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Learn Unity update no. 3: Phase 1 and lab testing

February 11, 2013 in News | 4 min. read
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Here at Unity, since last August we've been pushing ahead with our plan to create a totally new learning area on the site, and as a larger concept - a new focus on the web for people young and old who are new to game development, and want to get started. Naturally we want to serve our existing users too, and as this new area develops, we hope there will be something for everyone to inspire fresh ideas, and ultimately, awesome games and interactive content.

If you've missed the previous updates on this project, I recommend you read up on where we've come from so far in these previous blog posts -

https://blog.unity.com/community/learn-unity-coming-soon

https://blog.unity.com/community/learn-unity-update-1

https://blog.unity.com/community/learn-unity-update-2

At this stage, we're still on target to launch the first iteration of the project in late March, and you'll see a lot of beginner content arrive around then. We'll also be bringing this content to GDC to chat to anyone who wants to stop by the Unity booth and talk about game development.

What to expect in Phase. I

As stated previously, we don't want to wait until everything is recorded to get you started using this new learning area, so we plan to ship phase one with a lot of the basics of game development in Unity available for beginners to get started. Then over time we'll be adding more content, covering more topics, and making good on our promise of democratizing game development, by giving you as much knowledge on the topic as we possibly can. In the first phase we plan to ship -

  • The Robot Lab environment
  • Beginner Scripting lessons
  • Beginner Editor
  • Beginner Physics Lessons
  • Beginner Graphics Lessons
  • Beginner Audio Lessons
  • Beginner Physics Assignments
  • 'Stealth' - a larger game level tutorial

What's the latest?

Grab the Lab!

At the time of writing, we have our first tutorial environment ready to ship - The Robot Lab, with all manner of crazy props from a giant robot arm, to a sci fi battering ram! This has taken time as we are producing the level to the highest standards of detail, to try and inspire you to experiment, learn and have fun with these assets. We'll be using this environment to deliver the bulk of the learning content that you'll see in phase one, aside from the larger level project 'Stealth'.

To make sure this environment is up to your standards, today we're pushing this project to the Asset Store to let you get your hands on it, and let you start experimenting with the props we've created. As a former tutor I know how valuable it can be to have cool assets to inspire your students so I wanted to get this content out to you as soon as we were happy with it.

We'd also like feedback on any bugs you find so please write a comment on this post or email me directly on will [at] unity3d dot com during this testing period. We'll be adding more scripts, a few collision meshes and more sound effects but for now our only known bug is a lightmapping issue when opening on mac. So what are you waiting for? grab the project now and have a play with the lab!

Tutorial Content

In terms of video tutorial content, we have our Beginner Editor, Physics and Scripting Lessons produced and on our staging site which is also currently mid-production. The Stealth game is our first larger 'Project' (as opposed to Lesson or Assignment, our smaller pieces of content), and is currently being pieced together by the team, ready to be recorded as video steps in the coming weeks.
The game level is designed to teach you how to put together a game level in Unity, comprising a metal gear solid style 'sneak em up' with security cameras, guards, keycards and a battle bus! This project will help you learn about Character animation for player and enemies, Raycasting, Collision, Game logic and various other tips and tricks! We'll have more to show of this soon, but for now here's a sneaky peek at our main character.

We are also continuing to prototype other ways of teaching game development with Unity, and we'll have more news on a piece of new tech we're developing with schools in mind, towards Q2 of this year.

For now, if you are a teacher at any level, we'd like to hear from you, and get your feedback on how we can better support you - drop me a line on will [at] unity3d dot com and we'll add you to our database of tutors we're compiling.

February 11, 2013 in News | 4 min. read

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