Is the 'Swords and Shovels' course on Pluralsight by Unity complete?

Hi all,

I just need a quick answer here so i'll lay out my question as detailed as possible. I want to know how complete the Swords & Shovels course on Pluralsight is? I've yet to take any courses on Pluralsight, and i understand that it's more of a premium service/platform compared to Udemy. I've taken at least 3 courses on Udemy to date. However, from my experience, there's one minor inconvenience I've found with Udemy. And that is the seemingly absent rule that prevents instructors from releasing 70-80% complete courses for prospective students to enroll in. This often led to me finishing all the content and waiting weeks (sometimes months) for the instructor to add more content, at which point I've already moved on to other learning resources.

I recently found out about the Swords and Shovels course on Pluralsight by Unity (https://unity3d.com/swordsandshovel...c-Promo-v2&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua). To which i enrolled through the Visual Studio benefits program (3 months free access to a range of online learning resources including Pluralsight). So you've probably guessed it by now, i want to totally immerse myself in the course for the next 3 months so that i can complete it before the VS benefit runs out.

Sorry for the long post.

Regards

Godfrey

 

Swords and Shovels was announced, November 5th or 6th, 10 basic & completely disconnected courses (20 hours) were published on PluralSight and has not had any additional content since. I was extremely (and still am) excited for the complete courseware, but I find this 3+ months of waiting to be absurd.

As far as the courses go they're pretty good, I've watched Joshua Kinney's courses before and liked his style, but like I said, I feel the courses are a little too disconnected and the broader Swords & Shovels game is never really discussed. Maybe they'll come together once the next 80 hours is released. Hope it's soon!

Joy Horvath is excellent too and she has an additional course on PluralSight, in the short course of hers Designing Game Puzzles in Unity you really get a sense that she's all about the little extras and see that she's definitely delivered on AAA quality.

There are some pretty good courses on Udemy:

Ben Tristem's Learn C# Code by Making Games - Complete Unity Developer 2.0, if you're looking for absolute beginner, his Learn C# Code by Making Games 1.0 is good, but the last 3 lessons REALLY fall short.

Ultimate Guide to Game Development with Unity is pretty good too, but short.

And, IMHO, if you want crazy advanced, on Unity, but also from their own site: Game Institute, is Build Your Own First Person Shooter / Survival Game in Unity. These guys use/purchase lots of assets from the store, get into Mixamo and changing up the assets to fit their Zombie Apocalypse FPS sort of thing. And they have moved from Unity 5 to 2017 too.

 

I have used Pluralsight for like, half a year now. I have referenced several of the courses from the Swords and Shovels series, but I haven't done the whole thing through.

It is not a comprehensive game development course. It is a solid overview to give you some footing in the overall process of creating a game. After you finish the course, don't expect to have all the knowledge to turn around and bang out a game -- but you will have a solid idea of where to go and many beginner questions will have been answered.

Actually, at this moment, I am referencing one of the videos from that course about exporting animations to be used in Unity. The video covers just the bare bones basics of animation, and briefly shows you how to get them working in unity. No doubt, when you try on your own, things aren't going to work out perfectly and you'll be left scratching your head. But keep in mind, you have to just get started somewhere, and for me at least pluralsight is the most dependable resource for getting started.

 

Thank you Rob for your 2cents. I'll check out those courses you mentioned.
Cheers.

 

Hi BIGTIMEMASTER, thanks for breaking down what one can expect from the course. It will surely help out.
Cheers.

 

I'm coming back around to mess with Unity after having not touched it in a good while. So I jumped on the 3 free months as well. I have gone through a few Udemy courses in the past but they really did feel lacking of something.

I'm starting with the Beginner courses (about 10 hours in) just to refresh my memory and they really are basic courses so far. However, in my opinion, the videos aren't as 'beginner' as I expected because of how quickly he goes over concepts so it helps to already have an understanding of Unity. It's also worth noting that the exercise files don't exactly match up with each section of the Unity Fundamentals course. All of the assets and scripts are there but some components aren't applied - but maintaining a single build as I followed through the videos mitigated that issue. Like BIGTIMEMASTER mentioned, the tutorial hasn't been a cradle to grave game development tutorial but rather disconnected concepts using the same assets all geared toward the idea of making Swords and Shovels dungeon crawler.

