“Learn to code.” It’s been the mantra of the past decade, and for many creatives, a daunting if not unnecessary prospect. Where to start ? And who has the time? Well, sheltering in place and a little help from Unity, the world’s most popular video game engine, can provide those answers!
Starting this week, Unity is offering a free seven-week course with live instruction on how to build interactive software from scratch, with no prior expertise required. Called Create to Code Live, the course offers 35-hour lessons that run twice a day starting this week (replays are also available if you can’t make the times). Between classes, you do 30 minutes of homework to prepare for the next session. The program begins with the fundamentals of the C# programming language and aims to develop character controls, sound design, basic gameplay mechanics, and user interface. It should be satisfying work because, rather than just staring at the command lines, you’ll build worlds while learning best practices in interaction design.
Sure, there are countless Unity tutorials on YouTube, but this is a rare opportunity to take a free, instructor-certified course with homework. And Unity is worth learning about, given that it’s free for anyone who makes under $100,000 with their platform. You can create a mobile, console, VR, or Mac game in Unity. And like its competitor, the Unreal Engine, it’s even used by some animators in place of more traditional 3D animation software.
Then again, if game development isn’t on your horizon, there are plenty of other ways to spend your time in quarantine learning new skills. You can also check out our list of famous illustrators who run drawing classes here.
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