GAME 1303 — Unity Section: Weeks 5–16 Lecture Topics
Expanded engine-topic lecture content for Section 001 (Unity 6.x), Weeks 1 through 16, building on the syllabus and course schedule. Per-week detail relating each lecture to its exercise and milestone lives in the “Lecture Detail Pages” tab (Week 5 – Week 16, nested below).
| Wk | Date | Milestone / Exercise | Lecture topics |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 25 | Ex 1 — First Playable | 01-week-01 Editor tour and project setup Sprite/asset import pipeline Input System package and control schemes |
| 2 | Sep 1 | Game Pitches (live) | 02-week-02 Live pitches — hook and scope Project organization and version control Naming and folder conventions |
| 3 | Sep 8 | Ex 2 — The Verb | 03-week-03 GameObjects, components, and prefabs PlayerMove2D and the Input System Isolating one core verb |
| 4 | Sep 15 | Ex 3 — Rules & States One Sheet due | 04-week-04 Colliders and triggers GameStateManager and scene reload Rules, goals, and win/lose states |
| 5 | Sep 22 | Core Game Mechanic (critique) | 05-week-05 Debugging your mechanic Inspector tuning and serialized fields ScriptableObjects for tuning data |
| 6 | Sep 29 | Ex 4 — Juice It | 06-week-06 Sprite animation and Animator states VFX Graph particle feedback SoundPlayer pitch variance and screen shake |
| 7 | Oct 6 | Ex 5 — Space & Pace | 07-week-07 Tilemap and Rule Tiles Modular prefab kits for level blockout Checkpoint placement and pacing |
| 8 | Oct 13 | Level Map (critique) | 08-week-08 Scene management and streaming Physics2D and physics materials Reading a paper map as a walkable blockout |
| 9 | Oct 20 | Ex 6 — Story in the World | 09-week-09 DialogueTrigger and staged text beats Trigger volumes for environmental storytelling Timeline for sequenced reveals |
| 10 | Oct 27 | Ex 7 — Screen Flow | 10-week-10 UI Toolkit — UXML and USS UIManager screen switching Binding buttons and events to game state |
| 11 | Nov 3 | Screen Layout (critique) | 11-week-11 Menu and pause flow GameStateManager-driven scene flow Save/load with PlayerPrefs |
| 12 | Nov 10 | Ex 8 — Point of View | 12-week-12 Cinemachine 2D/3D virtual cameras and confiners Framing and composition XR rig setup and VR comfort (Quest 2 / Cosmos Elite) |
| 13 | Nov 17 | Ex 9 — Curves & Locks GDD due | 13-week-13 Health and Score events Spawner/ObjectPool and difficulty ramps Classes and inheritance for lock-and-key logic |
| 14 | Nov 24 | Ex 10 — Test & Iterate | 14-week-14 PlaytestLogger session logging Unity Profiler and bug triage Build prep fundamentals |
| 15 | Dec 1 | Game Build (critique) | 15-week-15 Build settings and platform targets Packaging and .unitypackage export Publishing checklist |
| 16 | Dec 8 | Post Mortem | 16-week-16 Wrap-up and portfolio packaging Reflecting on scope decisions Next courses and paths |