Data Structures and Design Patterns for Game Developers (Coursera)

Data Structures and Design Patterns for Game Developers (Coursera)

This course is the fourth course in the specialization about learning how to develop video games using the C# programming language and the Unity game engine on Windows or Mac. Why use C# and Unity instead of some other language and game engine? Well, C# is a really good language for learning how to program and then programming professionally. Also, the Unity game engine is very popular with indie game developers; Unity games were downloaded 16,000,000,000 times in 2016! Finally, C# is one of the programming languages you can use in the Unity environment.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

This course assumes you have the prerequisite knowledge from the previous three courses in the specialization. You should make sure you have that knowledge, either by taking those previous courses or from personal experience, before tackling this course. Throughout this course you'll build on your foundational C# and Unity knowledge by developing more robust games with better object-oriented designs using various data structures and design patterns.
Data structures and design patterns are both general programming and software architecture topics that span all software, not just games. Although we'll discuss these ideas in the game domain, they also apply if you're writing a web app in ASP.NET, building a tool using WinForms, or any other software you decide to build.
Module 1: Explore a Dynamic Array data structure and learn the basics of algorithm analysis
Module 2: Learn about and use the common Linked List and Graph data structures
Module 3: Learn about and use several additional data structures: Stacks, Queues, and Trees
Module 4: Learn why design patterns are so useful and discover a number of design patterns useful in game development
Module 5: Complete final peer review
Course 4 of 4 in the C# Programming for Unity Game Development Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Dynamic Arrays and Algorithm Analysis

WEEK 2
Linked Lists and Graphs

WEEK 3
Stacks, Queues, and Trees

WEEK 4
Design Patterns

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Introduction to HTML5 (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Introduction to HTML5 (Coursera)

Thanks to a growing number of software programs, it seems as if anyone can make a webpage. But what if you actually want to understand how the page was created? There are great textbooks and online resources for learning web design, but most of those resources require some background knowledge. This course is designed to help the novice who wants to gain confidence and knowledge. We will explore the theory (what actually happens when you click on a link on a webpage?), the practical (what do I need to know to make my own page?), and the overlooked (I have a page, what do I do now?).

Jul 6th 2026
3 Weeks
Functional Programming Principles in Scala (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Functional Programming Principles in Scala (Coursera)

Functional programming is becoming increasingly widespread in industry. This trend is driven by the adoption of Scala as the main programming language for many applications. Scala fuses functional and object-oriented programming in a practical package. It interoperates seamlessly with both Java and Javascript. Scala is the implementation language of many important frameworks, including Apache Spark, Kafka, and Akka. It provides the core infrastructure for sites such as Twitter, Tumblr and also Coursera.

Jul 6th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Using Python to Interact with the Operating System (Coursera) Coursera
Google

Using Python to Interact with the Operating System (Coursera)

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to manipulate files and processes on your computer’s operating system. You’ll also have learned about regular expressions -- a very powerful tool for processing text files -- and you’ll get practice using the Linux command line on a virtual machine. And, this might feel like a stretch right now, but you’ll also write a program that processes a bunch of errors in an actual log file and then generates a summary file. That’s a super useful skill for IT Specialists to know.

Jul 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Interfacing with the Raspberry Pi (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Interfacing with the Raspberry Pi (Coursera)

The Raspberry Pi uses a variety of input/output devices based on protocols such as HDMI, USB, and Ethernet to communicate with the outside world. In this class you will learn how to use these protocols with other external devices (sensors, motors, GPS, orientation, LCD screens etc.) to get your IoT device to interact with the real world.

Jul 6th 2026
4 Weeks
Games, Sensors and Media (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Games, Sensors and Media (Coursera)

You will learn to make fluid digital interactive experiences that are suitable for gaming and use the advanced sensor hardware built into the iPhone and iPad. This includes drawing 2D graphics, playing sounds and music, integrating with Game Center, the iOS physics engine and detecting device orientation and location.

Jul 6th 2026
4 Weeks
The Arduino Platform and C Programming (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

The Arduino Platform and C Programming (Coursera)

The Arduino is an open-source computer hardware/software platform for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control the physical world around them. In this class you will learn how the Arduino platform works in terms of the physical board and libraries and the IDE (integrated development environment). You will also learn about shields, which are smaller boards that plug into the main Arduino board to perform other functions such as sensing light, heat, GPS tracking, or providing a user interface display. The course will also cover programming the Arduino using C code and accessing the pins on the board via the software to control external devices.

Jul 6th 2026
4 Weeks
Cloud Computing Concepts, Part 1 (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Cloud Computing Concepts, Part 1 (Coursera)

Cloud computing systems today, whether open-source or used inside companies, are built using a common set of core techniques, algorithms, and design philosophies—all centered around distributed systems. Learn about such fundamental distributed computing "concepts" for cloud computing. Some of these concepts include: clouds, MapReduce, key-value/NoSQL stores, classical distributed algorithms, widely-used distributed algorithms, scalability, trending areas, and much, much more!

Jul 6th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Unordered Data Structures (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Unordered Data Structures (Coursera)

The Unordered Data Structures course covers the data structures and algorithms needed to implement hash tables, disjoint sets and graphs. These fundamental data structures are useful for unordered data. For example, a hash table provides immediate access to data indexed by an arbitrary key value, that could be a number (such as a memory address for cached memory), a URL (such as for a web cache) or a dictionary.

Jul 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Ordered Data Structures (Coursera) Coursera
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Ordered Data Structures (Coursera)

In this course, you will learn new data structures for efficiently storing and retrieving data that is structured in an ordered sequence. Such data includes an alphabetical list of names, a family tree, a calendar of events or an inventory organized by part numbers. The specific data structures covered by this course include arrays, linked lists, queues, stacks, trees, binary trees, AVL trees, B-trees and heaps. This course also shows, through algorithm complexity analysis, how these structures enable the fastest algorithms to search and sort data.

Jul 8th 2026
4 Weeks
Data Engineering with Rust (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Data Engineering with Rust (Coursera)

Are you a data engineer, software developer, or a tech enthusiast with a basic understanding of Rust, seeking to enhance your skills and dive deep into the realm of data engineering with Rust? Or are you a professional from another programming language background, aiming to explore the efficiency, safety, and concurrency features of Rust for data engineering tasks? If so, this course is designed for you.

Jul 9th 2026
4 Weeks
Graph Analytics for Big Data (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, San Diego

Graph Analytics for Big Data (Coursera)

Want to understand your data network structure and how it changes under different conditions? Curious to know how to identify closely interacting clusters within a graph? Have you heard of the fast-growing area of graph analytics and want to learn more? This course gives you a broad overview of the field of graph analytics so you can learn new ways to model, store, retrieve and analyze graph-structured data.

Jul 6th 2026
5-12 Weeks