10 Best Playmaker Courses and Certifications Online

When it comes to finding the best Playmaker courses online, there are a variety of options available. These courses are designed to teach individuals the skills and techniques necessary to become proficient in Playmaker, a popular tool used in game development. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced game developer, it is important to choose a course that is well-regarded and offers comprehensive instruction. In this article, we will explore some of the key factors to consider when selecting an online Playmaker course.

Here’s a look at the Best Playmaker Courses and Certifications Online and what they have to offer for you!

10 Best Playmaker Courses and Certifications Online

1. Game Prototyping without code using Unity & Playmaker by Guido Gautsch, Christopher Orth (Udemy) (Our Best Pick)

The course “Game Prototyping Without Code Using Unity & Playmaker” is offered by instructors Guido Gautsch and Christopher Orth. The course teaches participants how to build their own first-person shooter (FPS)-style 3D game prototype from scratch, using Unity, Playmaker, and a 3D app. The course covers everything from writing a game design document to whiteboxing a level and implementing game systems with basic AI, all without coding. The course is suitable for people who have some working knowledge of 3D modelling and have dabbled with Unity and Playmaker before. However, beginners can also complete the course successfully.

The course includes over 10 hours of high-quality lectures, three hours of bonus video content, free access to the student version of the Playmaker Unity plugin, and downloadable exercise files. The course covers course content and sections such as course overview, writing a game design document (GDD), getting ready for whiteboxing, beyond the whitebox, putting it all together, setting up a quest system, refining the quest stages, health systems, character controllers, playtesting and GUI, shooting and AI, and next steps.

Unity has changed its UI system over the course of a few years, and Playmaker took a while to catch up with the changes. The original course still shows the previous system, but an updated section has been added outlining all the changes that have occurred in Unity and Playmaker. Further updates will be added in the future if required to ensure participants can follow along. If desired, participants can download Unity 4.3 from the Unity download archive to have an install of Unity that looks exactly like it does in the course.

2. Make Awesomely Strange Video Games with Unity and Playmaker by Michael “M dot Strange” Belmont (Udemy)

The “Make Awesomely Strange Video Games with Unity and Playmaker” course is a comprehensive guide to creating a 3D third person game from start to finish using Unity and Playmaker. This course is beginner-friendly and does not require any coding or programming experience. The course includes a non-technical introduction to game development, an introduction to Playmaker, and six bonus advanced Playmaker tutorials.

All assets needed for the course, including 3D character models and animations, are included. The course will take 2-7 days to complete, depending on the student’s speed, and there are 15 hours of total material.

The course is structured to create a complete 3D third person game from beginning to end, complete with weapon pickups, enemy NPCs, a boss battle, and an intro menu and game over screen. The instructor, M dot Strange, is an indie game developer and internationally renowned award-winning animation filmmaker. He has created games that students can play themselves to see how the techniques taught in the course are used.

The course is designed to provide real-world learning with assets taken from working games. The course is not overly technical and uses minimal geek speak, making it accessible to beginners. The Strange School teaches the hows and whys of game development, providing students with a deeper understanding of the process.

In conclusion, the “Make Awesomely Strange Video Games with Unity and Playmaker” course offers a unique opportunity to learn game development from an experienced instructor without the need for coding or programming. The course is beginner-friendly, uses real-world assets, and provides a fun and engaging learning experience.

3. Create Flappy Game Mechanics with Unity & PlayMaker by Stefan Boeykens (Udemy)

The “Create Flappy Game Mechanics with Unity & PlayMaker” course aims to teach students how to program the interactivity of small games like Flappy Birds using Unity Physics and PlayMaker visual coding. The course provides a gentle introduction to game mechanics such as flapping, jumping, gravity, and collisions using Unity Physics.

The graphics are intentionally crude, consisting of a white capsule and a few boxes with no textures, sprites, sounds, or particle effects. Students are encouraged to create something unique on their own. The course assumes prior knowledge of Unity basics such as creating GameObjects, navigating the 3D Window, and adjusting components.

Students will use the Playmaker extension from the Asset store, a visual coding system that provides a Finite State Machine implementation that requires no custom scripting. The course covers every step from scratch, with the final result available as a package for students to study.

