Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D

I attempted to learn JavaScript, Python, C#, and more from Codeacademy, Udemy, freeCodeCamp, and elsewhere. Here's what I found.

Context: I'm a tabletop game developer and digital marketer, and, having spent a long time around games and computers, decided I wanted to learn to code about 3 years ago.

I set off as many do by searching, at great length, for what language I should learn, and where from, returning to this topic several times over the course of my journey. I came across several threads suggesting one language or learning platform over another, and thought to share my particular experience in case it's helpful for someone else in the same discernment process.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional programmer, and although I am using my skills to benefit my work (you can read about my search for a prototype framework here), coding continues to be a hobby for me rather than a source of income, whatever that tells you.

Also disclaimer: I'm not attempting to position one language or learning platform over another, and I quite obviously haven't tried to learn every language out there, on every platform. The following is just my experience trying to figure out the most sensible way forward in an admittedly confusing environment.

You can also skip to the bottom for the TL;DR.

Prologue: C++

I'm not quite sure if I already knew that C++ was and continues to be a cornerstone in video game development, or if I saw it in one of those "What Programming Language Should I Learn" infographics that are about, but I wanted to know more about how games are made and how to talk to the computer. I'm pretty tech-friendly and have built or tinkered with my own PCs, thinking that might lend itself to the experience of learning how to code.

Holy smokes was I way out of my depth. I did a few tutorials online (I think through learncpp or similar) and soon realized that I would need more guidance to understand basic object oriented programming principles, in perhaps a more readily accessible language, than I was finding in learning C++.

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python: The Codeacademy Experience

Before embarking on this adventure, I already had a little HTML experience, and came across Codeacademy. I very much liked the ability to do tutorials from within the browser and without having to set up an IDE (doing so for C++ had been a trying experience), and quickly consumed all of Codeacademy's lessons on HTML and CSS. The natural path from that point was to do the JavaScript course, which I enjoyed, and I soon found myself in "tutorial purgatory" (not my reference), working through the Python course and others.

I should also mention that I completed Codeacademy's courses as a free user, not wanting to pay a subscription fee for what they were offering at the time, which included projects and mentor support.

I learned a lot of basics from Codeacademy and general OOP principles, but didn't wind up applying much of it without a clear path forward. I returned to my search (who am I kidding, I've spent a LOT of time concurrently researching other languages, learning platforms, and bootcamps throughout the whole process) and decided I wanted to learn more about game development through courses on Unity.

C#: The Udemy Experience

I found Ben Tristem's Unity course on one of Udemy's perennial 10000% off sales, and worked diligently through the tutorials to build clones of 2D brick breaking and other games, learning just enough C# to get by but not enough to feel confident in making anything myself.

Unity itself was probably more of a roadblock here than Tristrem and co.'s instruction, which was actually quite good. The Unity editor is a beast of an engine, with a lot of good tools that are impenetrable to a novice user (again, you can read more about my experience with Unity here).

I still feel like I learned a lot from the courses and the simple act of being exposed to C# and Unity's desired work flow, but wasn't getting enough out of the experience to continue. A friend of mine tipped me to take a look at freeCodeCamp, which is where I went next.

Back to JavaScript: The freeCodeCamp Experience

On first blush, freeCodeCamp has the look of a less flashy Codeacademy or Treehouse, but I liked how straightforward the tutorials were and without feeling like I needed to get past a paywall to make progress. I picked up where I left off with learning HTML and CSS, making good progress until I got to the Responsive Web Design projects that are required to finish the first section and receive a certification.

I can say with certainty that this was the moment (or series of moments) of my ejection from tutorial purgatory. For a novice with no real professional web design experience, and a willingness to figure out my own solutions without Googling the answer, the projects were hard. I eventually won out and made a couple of silly sites that satisfied the requirements, but the experience spurred me to work through several more freeCodeCamp tutorials on JavaScript front end libraries and back end frameworks.

