Pull Request #2

README.md

@@ -2,17 +2,45 @@
 
 * by Rob Madden
 
-This course should be entitled 'Game Creation with Unity' and should be broken down into three phases.  The course will simultaneously teach object oriented programming fundamentals as illustrated by integrating C# scripts into multiple Unity game examples.  The goal of the course is to teach students the knowledge they will need to be proficient in creating an arbitrary game using the Unity game creation system and C# as their scripting tool, if we choose to teach JavaScript that is also an option.  No prior programming experience is needed for this course as the programming fundamentals will be taught in tandem to the Unity game creation platform.  We will not teach the students how to build assets in this course.  This will most likely will not be a very easy course for beginners, but I think it's doable.  Lastly, we will have to work in checkpoint for teaching revision control as I don't see any way around it.
+This course should be entitled 'Game Creation with Unity' and should be broken down into three phases.  The course will simultaneously teach object oriented programming fundamentals as illustrated by integrating C# scripts into multiple Unity game examples.  The goal of the course is to teach students the knowledge they will need to be proficient in creating an arbitrary game using the Unity game creation system and C# as their scripting tool, if we choose to teach JavaScript that is also an option.  No prior programming experience is needed for this course as the programming fundamentals will be taught in tandem to the Unity game creation platform.  We will not teach the students how to build assets in this course.  This course is also not about hardcore algorithmic gaming and building complex 3D physics in my opinion.  Unity does not provide the abilty to modify or change the physics engine.  I don't think we need to teach algorithmic fundamentals like complexity analysis in this course as most of the scripting techniques I've research thus far do not contain any sophisticated algorithmic code.  That being said, this will most likely will not be a very easy course for beginners, but I think it's doable.  Lastly, we will have to work in checkpoint for teaching revision control as I don't see any way around it.
 
 ## Phases
-- A Foundation phase where students will learn the fundamentals of both C# (C Sharp) as well as the Unity cross-platform game creation system while creating their first games (one two dimensional game and one three dimensional game).  Both games are relatively trivial, the 2D game can be something like Pong which illustrates the fundamentals of Unity.  The 3D game can be something similar to the beginner demos that Unity has on their website.  By walking the student through both a 2D and 3D course in the foundation phase, we will have overlapping criteria between the two which will reaffirm their knowledge during the second game but will also illustrate the differences between 2D and 3D gaming.  After creating both games they will also have a reference to look back at for their intermediate course.
+- A Foundation phase where students will learn the fundamentals of both C# (C Sharp) as well as the Unity cross-platform game creation system while creating their first game: Pong.
 
-- An intermediate phase where students will build a more complex game with greater breadth and depth as well as a higher number of breakpoints and challenges.  
+- An intermediate phase where students will build two slightly more complex games with greater breadth and depth as well as a higher number of breakpoints and challenges.  Both games are considered to be intermediate within the Unity community and we can tweak them as we see fit.
 
 - Lastly an advanced phase where students build a game entirely from scratch.  We let the students choose from a pool of sophisticated games that are predetermined to have enough scope and complexity that they are challenging yet not impossible.  This can be something like minesweeper for the 2D course which has a decent amount of programmatic sophistication to some type of basic 3D RPG with multiple levels, a character, spawning enemies, health, etc.
 
