Have you ever thought about how to start developing games? Out of curiosity, for a living, or for self-development. Or maybe it is your lifelong dream, but you do not know where to start. I have prepared an article for you on courses and valuable materials on Unity, which will help you turn your dream into reality.
I took courses on Unity as a basis because this game engine is a good fit for a beginning developer. Unity is a powerful game engine that has become incredibly popular over the years. It is widely used by game developers, designers, and artists to create immersive and interactive games, applications, and experiences. It’s very flexible, relatively simple, and multiplatform. Any game consists of a mass of objects diluted with additional components and wrapped up in code to make it all work harmoniously.
Where & how to start developing games?
It’s purely your own personal choice. A game development course, a book, or a YouTube video tutorial will combine to give you all the knowledge you require. I recommend that you begin your game development studies with systematic courses that provide a general introduction to game-making and Unity development in particular. Besides the courses, reinforce your knowledge with literature and watch videos for clarity.
Necessary minimums
Your dream/purpose requires fewer technical skills than persistence and creativity. You will have to solve complex problems using your head. But there is still a threshold of entry.
- I will be looking at courses in English, so knowing it will come in handy in the future and the present.
- Sooner or later, you will have to start with programming. Have the patience to absorb the C# knowledge because you won’t even be able to make your character move and react to the controls without it.
English, C#, and persistence are what you need to develop your first game.
Unity is a good game engine for beginners. It has a user-friendly interface and a vast community of developers who share their knowledge and experience through various resources like tutorials, forums, and documentation.
UNITY LEARN
Unity Learn is the official platform from Unity that brings together all the essential learning resources and task-based learning to help users of all skill levels improve their knowledge. You can follow 3 learning pathways:
- Unity Essentials. Completing this pathway will give you the foundation to further your education and specialize in your area of interest.
- Junior Programmer. This path, designed for anyone who wants to learn how to write code or get an entry-level Unity role, assumes a basic knowledge of Unity and does not require a math background.
- Creative Core. After taking Unity Essentials as an introduction to Unity editor fundamentals, choose this path to explore visual effects, lighting, animation, audio, user interface, and other creative skills without programming.
The course is entirely free, very extensive, useful, and suitable for people just starting their journey into game development. Highly recommended.
UDEMY
Udemy is one of the best online learning sites that offers many professional courses. The best course on Udemy is divided into 2 courses:
These are paid courses, but there is a 95% discount on them very often. Go to the site and type “Unity” in the search bar, and you’ll see an abundance of training material. What’s worth looking at?
The courses posted on the site are pretty long (typically 20 to 40 hours), have great ratings (4.5+ stars with tens of thousands of reviews), and are highly rated. Read the comments, pay attention to the rating, and you’ll find what you need.
COURSERA
Everyone heard about Coursera, the platform for self-education? This resource provides an exciting course on Unity and C#.
This certification course was created by the University of Colorado and is taught by Dr. Tim Chamiyar. He is a professor in the Computer Science department at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS). He teaches game development classes and leads the undergraduate game design and development innovation program. Furthermore, he also spent 5 years as an indie game developer at the company he founded with his two sons.
The course received an average grade of 4.8+ out of 5. You don’t need any programming experience to start this program, and the program itself is divided into 5 courses. Each of these courses consists of 10–20 exercises to help you practice and improve your C# and Unity skills.
Additional training materials
Remember, you can’t become a game developer without a solid, in-depth tutorial. There will be many problems along the way, and the best way to solve them is to reach out to the gaming community and build yourself up.
Books on programming
- Jeremy Gibson Bond, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development. Excellent presentation of the material. The author teaches how to reason and build a process with deadlines developer labor evaluation and pays much attention to idea prototyping.
- Andrew Troelsen & Philip Japikse, Pro C# 7: With .NET and .NET Core 8th ed. Edition. This classic book is a comprehensive source of information on the C# programming language and related infrastructure.
Books on Unity
- Joe Hocking, Unity in Action: Multiplatform game development in C#. Famous bestseller. Much attention is paid to the design of two-dimensional games, fundamental concepts that readers can practice and build a complex two-dimensional platformer.
Video resources
- Brackeys Channel. Brackeys’ entertaining and educational tutorials on Unity will benefit beginners and advanced users alike.
- Sykoo Channel. Sam Doganthymoor, better known as Sykoo, has spent the last 5 years sharing his experiences in game development with YouTube viewers.
- The Official Unity Channel. Beginners will find the official Unity tutorials on YouTube to be of use.
Conclusion
You’re going to face many challenges along the way, and the best way to solve them is to connect with the game community and like-minded people. But, your persistence, wit, and practice will help you reach unprecedented heights. Treat each skill as a checkpoint that will save your progress and resurrect it after you fail.
