For the uninitiated, Unity is an all-purpose game engine and arguably the most popular one out there. It supports 2D and 3D graphics, scripting through C#, and the drag and drops functionality.
Developed by Unity technologies, it is a cross-platform game engine used to design simulations and video games for consoles, computers, and mobile devices in its early days. As a tool, it not only allows budding gamers with the means to breathe life into their gaming fantasies but also builds a highly sustainable career out of it.
Unity- A Game Engine Like No Other
Unity is a mighty game engine that provides its developers with a horde of vital built-in features. These include 3D rendering, physics, and collision detection.
This essentially eliminates the need for reinventing the wheel from the perspective of a developer. It saves them from the eventuality of creating a new physics engine and defining the inherent characteristics and attributes of all the constituent materials from scratch.
However, the best part about Unity is that even people with no prior coding and programming experience can pick up the software with ease with the correct guidance and supervision.
As a result, over time, the number of people wishing to learn Unity has grown rather exponentially. There is a wide range of online Unity resources out there to choose from to the learners' convenience. This shifts the onus to the users to settle on a course that is practical and project-based.
Doing so allows them to develop a more analytical understanding of the theoretical aspects of the module and become more industry-proficient at the end of the day.
Listed below is a curated list of the best online Unity resources for all interested individuals out there.
1. The Complete Unity Guide 3D- Beginner to RPG Game Dev in C# by Eincode
https://academy.eincode.com/courses/the-complete-unity-guide-3d-beginner-to-rpg-game-dev-in-c
Offered by Eincode, this Unity resource features among the most immersive and practical resources out there. It is curated by experienced software engineer and freelance developer Filip Jerga.
This course starts with the fundamentals and progresses gradually to eventually take students through the journey of developing their own RPG game by using Unity 2020 and C#.
- On the whole, this course covers the development of 3 games. It starts by explaining the fundamental concepts to the students through the aid of a simple game.
And then concludes with the discussion and demonstration of progressively more advanced concepts through the creation of an RPG sandboxed game.
In the process, it comprehensively covers the explanation of methods and all related mathematical concepts.
- The first project in the course titled “Evade the cubes” is an introductory module.
It aims to familiarise students with the Unity editor and environment and navigates them through the fundamental concepts.
This project's scope includes base game mechanics, simple movement system, orientations in 3D space, health system, materials prefabs, score system, positions of game objects and vectors, and UI & canvas.
- The second project of the course titled “Platform survival” deals primarily with the physic system.
It includes introducing the students to rigid bodies, follow camera, physic system, coroutines, movement and rotations, powerups, following targets, enemies, and adding forces.
- The third and the last project, titled “RPG adventure,” navigate the students through the advanced concepts and the development of the sandboxed RPG game.
This contains cinemachine, animations, character controller, third-person camera and full movement, fight system and combos, level system, dialogue system, third party packages and models, quest system, health system, enemies and detection system, inventory system, respawn, as well as weapons equipping in its scope.
Should students find themselves stuck during a certain segment of the course, they can create a post describing the issue and expect the instructor to address it within 1 business day.
Though students are not expected to have any prior knowledge of the Unity platform before taking this course, they are required to have a fundamental understanding of C# or any other Object-Oriented Programming Language nevertheless.
2. Complete C# Unity Developer 2D by Ben Tristem and Rick Davidson
https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse
Created by Ben Tristem, a well-recognized personality in the Unity circuit, this Unity resource offered by Udemy has almost 200,000 takers to its credit to date. It is undoubtedly among the best Unity courses for development out there.
- The course aims to equip you with C#, gain comprehensive knowledge around Unity game engine, thoroughly understand game design and game development, learn the practical usage of object-oriented programming, and develop high-quality problem-solving skills.
- The most redeeming aspect of this resource is that the content continuously gets updated to match the new Unity version releases.
- Extremely practical-oriented, this course urges its students to learn by doing.
- Students get to learn the basics and pick up advanced concepts through the course of developing multiple games.
- The course also includes a thriving discussion forum and community that presents you with a space to interact with like-minded people and get certain queries and doubts resolved in the process.
3. Unity Game Dev Courses: Fundamentals by Pluralsight
https://www.pluralsight.com/paths/unity-game-development-core-skills
This course offered by Pluralsight is an excellent option for beginners and rank outsiders. It covers all the concepts from scratch and aims at familiarizing students with the basics of the Unity IDE and environment.
It is a comprehensive path aiming towards teaching the fundamentals of Unity game development.
- The path is divided into 3 major sections — Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
- The course starts with the fundamental concepts of Unity — an introduction to the Unity toolset and how to begin interactions in your games, C#, and animation before progressing to advanced topics such as teaching students to create interactions in their games.
- Along with the Unity platform and C# scripting basics, the course also touches upon the higher-level topics of animation workflow, AI pathfinding, and gameplay programming workflow.
- It concludes by helping you provide feedback to players through audio, UI, and gameplay programming.
- The training imparted in this course is extremely interactive and is punctuated with regular chapter quizzes.
4. Unity Certification: C# Programming for Unity Game Development by Dr Tim Chamillard
https://www.coursera.org/specializations/programming-unity-game-development
Created by the University of Colorado, this course offered by Coursera is absolutely top-notch and boasts an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. One needs no prior programming knowledge or experience to get started with this course.
- The complete specialization is divided into 4 courses, with every constituent course comprising about 10–20 exercises to benefit the learners.
- As the course aims to train beginners, you’ll first learn how to program in C#, and then leverage your knowledge to start programming Unity games.
- Additionally, this course also includes a dedicated session on design patterns and data structures for game developers.
5. Unity 3D Essential Training by Craig Barr
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/unity-3d-essential-training
In this course by LinkedIn Learning, instructor Craig Barr dives deep into the techniques commonly used in Unity visualizations and game development.
- It takes students through the basics of lighting, animation, level design, and material, among other things.
- On the whole, this training is phased out into 15 sections, with every individual section containing a host of quizzes and other relevant exercises.
- In addition to all these, it also lets students test their game sequence and gain game optimization tips.
Conclusion
If you’re even remotely interested in the prospect of game development, then learning Unity must top your priority list without a doubt. While developing a video game on the Unity game engine certainly isn’t rocket science, it definitely involves its fair share of challenges and huddles.
Without the right guidance at your aid, you run the risk of being caught in a never-ending loop.
It becomes important, thus, to choose carefully from among the several online resources available out there. And to settle upon one that relies on practical demonstrations and real-time simulations rather than mundane theoretical discourse.