+## Mediums
+We should provide small video clips of doing certain things within the Unity interface.  The idea here is that when going through tutorials if we use certain nomenclature like, 'Add a RigidBody2D component to the Player object' they will have a reference to a small video of actually taking the steps within Unity to do this.
+For example:
+    - Changing the layout of the actual software
+    - Adding a generic GameObject
+    - Adding a component said GameObject
+    - Switching between 2D and 3D mode
+    - Adding a script to a game object
+    - Opening a script in MonoDevelop
+    - Dragging a sprite into the scene
+
+We should also provide a gist or some type of table with keyboard shortcuts:
+    - Mac OS:
+        - All navigation shortcuts
+            - Holding option and using the mouse to move the scene (2D)
+            - Holding option and using the mouse to rotate the scene (3D)
+            - Holding control and option and using the mouse to zoom in and out of the scene (2D, 3D)
+        - Press 'f' to focus on a game object
+        - Holding 'z' when snapping game components
+
 ## Expectation and Goals
 Students will not find this course to be trivial, but by the time they have finished the course they will have a solid understanding of the following:
     - Revision control with git (we will have to teach this I assume)
     - Programming in C# of JavaScript
     - Building both a 2D and 3D standalone game with Unity
+
+
+## How can we separate ourselves from online resources?
+Most of what I've seen so far is this: 
+    - Video tutorials on how to build games on both Unity's website as well as youtube
+    - Small projects with no real direction on random sites around the web
+
+Our course will trump everything I've seen online by teaching a wide range of methodologies within Unity and reinforcing programming techniques by challeninging the students to think on their own.  Everything I have seen online thus far simply provides the scripts you need and walks you through linking the game up.  Usually this is done by providing a video with voiceover that explains why the students are doing certain things.  Our course will be interactive and actually challenge the student after building their knowledge from scratch.

unity_outline.md

@@ -7,13 +7,59 @@
 > - [Download Unity](http://unity3d.com/unity/download)
 > - [Unity Scripting API](http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/index.html)
 > - [Unity Video Tutorials](http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/editor)
+> - [Unity Community Support](http://unity3d.com/community)
+>
+> **CSharp**
+>
+> - [CSharp Help](http://www.csharphelp.com/)
+> - [CSharp Programming Guide from Microsoft](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/67ef8sbd.aspx)
 
-## Foundation Phase
+
+## Foundation Phase (120 hours)
 
 In this phase students will build the two dimensional game Pong as well as slightly more challenging three dimensional game where they navigate a ball through a maze.  By the end of this foundation, the student should be equipped with knowledge pertaining to the Unity application, basic C# knowledge, and how Unity ties all pieces of a game together to make it a functional unit.  All assets will be provided for his phase.
 
-0. Setting up Our project, creating a githug profile and initializing a git repository
-    - Explain revision control and why we need it
+### Introduction to C#: why we chose it and how it will aid with our game development
+    1. Dissecting Hello World (code sample provided)
+        - Syntax Conventions
+        - Commenting    
+        - Introduction to variables, types and assignment and why we need them
+        - Explaining the idea of a library or import
+    2. Introduction to conditionals (modifying hello world)
+    3. Introduction to loops (modigyin hello world)
+    4. Introduction to classes and methods (modifying hello world)
+        - What's a constructor?
+        - Explain what visibilty on a method is and how it can be used to your advantage as a programmer
+        - Explain method overloading
+    5. Introduction to the most widely used data structures (modifying hello world)
+        - Queue
+        - Stack
+        - Hashtable
+    6. Introduction to interfaces and what they're good for
+    7. Introduction to abstract classes and what they're good for
+    8. Introduction to exception handling 
+    9. Introduction to basic debugging by catching excepions and stepping through buggy code
+    10. After Hello World is built, describe the major principles of Object Orient Programming and the difference between functional and object orient programming.  Give good coding samples that illustrate each example.
+        - Abstraction
+        - Inheritence
+        - Encapsulation
+        - Polymorphism 
+
+### Brief Introduction to using git with MonoDevelop 
+    1. Setting up our project, creating a githug profile and initializing a git repository
+    2. Explain revision control and why we need it
+    3. Student creates github account if they haven't already and initializes a github repository for their game
+    4. Student makes their first commit
+    5. Brief overview of basic git commands:
+        - git fetch
+        - git pull
+        - git checkout
+        - git branch
+        - git merge
+    6. Setting the git project within MonoDevelop's Version Control
+
+#### Time to Build our First Game, Pong
+
 
 1. Brief introduction to the Unity Interface
 
@@ -31,24 +77,20 @@ In this phase students will build the two dimensional game Pong as well as sligh
     - Explain the static 'Layers' and 'Layout' button at the top right of the software.
 