More importantly, I started to work on my own web-related projects on CodePen and game projects using a bunch of different engines. I also started using Python to do some basic social analytics in my day job, and found it helpful.

Post-Tutorial Purgatory: The Documentation & Googling Experience

Fast forward much time later, and I'm now working on several game-related projects in Phaser and Unity (most notably, a digital prototype for a tabletop card game I'm developing). I've spent a whole heck of a lot of time in framework documentation and Stack Overflow looking for answers and best practices for stuff (linking this post one more time for good measure). I also have developed friendships with a few colleagues who are themselves programmers, and it's been helpful to run code by them for advice and feedback.

One thing that's been helpful about working on my own projects is just the basic experience of setting up a workflow. Learning to use the command line and Git in concert with setting up NPM and a code editor, for example, was eye opening (particularly coming from CodePen, which just does everything for you). For better or worse, most tutorials don't expose you to the nit and grit of the tools that you'll need to get your work done, and there's a lot to be learned.

If you're reading this and looking for the "and I just got my first job as a programmer!" statement, I'm sorry to disappoint! That hasn't been my objective (at least thus far), but I do have some basic TL;DR learnings to share that may be helpful for anyone who's also on the search for a programming language or a platform on which to learn it.

TL;DR

• JavaScript:
• Pro: A very good entry point into learning object oriented programming, particularly if you're interested in any kind of web development (front or back end). You can learn this through most platforms, but my experience was best served by freeCodeCamp.
• Con: Many sites will tell you that it "just runs in your browser" so you "don't have to set up an IDE" and is thus easier to learn, but this mindset will only take you so far. If you're going to do any meaningful development with popular JavaScript frameworks (React, Vue, Express, etc.), you'll wind up setting up something IDE-adjacent with a code editor, package manager, dependencies, etc., without the kind of support you'd get from, say, setting up .NET or similar.
• Python:
• Pro: Super friendly for newcomers if the curly braces in other languages are intimidating at first, and a good point of entry if you're interest in getting into back end programming or data science. I had a good initial onboarding experience through Codeacademy.
• Con: Your options are a little limited if you're looking to get into front end or game development. There are frameworks, for example, that allow you to make games (PyGame, for instance), but if you're specifically looking into game development, you'd be better served elsewhere.
• C#:
• Pro: A very pleasant language that's well-supported by Microsoft and the open source community. With it, you can do back end development, make desktop apps, create games (mostly with Unity but there are other engines like Monogame out there). It may be an unpopular opinion, but I'd recommend first learning C# through Microsoft tutorials or elsewhere and then learning Unity to ease some of the cognitive load imposed by the editor's complexity.
• Con: Not much to speak of here, unless you really don't like Microsoft or really do want to work on front end web development. I could speak volumes about how Unity can improve its user experience, for example, but C# itself is great.
• General Thoughts:
• One of my frustrations in my process of asking the question "what programming language should I learn?" was what I felt was the insufficient answer of "well, what do you want to build?" I encountered this answer a lot, and don't think it's the right way of approaching learning how to program. A beginner doesn't have enough context to know what they can build, let alone the route to get there (unless they're the type of person that just wants to make games or just wants to land a job as a web developer).
• A better answer would be to say, "try a few tutorials on different sites and in different languages, and see if something strikes you as interesting. If it does, stick with it; if it doesn't, pick one at random and see where it takes you. The stuff you'll learn will help irrespective of what you actually wind up doing."
• Additionally, if you can force yourself to get out of the tutorial ecosystem and just make anything outside of the protected environment that's been set up for you, it'll help teach you things you'll need to eventually know, such as setting up an IDE, searching for answers to questions, and sharing your work.

I hope this post is helpful for others out there who are searching for a programming language or a place to learn it. And I'd love to hear about your experiences, too!