I also read complaints about the requirement of additional software/tools 3ds Max and Maya which, so far, just isn't accurate. Yes, some videos show how to prepare assets for import but the concepts carry over to any similar tool like Blender. Either way, all the assets are provided so I haven't had to create anything.

Goodluck!

 

I didn't know that you need some familiarity with Unity before starting. I think i'll just use the tutorials on Unity's website for that. And on the use of paid tools, i think folks could just use Blender and lookup a Youtube video on how to do what's done with Maya/3DSMax in the course. Thanks.

Cheers.

 

Starting with the freely available resources on Unity's website and on YouTube is the smart approach. You don't need to pay for your learning materials to have good learning materials. Many of the most recommended learning materials out there are free.

Just as an example the C# Yellow Book is a highly recommended college text book for beginners. It's been a staple book for the University of Hull for first year programmers and they have never charged for it. Just keep in mind it's C# only and won't cover Unity at all. It's still highly recommended for teaching the basics in a complete way.

http://www.csharpcourse.com/

Here are some examples of complete game project tutorials available on YouTube. Some of these may not have been fully completed at this point in time, but they all have the majority of their content by now and the developer is constantly adding new videos to them.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Brackeys/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR42oVBU6K2DIL6Y22Ry9J1c - 2D Platformer
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR5PhGqsO7G4PsbEC_Al-kPZ - Multiplayer FPS
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR7ucA2yo5pjvKY0cJmNTq2L - Quiz Game
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR4KLGCCAciWQ5qHudKtYeP7 - An RPG
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR7F_B4p8X3YwHPaExh0R9Kk - Survival Game
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPV2KyIb3jR4u5jX8za5iU1cqnQPmbzG0 - Tower Defense

 

My, thank you for this. I'll bookmark them.

 

you don't get all the courses BTW
I bought a Plus account and got this for free but not all the courses are free! There are 4 new courses out now and I need to upgrade my pluralsight license to watch them! Not nice Pluralsight!! and Unity!!

 

You should have access to all the content in the Swords and Shovels course. Other courses outside that may require different plans. if you are not able to view all the Swords and Shovels content that is part of the Unity Dev Course, you should contact Pluralsight to have them help you out. (if that fails, I would then contact Unity sales).

 

I have already contacted Pluralsight but have not heard anything so far...

These courses have been published this month and are not in my account:
Pluralsight - Swords and Shovels: Loot System
Pluralsight - Swords and Shovels: Character Stat System
Pluralsight - Swords and Shovels Character Controller and AI
Pluralsight - Swords and Shovels: Character Inventory System
When I click on one of them I need to update my license
see screenshots

I have already contacted Unity but have not received a reply yet.

 

I would just give it a little bit of time then. It's the weekend, you should hopefully hear back at some point next week.

 

Spotdot, any update?

I noticed the 5 new courses today, the earliest from May 10th: Swords and Shovels: Game Managers, Loaders, and the Game Loop, but also noticed these 5 new courses are not with the original 10 which are part of the Plural Sight Path : Unity Game Dev Courses: Fundamentals. Maybe suggest to Plural Sight to update the Path?

When this was first introduced, in Nov '17, think Unity was giving a 3 month subscription, then eventually a 6 and now a year, but the way this content is being released any one with a year maybe missing out in the end.

 

no update... still no reply from Unity or Pluralsight, both are very bad in support! I already knew about Unity, and Pluralsight is not that good either! But they like to take your money...

 

Unity support is currently very heavily swamped thanks to the latest Windows update from Microsoft breaking the license system resulting in a large number of people getting deactivated. I don't know how long you've been waiting (no one ever mentions that when they're complaining about support) but it will likely be longer than past support requests.

 

like I say you don't get all the course material from Swords and Shovels that is displayed on the Unity website, just got a mail back from Pluralsight:
****
Thank you for reaching out to us. The account under this email [***********] is showing that you have a subscription that gives you access to certain courses. I am not showing that you have a full subscription with us. Due to this, you are only able to view the courses that are shown on the list that can be found on your home page.