 2. Setting up the Environment
+    - Creating your first branch in git: In this checkpoint you will learn how to create a branch in git 
+        - What is branching?  Why do we need/use branches?
+        - Creating a branch for our first game
     - Creating Your First Game Board: Most games start with an environment or level, in Pong we have a simple board.  In this checkpoint we show how to create the game board for Pong which is effectively creating a GameObject, naming it, setting the proper sprite, then setting the layer properties.
+    - Describe what a 'PreFab' is
 
 3. Camera Setup
     - Setting Up The Camera: In this checkpoint we show how to set the camera for Pong and why the camera needs to be set in a certain fashion.
     - Setting Up the Boundaries for our Game Board: In this checkpoint we show how to add boundaries to the Pong game so that the players move within the boundary constraints.
         - Breakpoint: Introduction to 'MonoDevelop' which is ehe IDE that Unity has chosen to use.
             - Explain what an IDE is and why we use them
-        - Breakpoint: Introduction to C# programming language via overview of GameSetup.cs
-            - Class
-            - Variables
-            - Methods
-            - Commenting
-            - Imports
         - Set up the "top wall" and "left wall" for the student.
         - Assignment: have the student create the bottom and right walls.
 
-        ![GameManager.cs](http://bit.ly/1I5QELF)
-
 4. Adding Players to your Game
     - Adding Player 1
         - Adding the Sprite and Mapping the Components to the Sprite: In this checkpoint we'll show the student how to add components such as the box collider to a Sprite and explain why we need to do that.
@@ -75,8 +117,151 @@ In this phase students will build the two dimensional game Pong as well as sligh
     - Add ScoreManager script to GameManager
     - Set left and right wall triggers and create script that attaches to ScoreManager named 'SideWalls'
     - Add the Score skin which is basically a label
+    - Set the font on the score by adding a custom asset
+
+7. We now have a functional game, but we can only play through one point.  In this checkpoint you will learn how to reset the ball's position when a point is scored.
+    - More scripting in the walls management script to send a signal to the ball script to tell it to reset.
+    - More scripting in the ball script to reset it's position when a point is scored
+
+8. Our game is cool but we don't have sound, how do we add sound to our game?
+    - Add audtio source to ball strike
+    - Adding pitch variation to the ball strike
+    - Assignment: now you add a sound when the player scores
+    - Lastly, let's add background music to the game
+        - Breakpoint: Audio optimization
+            - Since the background track is larger in size and longer we will want to make sure that the settings are correct such as:
+                - 'Use compression'
+                - 'Stream from disc'
+
+9. Miscellaneous Stuff, tweaking our game
+    - Physics2D settings
+    - Positions iterations
+    - Adding a restart button to the game
+        - Modifying the score manager script
+        - Adding a tag to the ball object so we can reference it later
+        - Assignment: change the font on the button
+
+10. Build Settings and Exporting our Game
+    - Add the scenes to the Build Settings Scenes pane
+    - Modify the Build Settings to build for Android
+    - Add an icon for your game
+    - Setting the Bundle Identifier    
+    - And finally getting the APK onto your phone (or emulator) to test it out
+
+## Intermediate Phase (180 hours)
+
+In this phase, the student will build a more sophisticated 2D game such as Angry Birds which [Unity suggests](http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/live-training-archive/making-angry-birds-style-game) is an "intermediate" level of game to build, or a 3D intermediate game.  The Student will also learn more advanced git techniques such as merging, rebasing, etc. 
+
+#### Zombie Slayer : Our First Three Dimensional Game, this series of checkpoints will focus heavily on the scripting aspect of Unity
+
+0.  Creating a 3D project
+
+1.  Setting up the Environment
+    - Set the lighting for the game
+
+2.  Setting the navigation in the 3D world
+    - Add the Mesh Collider component
+    - Creating the NavMesh
+    - Baking the NavMesh
+    - Assignment: Add background music to the game
+        - Tip: use a compressed audio file otherwise the game will be too big