There are a ton of courses on Udemy and other similar platforms, I suggest picking one that matches your skill level and going for it.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/ looks great. "No prior programming experience is necessary." Don't overthink your engine choice, you can't go wrong starting with Unity. My personal pro-tip to get the most out of online courses is to frequently pause and attempt the next step on your own before watching the guidance - it helps build your problem solving and independence.

You definitely can do it! Always follow your dreams :) My first thought of getting back to school was like "oh, shit. I'm gonna be there in a middle of teens who have wrote code all their lives and I'm gonna drag behind" So, when I got my confirmation that I got in, I bought couple of Udemy courses for Unity (https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/, this one for example) and spend three months learning by myself. Well when the school started, there was actually other old geeks like me who wanted to change careers. And only couple of us had started learning by ourselves, so we were actually ahead of rest of the class :D To be honest, the school I am in, is not that good, so I must do lot of learning by myself still, but I don't mind it.

Anyway...I still have to work on my old field, luckily I can pretty much decide when I work, but it's my only income at the moment. Which means long days in front of computer. But like somebody else already mentioned, I actually started spend A LOT more time coding and in Unity than playing games, it really really sucked me in. To answer your question, it will be a little dent if not directly to your income, but definitely to your free time. What comes to if it was difficult mentally, for me not really. My mindset was that I don't care what others think, I do this to myself and myself only. If this makes me happy and I get a chance to work doing something I really love, I can take couple of laughs thrown at me. But it turned out that people were more supporting towards me about following my dreams than malicious or asses. :) I'd say go for it, if you can support yourself financially somehow. You will definitely feel lot happier :) Ps. I'm writing this in a hurry, so sorry about shitty grammar and all that!

Thank you for your response!

>Find a programing language or engine you like and look them up

I have already decided that I want to go with Unity for the time being, as I like C#. I have watched about 20-30 youtube tutorials on various unity features as well as some "build your first game" where I followed along. I've enjoyed them so far, but as mentioned in the post, for youtube tutorials, the code is often exemplary and quick-and-dirty. I imagined that a paid course would maybe have a higher code quality and better practices / architecture.

>You can learn a lot from seemingly cheap courses without having to spend an arm and a leg.

Yeah, I'm currently looking at the Complete Unity 2D course, which is definitely more affordable. That's the one I was alluding to in my post when I was talking about "shorter cheaper courses from Udemy".

So you're saying that the expensive course is currently not worth it for me, right?

For videos that give decent challenges instead of only copy pasting, the Udemy course that I took when learning is what I would recommend. It guides you through the coding, while giving you frequent pauses to figure stuff out on your own before giving you the solution. You might have grabbed the same one already, but the one I took is called Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D by Ben Tristem, GameDev.tv Team, and Rick Davidson.

Haha that's part of the learning process. There's a good udemy course that helped me tremendously, the instructors are engaging and awesome and they stop and challenge you to tackle the problems. They walk you through 7 small games projects and do a superb job of explaining the code so anyone can understand it.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

It's actually the only course I've ever pirated, and then I paid for it since I enjoyed it so much.

I'd recommend trying it out to get the basics down. And then you can start challenging yourself to make your own small game ideas.

This one is good https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

ignore the funky particle effects and placeholder win conditions. also im not posting this game on any website or anything, which is why i used copyrighted music lol. just for fun.

and here's the course im following for anyone interested https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I like the Udemy classes. They go on sale constantly for like $13 and will walk you through everything and have you build it.

It really helped me to have a structured lesson rather than just look up 50 tutorials (but I do the tutorials now and can understand them far better).

Like this one.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I recently bought a course on Udemy called Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D. I got it for around 13$. One of the best way I spent my money. I really recommend it. It's a lot of coding in C# which I like and you also learn a lot about the Unity engine and interface. So instead of eating out one day treat yourself with a good course like this ;)

So as an unmedicated 32 year old adult adhd sufferer in the UK although on a 1 year waiting list now... I can offer some advise as to how I got into programming and things I do to help me focus.