If you are trying to view courses that are not on that list, then you will receive the error message to upgrade.
****
these are the courses that are released last week:
Pluralsight – Swords and Shovels: Loot System
Pluralsight – Swords and Shovels: Character Stat System
Pluralsight – Swords and Shovels Character Controller and AI
Pluralsight – Swords and Shovels: Character Inventory System
Swords and Shovels: Game Managers, Loaders, and the Game Loop

and they are all listed on the unity website... so a little misleading to say the least!

 

Well not sure you can call it misleading but false advertising which can result in lawsuits. All the courses means ALL the courses. Not 3, 6, 12, not 15 but all. So can we just get one basic page explaining:

1. Where are all the assets, in part two "Unity Game development Pipeline" there is a Dwarf and a Barrel that appear out of the MIST.

2. What courses are included, I though a subscription = complete Swords and Shovels course start to end. Why a subscription that goes nowhere and leaves out KEY COURSES? Sounds like bait and switch.

One landing page somewhere that puts it all out there would be nice.

Thanks.

 

I pinged staff on this one. They should be able to provide some clarity here.

 

Update:

I had sent Pluralsight another email because I did not agree with this and now I have received a message from the Support Manager:
****
Thank you for contacting us! I have reached out to our technical team and have been informed that we are adding those courses to your subscription type. They should be ready by June 1st if not sooner. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
****
So check your accounts guys and let me know if it has been added to your account...

 

You kick major ass SpotDot2; thanks

 

all the new ones are in my list now

 

How about the access to Swords and Shovels that you get for a Unity Plus? I'm using a Unity Plus and only see the old courses from 2017 as of today. Anyone?

OK, this is weird. If I type in "swords and shovels" in the search, I see those 4 new courses from May 2018 and it appears I have access to them, but they aren't associated with the "Unity game dev courses path".

 

I think the issue is that they are part of the programming track. This is still listed as coming soon and should have 9 courses.

It seems to mee these 5 are done but the others are still not published. They will probably create the path for this when the others are done.

This might also be the reason they were not available under the Unity plan. The creator publishes them, and Unity has to add them to their plan.

 

Guys, do you knwo if the course is available for existing Uninty Plus subscriptions? Or I have to renew my subscription to get that?
Thanks!

 

There are quite a few "planned" courses in their lists of tracks, many seem quite interesting... not sure how long that will take unity to get done though.

 

Maybe it's only one, but the new courses so far seem to be of much higher quality than all of the "Fundamentals" from last year. Downloads are much smaller yet seem to contain all the same assets visually. The "start pack" for the course works perfectly and is in sync with the video content. I really like how Michael Baker is teaching - very clear, accurate and gives some good code design practices right from the beginning (like decoupling components via the Events).

If only the old courses would meet the same quality standard as the new ones..

 

Here is what I have on the landing page: https://www.pluralsight.com/paths/unity-game-development-core-skills

Won't show the image so here is the link: http://files.mbdevpro.com/UnityLanding.png

 

I'm not sure what you are trying to say/ask, but there are more paths.

Programming
Art

Programming is not yet complete, Art I don't know.

 

Was just commenting but thanks, I am an old time game developer just getting back into it; I go way back to the commodore 64

 

.

 

I purchased the Unity Plus Program and only got 38 days worth of Pluralsight access? Is it supposed to be for the year or am I missing something? If it is only 38 days we should get some kind of insight to this...

"Unity Game Dev Courses: Swords and Shovels is available for a limited time for free with a Unity Plus subscription"

 

Has anyone else had the issue of Plural Sight account suddenly no longer being available?

I purchased the Unity Plus offer a month ago which gives me free Plural Sight Unity course access. Have been going through the courses just fine until suddenly it asks me to upgrade. When I contacted Plural Sight, they told me to go to my Unity account and reallocate the seat. However, the Plural Sight component is no longer visible in my Unity account.

 

I would contact Unity Support right away, I've also had some issues with Plural Sight and I mailed them (not a nice email) and CC it to Unity and problems where solved in a few days...

I will never use a deal with Plural Sight and Unity again that is for sure! there are so many problems each time!! and you have to wait weeks before you get the new videos, the premium accounts get them first... Anyway I will never use Plural Sight again!!

 

How is this course tracking? I'm really keen to try it.

 

Hey there, jalapeno! Where did you find the provided assets, by chance? I'm taking the same course, and this would really help me out. Thanks!

