Free through lesson 3

Unity Game Dev Intro Course

From setting up through Transform and MonoBehaviour, Rigidbody and WheelCollider, engine and transmission, tire grip and steering, Cinemachine and HUD, road generation with Spline, URP night scenes, AI rivals, optimization, Steam publishing. Across 50 lessons, you'll build a complete midnight highway racing game and ship it from Steam's storefront. Every line of code and value was written with Unity 6 LTS (6000.3 series) and URP.

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Curriculum

All 50 lessons are divided into 7 chapters. It's best to work through chapter 1 first, but you can also skip around to topics that interest you. Note: You can't run in the browser, so create a Universal 3D (URP) project in Unity 6 LTS (6000.3 series) and place scripts there to test.

Chapter 1 — Unity Fundamentals (lessons 1–9)

Install Unity and create a project, understand the editor's 4 windows. Tackle Transform, MonoBehaviour, SerializeField, Time.deltaTime, Input System, Prefab, Rigidbody — tools used every lesson for the next 41.

1

What Is Unity? (Setup and First Project)

Split Unity Hub and Editor roles, create NightRunner project with LTS and URP templates. Grow this one project through lesson 50.

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2

Editor View and GameObject, Components

Understand Scene, Game, Hierarchy, Inspector, Project roles, make test scene. Unity builds with components on GameObjects, not inheritance.

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3

Transform and 3D Space (Coordinates and Rotation)

Left-handed coordinates, Y-up, local vs. world, Space.Self and Space.World. Handle rotation with Quaternion, interpolate with Slerp and 1 - Exp(-k·dt).

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4

MonoBehaviour Lifecycle

Awake, Start, FixedUpdate, Update, LateUpdate calling order and counts. Input in Update, physics in FixedUpdate, camera in LateUpdate.

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5

SerializeField and Inspector

Let editor adjust code values. SerializeField private is default, avoid public. AnimationCurve and OnValidate, Play stop resets values pitfall.

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6

Time.deltaTime and Frame-Independent Motion

Multiply by deltaTime makes units "/second." Use 1 - Exp(-k·dt) for Lerp pursuit coefficient. True reason physics goes in FixedUpdate.

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7

Receive Input with Input System

Action Map and 1D Axis composite unify keyboard and gamepad into one Action. Isolate input in one class, car physics stays device-unaware.

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8

Prefab and Instantiate (Create and Destroy)

Prefab is design outside scenes. Understand override and Apply scope, Instantiate syntax, reuse frequent instances with object pool.

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9

Rigidbody, Collider, Physics Basics

With Rigidbody, don't assign transform.position directly. Interpolate and Collision Detection, Collider choice, car-critical centerOfMass.

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Chapter 2 — Drive a Car (lessons 10–14)

Progress from moving a box to controlling a 4-wheel car. Grasp FixedUpdate and AddForce, WheelCollider mechanics, build a minimal car by lesson 12, add visuals and rollover prevention.

10

FixedUpdate and AddForce (Applying Force)

Four ForceMode types differ, AddForceAtPosition is car's core. Make a car-like box with AddForce alone, see limits.

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11

Understand WheelCollider Mechanism

WheelCollider calculates per-tire suspension, load, slip, friction. Spring constant computed. Watch Scale and hierarchy constraints.

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12

[Project] Minimal 4-Wheel Car

Organize hierarchy, place wheels to real scale, drive FR car. Axle-unit design, first 5 problems to solve.

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13

Wheel Mesh Sync and Suspension Viz

GetWorldPose gets pose and rotation together. Visual updates in LateUpdate. Don't put mesh as WheelCollider child, body tilt for effect.

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14

Center of Gravity and Roll, Pitch (No Rollover Setup)

Gravity height and front-rear position define character. Tune with forceAppPointDistance, hand-implement anti-roll bar missing from WheelCollider.

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Chapter 3 — Vehicle Physics (lessons 15–21)

From "moving" to "drive like a car." Layer engine torque curve and RPM, gear ratios and shifting, drivetrain and differentials, tire grip and slip, braking, steering, aerodynamics in turn.

15

Model the Engine (Torque Curve and RPM)

Torque changes with RPM. Draw curve with AnimationCurve, build Engine class independent of car: RPM, rev limiter, engine braking.

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16

Transmission (Gear Ratio, Shifting, Automatic)

Gear ratio amplifies torque, drops RPM. Divide RPM, multiply torque. Shift cuts clutch, breaking drive.

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17

Drivetrain (FR, FF, AWD) and Differential

Differential allows left-right rotation difference. Open diff flows torque to low-resistance side. LSD blends open and even split.

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18

Tire Grip and Slip (Friction Curve)

Asymptote Value decides post-slide grip. Load sensitivity, surface, friction circle — each step rewrite Friction Curve for behavior static settings can't make.

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19

Braking, Handbrake, Simple ABS

Brake front-biased. Lock kills sideways grip to 0, can't turn. ABS repeats grab-release, handbrake doesn't get it.

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20

Steering (Ackermann, Speed-Sensitive, Counter Assist)

Inner wheel cuts more than outer (Ackermann), high speed narrows angle (speed-sensitive), counter-steer aid without stealing input. Lesson 12's 5 problems solved.

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21

Downforce and Air Drag

Air drag squares with speed. That's the speed ceiling. Downforce pushes down and via load-sensitivity lifts grip.

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Chapter 4 — Feel of Driving (lessons 22–30)

Physics alone doesn't feel good. Externalize settings with ScriptableObject, layer camera, engine sound, HUD, smoke, drift detection, damage, gamepad support. Finish with replay and ghost racing.

22

Manage Vehicle Data with ScriptableObject

Collect 50+ settings in one asset. Values survive Play stop. Runtime copy keeps asset clean, DefaultExecutionOrder guarantees init order.

