We are super excited to announce the official launch of Unity Playground – the first official project dedicated entirely to educators and anyone looking for an initial introduction to game development in a simplified form. Aptly titled, Unity Playground is all about the joy of making and playing games.

Unity Playground removes the need to code by providing an array of one-task Components that are easy to use and mix. By combining them together, you can create physics-based 2D games spanning several game genres. Define your game rules. Build a character controller. Lay down a colourful scene and its collisions, and define YOUR winning conditions. You can make games for one or two players.

If you’re a more experienced programmer and want to contribute to the Unity Playground project, check it out on GitHub.

Simplified Inspectors for both Playground scripts and built-in components mean that a new user will not be overwhelmed by the complexity of the UI. But if you need the full power of the Unity editor, you can turn the customisation off anytime and you’re back in control!*

(* use responsibly)

Within the project, you can six super simple games built just with the included art assets and scripts. We’ve got a defender-style game, football for 2 players, a maze game, a Lunar Lander clone, an adventure game with free-roaming and collecting, and a roguelike, which includes a simple inventory/crafting system. You can learn from these mini-games or use them as teaching material for a workshop, or just as a starting point to customise and expand on. Go go go!

Now that you’re all fired up with ideas from our excellent examples, what delicious chaos will you create? Find snazzy little characters you can with different eyes, hair, mouths and hats. Use the environment assets, buildings, props, and collectibles to practice simple game development techniques that will introduce you to the building block basics of Unity. The fact that it’s a 2D project means that even beginners can easily create and import new graphics. Try expanding the world of Unity Playground, or even building your own with your own art.

Unity Playground has been released just in time for Global Game Jam 2019 – share your creations on Twitter with #GGJ19 and #madewithunity and join the conversation on the forum. Go play!

Download Unity Playground