The video game industry already brings in billions of revenue each year, and it’s only set to increase as the years go by. As you can imagine, game developers are in a bit of a high demand right now, especially for engines like Unity which powers half of the world’s games and apps.
Whether you’re a newcomer to Unity or an experienced developer, advancing your career with game development can be a fantastic path to take. However, there is a lot of competition – so what can you do to highlight your own self? The answer is Unity Certification, which can prove your credentials and is industry-recognized!
In this article, we’re going to focus specifically on the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification, get you excited about it, and then get you learning the materials you’ll need to obtain it!
Let’s get started!
What is the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification?
Unity’s Associate Game Developer Certification is designed for aspiring developers with intermediate skills who can take a game from an initial idea to completion. The certification will showcase a receiver’s mastery of Unity, proving their worthiness for a professional game development role.
Those that take the Associate Game Developer Certification will have a background in computer programming or be self-taught hobbyists with detailed knowledge of Unity and C#, including audio, animation, and game physics. Rather than focusing on more minor details, this exam focuses on the broader picture of game development and design.
To qualify for the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification, you’ll need to:
- Build complex games using C# in Unity
- Understand end-to-end game production
- Have previously built a game for publication
- Be confident using prototypes, debugging, and solving programming issues
When taking the exam, you’ll cover a range of topics, including:
- Animation
- Audio
- Asset management
- Employment preparedness
- Game art and design principles
- Industry awareness
- Lighting
- Materials and effects
- Physics & Programming
- Project management & services
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The Benefits of the Associate Game Developer Certification
Unity is an influential game engine, powering half the world’s games. Unity-made applications are used by 2 billion people every month, with 1.5 million creators using Unity to create new and innovative games and applications.
Learning how to use Unity will improve your chances of breaking into the gaming industry, and receiving an Associate Game Developer Certification proves to employers that you’re skilled in game design and development.
Here are the main benefits of taking the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification.
Become a Unity game developer
Receiving a Unity Certification allows you to stand out against your competitors as it’s a recognized qualification in the game development world. Even better, many Unity-based jobs will list a Unity Certification as a preferred requirement, helping you better your chances of becoming a game developer.
Showcase your skills
To take the Unity Associate Game Developer course, you’ll need advanced skills in both Unity and C#. You should be able to make intricate games from conception to reality. Having a Certification will prove your skillset to potential employers, allowing you to stand out in a busy crowd.
What courses are best to prepare for the Associate Game Developer Certification?
Taking the Unity Associate Game Developer Certification requires significant skill, and you’ll need advanced knowledge of Unity and C# to qualify.
It’s essential to build your knowledge practically by making fully-fledged games suitable for your professional portfolio. Luckily, there are plenty of advanced online courses you can take to improve your knowledge of Unity and C# practically by building games.
Here are the best advanced online courses you can take that are suitable to prepare for Unity’s Associate Game Developer Certification.
Unity Game Development Mini-Degree
As mentioned above, preparing for this exam isn’t just about learning Unity, it’s also about having proven game development projects under your belt. What if you could do both at the same time though?
In Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, you’ll go through a comprehensive set of courses that cover just about everything you might want to know about Unity. It covers everything from various tools offered by the engine, and up to covering specific genre mechanics. All the courses are project-based, so you’ll also get plenty of items to add to your portfolio. This includes things such as RPGs, FPS games, racing games, idle clickers, and much more!
Plus, Zenva’s courses also offer a ton of supplemental learning material. Like to read other people’s code? There are downloadable course files of the complete projects! Aren’t a video person? There are text-based summaries that can be used to learn independently of the video!
With Zenva’s Unity Game Development Mini-Degree, you’ll learn:
- C# coding basics
- UI systems
- Audio effects
- Cinematic cutscenes
- Special effects
- Procedural terrain
- Animation
Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need prior experience in Unity or C#.
Duration: 36h 23m
How to access: Access the curriculum here.
Unity Advanced Tutorials
When it comes to game development, there are a surprising lot of details in terms of how mechanics are rendered. Likewise, there are a ton of Unity tools that aren’t so clear or have nuances that can make or break how your game feels.
The Unity Advanced Tutorials series by Brackeys seeks to demystify this. From specific nuances of game mechanics to just taking better advantage of Unity as a tool, this series has a little bit of everything. Nevertheless, it will vastly improve your skillset that you can use for game development.
As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:
- Gravity simulation
- Dialogue systems
- Altering the Unity windows
- Making a level editor
- Reversing game time
- Making a loading bar
- Procedural generation
- Putting Unity projects on GitHub
- Using Unity Analytics
- Volumetric lighting
- Scriptable objects
- Object pooling
- Different combat styles
Skill level: Intermediate. You’ll need to know how to use Unity and program in C#.
Duration: 4h 31m
How to access: Access the series here.
Survival Game Development Academy
To reinforce a point above, the game developer certification is about showing you can take a game from idea to completion. So, understandably, having experience in making a larger, more complex game can be a big boost.
