees from Rutgers University and The College of New Jersey; has developed and published 10 apps on iOS since 2015, and is currently working on his first PlayStation 5 title to be released in late 2025. Giancarlos has been teaching coding and video game design classes since 2006. Reviews
Live Group Course
$38
weekly or $152 for 8 classes2x per week, 4 weeks
50 min
Completed by 1605 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 8-13
4-8 learners per class