There are two major sites I used https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn and https://java-programming.mooc.fi/ i'd say the MOOC java course was a bit more challenging but for bite size chunks and getting into the habit of it free code camp is great.

Try to do a tiny bit each day, even if it's just reading something related, getting into the habit is key. Whilst looking for "gaming" code can be fun I wouldn't say it's nessarilly ideal, the reason for this is making games covers a much wider area than just code. Graphics/Sounds/Design/Scripts and then code on top of that, how ever learning general code is a little different. Although if you want to go down the gaming route I can recommend this C#/Unity Course on udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

As for focusing, this may not apply to you but it was a god send for me, find some music you can listen to that doesn't distract you and play it while studying. Personally I go for lo-fi or ambient music as it ties up part of my brain that likes to run around and really helps me focus. It can't have lyrics for me otherwise that distracts me too much.

I also avoid drinking too much caffine (1 cup in the morning) and I try to go for a walk before I sit down to begin learning or codeing as it tires my brain out to the point where it's more receptive.

Some days I struggle to keep focused other days it comes easily that's why it's important to do a tiny bit every day so the days where your brain wants to work you can run with it and on the days it doesn't you can still achieve something.

Hopefully this helps, ADHD is a total pain in the ass especially when you recognise it and still struggle with it.

I'm not aware of any free tutorials but Gamedev.tv has a Unity 2D course that has a whole section that walks through creating a 2D platformer that introduces you to the Tilemap system. Here's a link: https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/?ranMID=39197&ranEAID=msYS1Nvjv4c&ranSiteID=msYS1Nvjv4c-.yd.D29_UsHIz_i52u6_1Q&LSNPUBID=msYS1Nvjv4c&utm_source=aff-campaign&utm_medium=udemyads

I saw this course on Udemy and thought of you. https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

One of my favorite tutors and youbwill learn a ton basicly mouthfed, so try to have some fun making those prototype games into a mediocre games.

So that you can wrap around what you just learned and not immediately jump to the next because all games you will learn to make are fundamentaly different.

Also don't take bites to big for you, because you will have a headache and a bad mood for several days.

And when 2d games are ot your thing theyre is a very similar course for 3d games

This is one I took about 5 years back https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/learn/lecture/10614272

It is paid, but I'm working my way through this course right now. So far it's really good. I'm learning quite a bit. Once I'm done with that I'll probably start doing some of Brackeys tutorials, or some Cat Like Coding ones

I learned a few years ago with this course, but I'm sure you can find a good course on any free site.

Below is some code I've written for a simple drum stick. All it does is move the drum stick from a start position to an end position (which you set in the inspector) and plays a sound when it gets there. If you put one of these on each drum stick and follow the instructions it should get you pretty close to there. It wont look great but it's a start lol. Feel free to hit me up with any questions and I'll try to help.

//We store the start position
//so we can come back after hitting drum
Vector3 startPosition;

//This will need to be set in the inspector
//before you press play
public Vector3 endPosition;

//Set this in inspector.
//We can use this to pick which
//button moves this drumstick to the drum.
//Mouse 0 is left mouse button.
public KeyCode activeButton;

//Also set in inspector.
//Determines how much time between
//button press and drum struck
public float strikeTime;

//This will be used to move the stick
//to the drum
float strikeTimer = 0;

//This is a component that you'll add
//to the drumstick in the inspector.
//Dont forget to add the sound file you want
//to play as the Audio Clip.
AudioSource audio;

//Start is run once at the start of the game
private void Start()
{
    //We only need to store this once,
    //so we do it in here
    startPosition = transform.position;

    //GetComponent looks for any component of type <whateversInHere>
    //attached to the game object this script is attached to
    audio = GetComponent<AudioSource>();
}

private void Update()
{
    //"If we're pressing the button and not already done
    //moving the drumstick"
    if (Input.GetKey(activeButton) && transform.position != endPosition)
    {
        //Time.deltaTime is the number of seconds (very small)
        //between this frame and the last frame.
        strikeTimer += Time.deltaTime;