 

I agree with @Ryiah that you don't have to put out cash (not right away anyhow) to get started with quality tutorials for Unity.

If you're looking for something quick and modern (for 2018, the time of this posting anyway) check out Unity3d College. I'm getting back into Unity after a break for awhile and I really like this guy's tutorials. They're fast and to the point which matches the pace / content I was looking for (good paced tutorials without fluff) these may or may not suit your style. I'm also the "coder" type so I like that he has good visual studio skills as well as editor chops.

Here's the video just to get off the blocks for the first time

How to get started with Unity3D - For Beginners


And this is the series i'm following atm

HowTo: Build a 3rd person shooter in Unity

p.s. I have no affiliation with Unity3d College, i'm just posting because I enjoy the content and it's quality.

 

Hey I have just completed Sword and shovels tutorial from beginning to the end , So I can finally review it and say what I think. I have a very mixed feeling about it, firstly I always wanted to learn how to create this kind of game with a full blown inventory system, as well as many other gameplays and features I needed to know, yet tutorial itself was very badly presented, and I believe because they desperately tried to reinforce that game should be modular and done in any order, they really messed that up... because Tutors themselves did not manage to keep this continuances... there were always errors and missing files, and they kept jumping from older to newer unity version and vice versa …Or some tutors were very lazy so their idea of teaching was going through already finished file, script or project and explaining, so it was hard to figure out how was that set up to start with... I have used same file from beginning to the end, and build everything from the scratch rather then Importing with each new lesson, this way I made sure I knew what I was doing … So I am proud to say I have figured it all out at the end, and have working version all done by myself … so punchline is: the knowledge I got from this course is amazing, I feel this is the best tutorial I ever done when it comes to teaching you to build a full and very complex professional looking game, but on the other hand it is very hard and stressing to figure out some things because , Tutors are not always clear , they even forget to say some things, maybe because they forgot or think you should know these things but if you put some work into these ,it will be very rewarding at the end … I am very pleased I done this course and would recommend it to anyone who wish to learn how to make this kind of games, and to be honest I don't know any other tutorial that teaches you all these in a single project …

 

That entire post is like two sentences. Please format your post so it's actually readable.

 

Sorry mate but I dont think anyone is going to bother reading that when you havent formatted it at all and written it as basically a single long sentence.

You need to use punctuation and spacing in posts that long if you want someone to take the time to read and reply to it.

 

I quickly skimmed through it, and the message is just as much of a jumbled mess as the formatting. He says that he has "mixed feelings" about it, says that the tutorials are very badly presented, are really messed up, tons of errors and missing files... and then whole heartedly recommends it to anyone wanting to learn.

There is absolutely no way I would pay any attention to a review like that. You don't spend almost the entire post pointing out all the flaws only to turn around and say it's a good tutorial series recommending it to new developers. I'd love to know what the poster was drinking and smoking at the time they typed it up. It must be some fantastic stuff.

 

@Ryiah You forgot add 3 dots at the end of sentence ...

But honestly, marking with multiple stop characters, or alternative, is some new trending?

 

When I press play to enter play mode, it takes almost a full minute for it to play. When it finally does enter play mode, as soon as I click on the mouse to move the character he starts going beserk and just runs back & forth nonstop - I can't control him, he won't stop.

I've done UNITY's FMOD Viking Village and Survival shooter tutorials - they played just fine. I also just finished an FMOD/UE4 project that is a 28 GB project, that project plays well in the UE4 editor also. So my computer can handle it.

Any idea what's happening with the long load time for this Wwise/Unity tutorial? And the character's non-stop back & forth running?? I'd love to complete this tutorial.

 

One of the YouTubers I watch was commenting on this. I want to say it was Linus Sebastian on the latest WAN Show but thanks to the human malware I have been watching enough videos that I'm losing track of who said what.

https://theoutline.com/post/3333/why-do-old-people-text-like-this-an-investigation

 

Ah, so I learned this is ellipsis. But saying that, people typically using it, seems know also, what other punctuations type are. I will by bias here but my grandma, completely computer illeterate, was able humanly write text messages on keypad phone

Otherwise, seems this suggest other issues, if no full stop, or formatting is present in long sentences.