Game Design and Development 1: 2D Shooter (Coursera)

Game Design and Development 1: 2D Shooter (Coursera)

If you love games and want to learn how to make them, then this course will start you down that path. Making games is a creative and technical art form. In this course you will familiarize yourself with the tools and practices of game development and well as the process. You will get started developing video games using industry standard game development tools, including the Unity 2020 game engine. At the end of the course you will have completed two hands-on projects, including an Intro to Unity project and a 2D Shooter game, and will be able to leverage an array of game development techniques to create your own basic games.

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Course 1 of 5 in the Game Design and Development with Unity 2020 Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
From Game Player to Game Developer
The only thing more fun than playing games is making them. You can make games. All it takes is some time, a willingness to learn and a passion to create. You don't need to be a "coder" to make games. Part of the beauty of games is that they take a variety of skills to make. Art, creativity, and systems thinking are just as important as code. Join us in this journey into game making! This first module will provide you with an overview of this course and the entire specialization. The module will also introduce you to the game design and development process and get you up and running with Unity, the game engine we will use across this course.

WEEK 2
Understanding Core Unity Concepts
One of the reasons we use Unity is its visual editor which makes creating interactive games accessible to both creative and technical individuals. In this module, you will continue working on the Solar System project and from start to finish. Using a variety of graphical and audio assets and a library of scripts, you will create a simple model of our solar system. By the end of the module, you should have a good understanding of the Unity editor, the core concepts of building projects in Unity, and the workflow for creating games.

WEEK 3
Building Your First Game
Unity is a powerful tool for creating games. In this module, you will create your first actual game from start to finish in the form of a 2D Shooter game. This is your right of passage into game development! In the first part of the assignment, follow along with the tutorial videos in this module. In the second part of the project, you will modify the game to make it your own.

WEEK 4
Coding Gameplay Systems and Finishing Up
Now, don't get scared, but games need code. Code is the canvas upon which game systems are painted. However, that doesn't mean you need to be a C# ninja. In this module, you will start to learn the ins-and-outs of programming C# in Unity. In this module, you will also finish up the 2D Shooter project, submit it for peer review, and peer review your fellow learners games. Finish the course strong!

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