The course content is divided into five sections: Getting Started, Flapping and Crashing, Controlling the Game with a Game Manager, Bark Out – a small BreakOut Game, and Some final thoughts. Overall, the course provides a good opportunity for those who want to add interactivity to their projects but don’t know where to start.

4. Create a Fun Pirate Trading Game in PlayMaker & Unity by Odoo Class Videos (Udemy)

The “Create a Fun Pirate Trading Game in PlayMaker & Unity” course, taught by Odoo Class Videos, provides step-by-step instruction on using Unity & playMaker to build a pirate trading game without writing any code. The course covers advanced design patterns, including the use of loops, nested loops, and dependency injection to create game objects on the fly, as well as the creation of reusable FSM’s. This course is designed for ambitious developers who want to learn important game design techniques and are not afraid to jump in feet first. The long description includes details on the course content, which was updated on 11/19/2018 to include new states for pirate battles, taking damage, upgrading your ship hold, and a small interface upgrade.

The course starts at the very beginning, with instruction on how to set up the project and install playmaker. The instructors then lay out a basic interface for the game and create some simple FSM states to begin implementing the turn system. The course is designed to take beginning game designers to the next level, with instruction on intermediate and advanced level playMaker. The goal of the course is to teach students how to structure game objects and FSMs, create reusable FSM’s, and add new features to the game. The techniques and patterns learned in the course apply to virtually any language.

The “Create a Fun Pirate Trading Game in PlayMaker & Unity” course is highly rated and focuses on providing a fun way to learn game design. Students learn by building a pirate trading game much like the original Tapian on the Apple II. The course uses playMaker’s Finite State Machines to build the game from the ground up. The course content is broken down into sections, including an introduction to the course.

5. Build an Idle Business Tycoon Game with Unity3D & PlayMaker by Odoo Class Videos (Udemy)

The “Build an Idle Business Tycoon Game with Unity3D & PlayMaker” course teaches how to create an Idle Business Tycoon Simulation Game in Unity3D using the visual development tool PlayMaker. With PlayMaker, it is possible to create entire games without writing any code. The course is designed for complete beginners and is a fast-paced, focused approach to building a game. The lectures are easy to understand and paced to make it fun and easy to learn Unity3d & PlayMaker. The course is perfect for making your very first video game ever and requires Unity3D (Free to download) & PlayMaker.

The course covers how to create an animated progress bar that shows the progress of your store’s sales timer. After mastering the basics, the game design expands to support multiple stores and manager upgrades. The focus is on incremental development skills that will help create one’s games. By the end of the course, students will have a basic game up and running. The course also includes advanced lectures for students who wish to incorporate their own C# actions into PlayMaker.

Experienced C# or Javascript programmers may wish to experiment with PlayMaker, even though it is not required. Building games in PlayMaker allows one to look at game development from a different perspective. It is often refreshing to build games in a visual tool like PlayMaker as a break from coding. The approach to design and building up a game has unique solutions and challenges that will not be faced when writing typical C# games. Experienced C# developers can write actions that work with PlayMaker, allowing them to use PlayMaker as a state machine and manage high-level functions of game design while using C# for more complex calculations and algorithms that can be tedious to code using a visual tool.

The course has an introduction and covers adding additional features to one’s Idle Business Tycoon Game. Students must own PlayMaker to follow along with the course, and it can be purchased on the Unity Asset Store.

6. Create a Fun Life Simulator Game using playMaker and Unity by Odoo Class Videos (Udemy)

The “Create a Fun Life Simulator Game using playMaker and Unity” course focuses on teaching the power of PlayMaker and Visual Programming to create a Life Simulator game in Unity3D. The instructors, Odoo Class Videos, have created a fast-paced course that is designed for complete beginners, but also offers value to experienced programmers. The game design is inspired by popular Life Simulator games, specifically Homeless?.

To follow along with the course, you must own playMaker, which can be purchased on the Unity Asset Store. The entire project is built using 100% playMaker visual diagrams, and no C# code is required. This makes it perfect for those who wish to make their first video game ever, without any coding experience.

The course is focused on building your game, with clear and easy to understand lectures that are designed to make learning Unity3d & PlayMaker fun and easy. It is a great starting point for those who wish to get into game development or expand their range of skills.