        //Lerping basically says "Move to somewhere between point A and point B."
        //The closer strikeTimer is to 0 the closer to point A you get,
        //closer to 1 gives you B.
        //Because strikeTimer is ticking up, this will move from A toward B each frame.
        transform.position = Vector3.Lerp(startPosition, endPosition, strikeTimer);

        //By putting this if statement inside an if statement that asks
        //asks the opposite, we guarantee that this code will only
        //be run once.            
        if (transform.position == endPosition)
        {
            audio.Play();
        }

    }
    //"If the stick has hit the drum and we want it
    //to come back up"
    else if (!Input.GetKey(activeButton) && transform.position != startPosition)
    {
        //Each frame we lower this a little so the
        //stick lerps back from B toward A.
        strikeTimer -= Time.deltaTime;

        transform.position = Vector3.Lerp(startPosition, endPosition, strikeTimer);
    }
}

Btw, if you do decide to stay with Unity, I strongly suggest getting this course https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/ After wasting a lot of time on crappy Youtube tutorials I decided to buy that course - best 15 euros I have ever spent. There is a 3D focused course as well if you are more interested in that. (I am not sponsored by them btw)

Try completing these courses, they helped me a lot!

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse2/

Yes plenty. Start with a basic C# course. Just look on youtube and find the teacher that you like. I highly recommend the book "The C# Players Guide".

And then, do this course. It also teaches the basics of C#:

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

Maybe keep an eye out here for when this goes on sale:

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

There are other courses as well, and they often go on sale. Ben and Rick are good teachers though, and they have a good workflow.

I did both, but got started on this amazing Udemy course : https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/ I highly recommend it :)

Which Unity tutorials did you watch? Because Brackeys makes really good Unity tutorials that are very well-explained. He also has a C# course that teaches you the foundation of the language.

If you're looking for a paid course then I highly recommend this course from Udemy. It really well structured and explained.

I suggest Unity as well. Willing to spend a few bucks? I just do some game dev as a hobby when I'm bored and found this unity lesson extremely valuable.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

It takes you through making 7 2D games in Unity (3D and 2D in Unity share a lot of similarities, it's mostly just the perspective), and really starts the with basics of C# and gently brings you into how to use Unity.

It goes for sale for under $20 all the time, and you can even trick your browser to force sales if it doesn't offer you one. (quick google search will tell you how).

If you enjoyed it, you can take their 3D or other courses as well. The $10-20 you spend here will save you hours of headache or reading through dated and poor tutorials.

I recommend this video course: https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

It goes on sale for a few bucks very often and is very well structured. Not only do you learn to code, you also learn a lot about game/software development an Unity.

Check daily this sub > r/udemyfreebies, couple of days ago you could pick this course for free, but I already bought it on black friday, it was like 10$. Really small price for such a good course. You can also find a bunch of free courses about C#, Unity and other game dev related stuff.

C# is just a bit more difficult than Python. While a dedicated C# course is great, there is nothing wrong with learning it together with Unity. The syntax is a small part of programming, mastering the (Unity) API is what takes time. Just make sure to get a good resource for learning Unity. It doesn't have to be just copying code.

This one is well regarded: https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

(Never buy an Udemy course at less than 80% off. They got a weird pricing system.)

I went to Udemy.com and bought a Unity 3D tutorial for $12. Has roughly 40 hours of video content, lots of access to communities and the instructors set you up with challenges. I'm about 12% of the way through. I haven't been taking it seriously since I bought it about 4-5 weeks ago. I really went to town with it this weekend though. I expect to be at 50% by Christmas.

The instructors also made a 2D tutorial as well. https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/ Don't pay full price for that. If they aren't giving you the 90% discount, then just wait. It really will take some discipline to sit down and learn it all. Its a massive learning curve and a lot of info to take in. Not to mention the scripting in c#. Dont let it intimidate you. Keep at it with momentum.

