Anyone who finished Swords and Shavels

A few questions:
Is anyone here a full-time worker, and had finished this course?
How long does it take?
Do you feel confident to start making a game from scratch now?

I'm trying to convince myself signing up the course. (Because after I read some post here, I start doubting.)

Thanks!

 

Are you just beginning with Unity? If so, in my opinion, it makes more sense to start with Introduction to Unity essentials + Introduction to scripting (both found in a subsection of the 'Learn' area on this website).
Then, I would try at least 1 or more of the unity tutorials (Roll-A-Ball, space shooter, etc..)

If you are enjoying yourself and getting a good feel by then (or if you have already done that), the swords and shovels may be for you? I only watched a few videos about it and read the description. It sounds interesting.

 

No, don't start off with a paid course. There's so much free content for learning Unity (namely, the Unity-provided tutorials) that you should be trying first.

I'm often confused by Unity's marketing teams. This Swords and Shovels business seems like a confusing competitor to their own free content. Or it may be that they're updating the engine so frequently now they're trying to outsource the tutorial stuff to Pluralsight partners.

Or, pessimistically, they're throwing it out there to try to rake in some extra cash with people who can be tricked into thinking they'll be able to learn everything they need to know about making games from a single course.

 

Yes, I'm a total beginner in Unity. I was first attracted to the promotional video of the swords and shovels because they said there is no tutorial teach every single step of how a game is made. Usually, the tutorials are fragments of game making. So I thought maybe it's a good way to start? But I read different people's opinion here, about 60%-70% (I guess) of them aren't happy with the course :/

I am an animation filmmaker, never really use a game engine properly before. I really want to learn the proper way to model for games, lighting, and shading in Unity, and learn simple coding for users to navigate and do simple interaction in the game.

 

Thanks for the information. I tried to go throw the forum to see if I should subscribe to this course, but I guess it's a meh?

 

I haven't done it myself, so I can't comment on the course, specifically. But with so much free learning material available, it seems silly to me to pay for a course when you're just starting out.

I mean, for all you know, you may find game development to be much less interesting than you thought it was and decide to pursue a different hobby or career. Similarly, the free tutorials may be sufficient to give you an understanding of the material to where you feel comfortable learning on your own through searching and experimentation. Why not figure that out for free?

 

For sure, I think you should try out some of the 'fragments' and gain experience, with Unity in general & scripting... Those bits you learn will go a long way if you're interested in creating a game. In a while from now, then maybe re-think whether you want to try the course.
You might have fun and enjoy it, but I think it would not be the first place I'd try, if I were you. Not so soon.

 

No, it means that you can get similar information free and you should do that first.

 

To be fair the course is only about three months old. You'll find more information on alternative learning sources for the simple fact that most of them have been around for years and have proven themselves. Below are some examples.

Creating a Tower Defense game...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR4u5jX8za5iU1cqnQPmbzG0

Creating a 2D Platformer game...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR42oVBU6K2DIL6Y22Ry9J1c

Creating a multiplayer FPS...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR5PhGqsO7G4PsbEC_Al-kPZ

 

Thanks for all the recommendations. I will start with the free tutorial then.

Thanks Ryiah for making the list of videos, I am sure I will learn a lot from them.
A million thanks!!

 

Cool, enjoy

 

This is a strange turn of events. Historically Unity has always funded its own tutorials. Putting the learn section behind a pay wall is a bad idea. One of the key reasons Unity is winning the market is because of its accessibility to absolute beginners.

As to the course itself, I just browsed through the contents page. There is literally nothing there which isn't already covered on the learn section.

I did the Unity certification course a while back, which was also behind a paywall. It was a complete waste of time and money. I would not recommend paying for any Unity courses.

 

Having had a look at the sword and shovel course, I'm not sure who they cater to. If you are a beginner they'll confuse you as some modules don't work with other. for example, for the combat and pickup items to work they have to disable the UI altogether, but they never say how to fix it, just ignore it and carry on. If you already have some experience it'll confuse you even more as the code is dodgy and is badly structured. There is nothing there you cant get elsewhere and better and possibly free...

 

Has anyone completed the Swords and Shovels project from beginning to end?