This is where we come to Zenva’s Survival Game Development Academy. Unlike many entries on this list where you’re learning bits and pieces of Unity and doing a different project every course, this curriculum is about making one singular project: a survival game. You’ll learn core mechanics such as player needs, crafting, base building, and combat – and with the breakdown into several courses, wind up with a fairly complex game project!
Plus, this curriculum is perfect for any skill level. If you haven’t ever used Unity before, the curriculum will guide you through the fundamental courses first before throwing you into the project.
All in all, though, the skills here feed directly into learning what being a game developer is all about and teaches you a ton of material that will be helpful for taking the exam.
As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:
- Hunger, thirst, health, and sleep needs
- Day-night cycles
- Item and inventory systems
- Crafting mechanics
- Base building
- Combat and Enemy AI
- Game Saving
Skill level: Beginner. No prior knowledge of Unity or C# is needed.
Duration: 18h 45m
How to access: Access the curriculum here.
Learn to Program with C# – Unity Advanced Tutorials
While programming isn’t the focus of this specific certification, you can’t really ignore it. After all, you’re going to need to know C# pretty well in order to show the advanced level at which you can create games.
Thus, we include Learn to Program with C# – Unity Advanced Tutorials by GameDevHQ. This series of tutorials focuses on a few very specific aspects of C# that are not typically covered in a beginner’s level journey. However, as you advance in game development, you will find they are integral and well-used – so learning them will boost your skills immensely (even if you decide not to get certified).
As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:
- Lists
- Enumus
- Structs vs Classes
- Nullable types
- Interfaces
- Delegate and events
Skill level: Intermediate.
Duration: 1h 46m
How to access: Access the series here.
EdTech Mini-Degree
Unity is for more than just making entertainment industry games. EdTech is revolutionizing how Unity is used with educational games and job training applications. The industry is already worth $6 trillion and is set to grow further.
For the purposes of certification, though, EdTech is also a fantastic way to explore unique Unity features and other advanced skills that otherwise never get covered.
The EdTech Mini-Degree by Zenva is designed to teach you everything you need to develop educational and training-based apps. You’ll cover topics including developing in 2D and 3D, using virtual reality, data analytics, and much more.
Each subsequent project featured in the curriculum gives you a chance to explore new applications for Unity – while also teaching you important facets involved in the software development cycle. Plus, as these skills are a bit more unique, it adds some extra material to your portfolio to stand out from the competition.
As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:
- Coding basics with C# and Unity
- Quizzes featuring text, images, audio, and video
- Virtual reality applications
- Data-driven development with Unity Analytics
- Retrieving data with external APIs
- Voice and language recognition
- Text-recognition and text-to-audio
Skill level: Beginner. No prior coding experience is needed.
Duration: 21h 40m
How to access: Access the curriculum here.
Learn Unity Engine and C# by creating a real top-down RPG
Similar to an earlier entry, a good portion of this exam is about showcasing you can make games as a whole. So, making games as a whole is sure to help you actually prove that.
Learn Unity Engine and C# by creating a real top-down RPG by Epitome, as the title suggests, is all about teaching you various skills while building a fully scoped top-down RPG. Where this tutorial is slightly unique is that it focuses specifically on 2D – which is just as important to learn as 3D. Nevertheless, this course will put you through the gambit and make sure you have tons of key systems down pat!
As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:
- Setting up
- Moving and Manual Collision Detection
- Tilemap and Designing Dungeon
- Interactive Objects and Inheritance
- Saving Game’s State
- Floating Text System
- Top Down Combat System
- Animator and Weapon Swing Animation
- Character Menu and the new UI System
- Polishing and Adding Content
Skill level: Novice. Some basic knowledge of Unity and C# is needed.
Duration: 7h 45m
How to access: Access the course here.
Game Design Academy
Game design is integral to developing a game. Game designers will conceptualize levels and characters, create engaging stories, and make the game feel cohesive through stylistic and narrative choices. While not “technical” in the same way coding is, it still requires purposeful choices and skills that show you can plan a game. So, though often overlooked, it is a huge step in the entire game development process.
Game Design Academy by Zenva is the perfect way to jump into this aspect of the game development process. You’ll explore the main principles of design using real-world examples, and discover how these fundamental concepts affect the overall feel of the game
More importantly, though, you’ll learn skills that will let you enhance your game projects, which in turn improves your overall Unity skills with new reasons to learn specific skills and tools.
As part of this course, you’ll cover key topics, including:
- Core game loop setup
- How to guide players
- Game feel
- Level design foundations
- Storytelling techniques
Skill level: Beginner. You don’t need any prior knowledge of Unity or C#.
Duration: 3h 5m
How to access: Access the curriculum here.
Unity’s Associate Game Developer Certification
Well, that’s all, folks – the best courses for the Associate Game Developer Certification. This certification will be a lot tougher than the previous User level. However, preparing for it with enrich your ability to make games as a whole.
This said, be assured there are a lot more courses out there, even on platforms like Zenva. The more you can learn about Unity and game development, the better off you’ll be. Plus, everyone’s learning style is different, so your “best” course may be different from what’s on the list.
Regardless, we hope these resources help, and best of luck on your certification exam!
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