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23

Build Chase Camera with Cinemachine

Switch cameras by priority, not moving. Track physics car body, not effect-tilted visuals. FOV change sells speed feel.

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24

Engine Sound (Pitch Control and Layer Mix)

One loop pitch-shifted isn't enough. 4 layers: low/high RPM × accel on/off crossfade. Verify audio rights first.

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25

Build HUD (Speedometer, Tachometer, Gear Display)

Canvas Scaler and anchors first. Gauges lag to feel analog. HUD stays physics-unaware, reads public properties.

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26

Tire Smoke, Skid Marks, Exhaust Effects

Particle System's Simulation Space is World. One dynamic mesh holds all wheels' skids for 1 draw call.

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27

Drift Detection and Scoring

"Sliding" alone won't judge. Filter low-speed lock, spins, airtime, grace period glues turn-backs. Don't reward brink-of-collapse.

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28

Collision and Damage Expression

relativeVelocity splits into 3 stages. If timeScale changes, fixedDeltaTime too. Explicitly slow speed or walls become optimal.

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29

Gamepad and Steering Wheel Support

Add Binding, device support done. Car physics unchanged. Vary compensation per device, don't forget to stop rumble.

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30

[Project] Replay and Ghost Racing

Input record needs determinism, fragile. Record state at 20Hz, interpolate replay. Ghost has no physics, corrupt files don't crash game.

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Chapter 5 — Track and Night Scene (lessons 31–36)

Build where to drive. Generate highway-style road mesh from Spline, add guardrails and road materials, URP lighting and Post Processing for nighttime expressway. Add checkpoints and lap timing.

31

Generate Highway Roads with Spline

Spline's biggest advantage: code reads course info. Auto-calculate bank from curvature, stack sections into mesh.

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32

Road Mesh, Guardrails, Road Material

Continuous: generate mesh. Discrete: place Prefabs. Don't flip vertices one side or it's transparent. Street lights 35m apart create night rhythm.

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33

Make Night Scenes with URP (Lighting and Emissive)

Night is "place lights," not "darken." Emissive costs near zero but lights. Real-time lights are costly, keep count down.

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34

Post Processing Sells "Speed"

Only Emissive + Bloom + Tonemapping + HDR together glow. Motion Blur under 0.3. Screen comfort = Steam review score.

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35

Headlights, Taillights, Light Optimization

Low beam wide-close, high beam narrow-far. No shadows. MaterialPropertyBlock changes color without duplicating, cull street lights by distance.

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36

Checkpoints, Lap Timing, Results

"Pass all in order" rule blocks shortcuts and reversals together. Trigger thickness 4m. Reverse via dot product.

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Chapter 6 — Game Polish (lessons 37–44)

Shape a playable experience. AI rivals and traffic, title-to-results scene flow, save and tuning. Profiler finds slow spots, optimize rendering, physics, scripts, add options menu.

37

AI Rival Car (Spline Following + Steering Control)

AI makes inputs, doesn't move car. Corner speed v = √(a·r) from physics, brake ahead. Perfect AI isn't fun.

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38

Traffic AI and Lane Change

Traffic skips physics. Kinematic Rigidbody flows Spline, wrap far cars to other side. Traffic volume is best difficulty knob.

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39

Scene Management and Game Flow

Boot scene pattern puts GameFlow once. LoadSceneAsync progress stops at 0.9. GameFlow holds cross-scene data.

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40

Save Data and Tuning / Car Purchase

Store "what you own," compute performance each time. Write via temp file to not lose data. Tuning trade-offs birth choices.

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41

Profiler Finds Slow Spots

Measure, don't guess. 60fps budget is 16.7ms. Large Self is the culprit, GC Alloc creates spikes. Editor ≠ build.

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42

Optimize Rendering (LOD, GPU Instancing, Occlusion)

Reduce SetPass Calls first. By impact: SRP Batcher → Static Batching → Far Clip → shadows. SetPass more important than vertices.

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43

Optimize Physics and Scripts

GC Alloc's biggest source: strings. Update only when value changes. Replace string compare with Dictionary, timeslice flatten 1-frame spikes.

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44

Options Menu, Key Config, Localization

Volume converts to dB. Input System rebind API is few lines. No key config and motion sickness protection = low reviews.

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Chapter 7 — Build and Steam Publish (lessons 45–50)

Make others playable it. Windows build pitfalls, Steamworks registration and review, Steamworks.NET for achievements, leaderboards, Steam Cloud, steamcmd upload. Release and ongoing maintenance.

45

Build for Windows and Troubleshoot

Company Name becomes save path. IL2CPP for shipped. 5 "runs in editor, breaks in build" causes here.

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46

Register with Steamworks (Steam Direct and Review)

Tax info is first gate. AppID used everywhere after. 30 days min before release after store page opens. "Recreate feel" free, "borrow unique expression" isn't.

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47

Integrate Steamworks.NET and Steam Achievements

Game runs without Steam. Forget StoreStats, achievements don't save. Only one class bridges game and Steam.

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48

Leaderboards and Steam Cloud

Don't keep CallResult local or no results, no error either. KeepBest sends times. Fairness is design, not tech.

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49

Store Page, Depot, steamcmd Upload

Capsule image critical. setlive empty string. Never include steam_appid.txt. Always test on beta before default.

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50

Release and Beyond (Next Fest, Updates, Capstone)

Next Fest once. Wishlists decide launch. First 10 reviews matter. Hardest for solo: finish.

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After you finish all 50 lessons, learn to model cars and courses yourself with Blender Python Intro, or strengthen AI and scoring fundamentals with Algorithm Fundamentals Intro. Membership unlocks all courses.