+
+3.  Building our Zombie Slayer
+    - Importing the 3D asset into Unity
+    - Adding the animation controller, this is basically a state diagram within Unity that controls what states the player can be in:
+        - Idle, Move, Death
+    - Assignment: Build a script that will follow the zombie slayer
+    - Assignment: Add an audio source when the zombie slayer gets hurt
+    - Assignment: Add an audio source when the zombie slayer fires his weapon
+    - Animating our player's movement using scripting
+        - Introduction to raycasting
+    - Assignment: Build a script that will manage the Zombie Slayer's health
+
+4.  Adding enemies to our game
+    - Importing the 3D zombie asset
+    - Adding the spwan points for the zombies
+    - Assignment: create a script that will randomly spawn zombies in a series of set places and then attach it to the spawn points
+
+5.  Keeping Track of the Score
+    - Assignment: Build a script to keep track of how many zombies have been killed.
+    - Assignment: Display the zombie kill count in the game
+
+6.  Game Over
+    - Assignment: Build a smooth 'game over' state 
+        - Give them a partially filled out GameOverManager script
+        - When the players dies it should be animated
+        - After the animation ends, fade the game out, fade the game over state in and end the game
+        - Add a restart button that will restart the game
+7.  Build and export the game
+    - Assignment: Build and export the game
+
+#### Angry Birds, this series of checkpoints will introduce some new techniques we haven't seen as well as some scripting techniques
+
+1.  Setting up the Environment 
+    - Assignment: Setting the sprite
+    - Assignment: Adding grass
+    - Assignment: Adding a 2D edge collider to the grass
+    - Introduction to sorting layers
+
+2.  Setting up the Camera
+    - Setting the size
+
+3.  Adding the catapult (This is sort of analagous to the player module)
+    - Adding the components of the catapult and setting layers correctly
+    - Adding the asteroid to the catapult
+        - Applying the physics engine to the asteroid sprite
+            - Adding linear drag
+            - Adding angular drag
+        - Adding circular 2D collider
+            - Modifying the radius
+        - Setting the linear and angular drag
+    - Adding the catapult slings
+    - Adding the spring joint 2D to the asteroid
+        - anchor to the catapult
+    - Adding the rubber bands
+        - Add the line renderers to the catapult
+        - Add the new material to define the band
+        - Set material on line renderers
+    - Adding the ProjectileDragging.cs script to Asteroid
+
+4.  Modifying the camera to follow the Asteroid
+    - Adding a script that controls the camera position, add the script to Main Camera
+    - Adding boundary markers (left and right)
+
+5.  Getting the game to restart
+    - Add Boundary object that is a trigger to restart the game
+    - Assignment: Add a reset script
+
+6.  Building the Structure to be knocked down
+    - Add a parent game objects: house
+    - Add the planks to the house
+    - Same patterns as always, add the colliders
+    - Assignment: Make a prefab of a plank
+
+7.  Adding the Target
+    - Assignment: Add a script to control the amount of damage the asteroid does
+    - Add damagers to asteroid and planks
+    - Add particle system to target when it dies
+
+8.  Adding a Score System
+    - Assignment: Build a script that will manage how many points the player has scored
+
+9.  Adding More Levels
+    - Assignment: Build a completely new level (Scene) which we haven't done yet, reuse existing components to create said scene
 
-
-## Intermediate Phase
+## Advanced Phase (200 Hours)
 
-## Advanced Phase
+In this phase students will build their own game from scratch (with assets from Unity) from a pool of games that we predetermine are sophisticated enough.
+    - Ideas for sophisticated games for students to build:
+        - Minesweeper
+        - Tetris
+        - A third person 3D RPG the game should have these minimum features:
+            - Assortment of different enemy types
+            - Levels
+            - Inventory system
+            - Health system
+            - Random world items
+            - Objectives
+            - NPCs
+        - A first person fantasy RPG with same featureset as above
+    - Have the student write at least one [custom plugin](http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/Plugins.html)