Unity + USC Games Unlocked
Design and publish your original game
Know Unity basics but struggling to make your game? Unity has partnered with the University of Southern California (USC), the #1 game-design school in the world, to create an online course that’s laser-focused on helping intermediate Unity users achieve their dream of completing their own original game.
Kellee Santiago talks about the role of play-testing in creating her iconic character in Journey
Learn what it takes from successful game designers
Get ready to take your game from concept to reality. Unity has partnered with the world’s top game-design school to create the only online course that teaches the USC approach to game design and production. You’ll get hands-on experience with scoping, planning, building, refactoring and publishing your own game. Plus, listen to the award-winning creators of Journey, Firewatch, Threes, Whispering Willows and more as they break down the key steps and production practices they use to build and ship their games.
“This course is a tremendous opportunity for people who want to really boost their knowledge of game development and design while utilizing the Unity tools. And we’re thrilled to collaborate with Unity on such a unique partnership as we continue to expand our offerings to students and the general public.”
Learn from the masters
This is the only online course that brings the world’s best game teachers and designers to you, wherever you are.
Proven curriculum from the world’s top game-design school
Learn from the experts who taught the creators of Journey, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, League of Legends and more. As the top game-design school in the world, USC has raised the bar in online game development courses with video lectures and project-based assignments that capture the USC faculty’s unique and proven approach to teaching game development.
True-life development stories
These behind-the-scenes, real-life “war” stories by industry visionaries will provide inspiration and insights, giving you an unprecedented look into what it really takes to succeed. Guest speakers include creators of Journey, Whispering Willows, Cat and Coup, Firewatch, Disney theme-park rides, and Threes.
Over 8 weeks, you’ll get step-by-step instruction from the world’s best to elevate your game.
The Un-Tutorial
Build your own original game.
Unlike conventional follow-along tutorials, this course takes you through the entire production process of actually building and publishing your very own game.
Whether you’ve just come up with a game idea or completed a game jam, this learning (and doing) experience will show you the best way to complete your game and take it to market.
Course Description
This self-paced Unity + USC Games Unlocked course pairs video instruction and project-based assignments.
Course Description:
Project 1: Goal Setting and Community Building
Project 2: Design and Planning
Project 3: Prototyping
Project 4: Milestones and
Project 5: Agile Development
Project 6: Writing Better Code
Project 7: Playtesting
Project 8: Release your game
The Instructors:
- Will Armstrong – Lead Programmer on Firewatch
- Estefania Harbuck – Disney Imagineer for theme park rides
- Asher Vollmer – Cocreator of Threes
- Kellee Santiago – Producer of Journey
- David Logan – Creative Director for Whispering Willows
Prerequisites: We recommend that you’ve completed at least two full Unity projects, such as Roll-a-Ball tutorial or the Creator Kits or an equivalent, such as one school semester of instruction in game development with Unity.
Threes by Sirvo LLC
Let’s bring your game to life
- Get ahead with a proven USC faculty-authored curriculum
- Stay on track with unique “learning by doing” experience
- Advance your skills with real-world, project-based assignments
- Enjoy unlimited lifetime access to video lectures from top industry experts
- Explore a rich library of resources and templates from real productions
- Be inspired by the insights of professional game designers
”The course was such a great resource. You come up with a concept. You clean it up. You learn how to organize it. And you get tips and tricks from other people who have launched games for profit. And even if at the end of the day, the game you made isn’t exactly the greatest Halo remake, you gain all this knowledge and experience and you are able to know next time what to do on your own … that’s priceless.”
Yes, if you complete the course assignments, you will have a complete game at the end of this course.
The typical completion time is 8 weeks but it could be longer depending on how you pace your progress through the units. Expect to spend at least 2-3 hours a week over the next 8 weeks on your game (the more time you have, the better you can make it).
Although this course is designed by, and features video instruction by, USC faculty, it is currently not part of the USC academic curriculum and therefore, is not eligible for USC credit.
- Session 1: Welcome and self-assessment
- Session 2: Set your goals and find your community
- Session 3: The design process
- Session 4: Scope
- Session 5: Constraints, and our theme
- Session 6: Concentric design
- Session 7: Prototyping
- Session 8: Assets shouldn’t be liabilities
- Session 9: The stages of game development
- Session 10: Your first milestone: Vertical Slice
- Session 11: Planning your project
- Session 12: Agile
- Session 13: Writing better code
- Session 14: What is playtesting?
- Session 15: How to playtest
- Session 16: Release your game!
- Session 17: Alpha and beyond
- Session 18: Bonus content