Complete C# Unity Developer 2D: Learn to Code Making Games https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I suggest waiting for their sale that brings the price down to $10.

Good luck and have fun!

This course is really good! https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I highly suggest you sign up for this course, especially right now while it is on sale for 90% off.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I tried learning Unity a number of times and C#, this is the course that I learned the most from. Fantastic course.

UNITY2D

They have 3D an RPG and other courses as well. And very well made and will get you started. I started with them over YouTube since YouTube channels bounce around topics.

Having done the course myself from knowing very little to making various 2D games I can recommend this course done by GameDev.tv. They really thought the curriculum through and have a solid base of staff to answers questions as well. Good luck!

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

Udemy has a good beginner 2d unity course from the guys at gamedev.tv

You can get it in sale for $11 or so.

Edit: here it is https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

If you're completely new to programming, then I recommend learning from a structured course, it will save a lot of time. Here is a good udemy course by GameDevTv. You can get it for 10-15 $ when there is a sale on udemy.

If you're familiar with programming, but new to unity, then you can just learn from youtube tutorials. Here is a good video covering the basics of unity

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

It's a very solid course with a proper learning structure and QA sections for each video where you can get help from other students and sometimes the instructors if the question is tough enough. It moves at a slow pace, and goes over topics multiple times.

The price tag sometimes says $200, but Udemy has constant "sales". The price is actually around $10 or so.

Go mow a single lawn. Go shovel a single driveway. It sounds like you have both a smart phone AND a computer that can run Unity. I sincerely doubt your family is too poor to afford $10-$15 for what could be a significant investment in your future.

Udemy do courses in c# for unity

Here’s an example udemy c# for Unity

Link: I recommend buying only when it's on sale.

No problem bud.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

This has been good so far. You’ll be making nit very interesting games to begin with but that’s so you can really get a solid grounding with C# and the UI.

Good luck

Can second Ben tristems Udemy courses. Udemy 2D.

They are incredibly detailed, and go over each and every thing, from programming to Unity.

I got them for really cheap on sale, and you should too.

Been doing this for a month now, and just about 10 hours of content is left. Really loving the process.

Ben Tristem's courses on Udemy!

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

This Udemy course

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

is what I started with. it's almost always on sale, though, so don't feel like you have to rush to buy it.

"C# Unity Developer 2D Coding: Learn to Code Video Games | Udemy" https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

Get it on sale, but it's a great way to get started 👍

Most Unity tutorials I have been through have been terribly structured and hard to follow. I have picked up the popular 2D one on Udemy as I learned to program from Udemy tutorials (thank you Mosh!) so I am putting my faith into this one and will start it soon.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

Best c# intro ever made

I highly recommend this https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I started with the unity 2d udemey courses and they were super helpful.

https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse/

I still have a long ways to go

I just started learning as well. I kinda started it about a year ago, then life happened. And now am back on my decision of learning game development, did lots of research, and i came to start with this udemy. Very recommended and i am like 3 sections in, and i do highly recommend it! I do have a very vivid and good background with graphic design, especially 3D, so i know it would help a lot in the process. But tbh, the more you research, the more it gets harder and harder to know where to start and what to start with. Just ignore everything else, and start this course. I had it on sale for $19.99. Maybe we can be learn buddies haha

Zero. If you could never start something without already knowing how to do it, it would be pretty much physically impossible to advance.

Would recommend this if you happen to have a few dollars and want to make your life a lot easier though.

This is one that I highly recommend: https://www.udemy.com/course/unitycourse The other one I went through is this one: https://www.udemy.com/share/1013uk/

Also, if you have any questions at all or ever want to chat, shoot me a message. I remember the first time I opened unity, I was overwhelmed with the amount of buttons and controls... just take it one step at a time. You can do it!