Experienced programmers may also find value in experimenting with PlayMaker, as it allows for a different perspective on game development. Building games in PlayMaker vs C# has unique solutions and challenges that can be refreshing and fun for developers. PlayMaker can be used as a state machine and for managing high-level functions of game design, while C# can be used for more complex calculations and algorithms.

The course is broken down into sections, with an introduction followed by step-by-step tutorials on how to build a complete Life Simulator game in Unity3D using playMaker. It is a fast-paced course that is focused on building your game, with no boring lectures or fillers. The incremental development skills taught in the course will help you create your own games, and the clear instructions make it easy for beginners to follow along.

7. Make An AR App with Unity and Playmaker Without Coding! by Volkan Kutlubay (Udemy)

This course titled “Make An AR App with Unity and Playmaker Without Coding!” is instructed by Volkan Kutlubay. The short description of this course is to learn to create an AR app using Vuforia Plugin and Playmaker without any coding and publishing for IOS Mobile platform. The course aims to teach interested individuals how to create a mobile app from scratch and publish it to the iTunes Appstore by using Unity, Playmaker, and Vuforia.

Throughout the course, learners will not be required to have any prior coding experience. The course syllabus includes the following learning objectives:
1) Uploading a Zombie model to Mixamo website, Rig the character, and import it into Unity.
2) Assigning animations to the zombie character and creating a user interface so that players can interact with the character.
3) Creating a Title Screen and learning how to jump from one scene to another inside Unity.
4) Learning how to set up Vuforia for Augmented Reality and convert the Unity scene to an AR app.
5) Monetizing section includes integrating Admob banner and chartboost interstitial ads.
6) Setting up iTunes Dashboard
7) Creating Apple Distribution Certificate
8) Creating Adhoc and Production Provisioning files
9) Exporting the App from Unity and building the app inside Xcode.
10) Testing the app and demonstrating how it works.
11) Providing some Hard Disk optimizing tips and tricks so your computer’s hard disk won’t shrink during the build process.
12) Finally, uploading the app to Appstore which can later be submitted for review.

The course is divided into four major sections: Preparing Our Scene by Adding Zombie Character and Setting Up Actions For it!, Augmented Reality Set Up, Setting Up Monetization using Admob and Chartboost, and iTunes Dashboard Set Up and Publishing Our App.

8. Unity and Playmaker – Make 3D Zombie Shooter Without Coding! by Volkan Kutlubay (Udemy)

The Unity and Playmaker – Make 3D Zombie Shooter Without Coding! course is designed for individuals interested in game development with Unity but lack coding knowledge. The course instructor, Volkan Kutlubay, will guide students through the creation of a 3D polished arcade zombie shooter game without writing a single line of code. The course covers everything from simple to advanced character movement, ensuring that students can make their own games easily.

To complete this course, students will need Playmaker, a visual scripting tool for Unity that allows them to create state machines by connecting necessary actions in it. With Playmaker, students can see their creations come to life with ease, without needing to write any code.

Throughout the course, students will learn how to set up a Unity scene, rig the main player, add animations, make the camera follow the player, create jump and shooting actions with animations, add a zombie and set its movements and animations, add reaction animations to the zombie, destroy the zombie, add health state and a health bar UI to the zombie, create a player health system, add a player death animation, make the zombie eat the player, create a game over scene, and build a playable game.

The course is structured to explain each concept in detail, with step-by-step instructions for learners to follow. Upon completing the course, students will be able to create a 3D arcade zombie shooter game without writing a single line of code. The course content is divided into sections, and learners will have access to a title menu and game controller. If students have any questions, the instructor is available to answer them.

9. Create a game like Crossy Road with Unity & PlayMaker by Karthik Vaddadi (Udemy)

This course, entitled “Create a game like Crossy Road with Unity & PlayMaker,” is designed to teach students how to program the game mechanics of Crossy Road using Unity and PlayMaker. The focus of the course is on prototyping, and students will learn how to script movement, game events, cameras, and other components necessary to create a basic version of the game.

To enroll in the course, students are expected to have basic familiarity with Unity, including knowledge of how to create objects, move them around, and understand different object components. The project will be available for download, so students can study and practice using PlayMaker.

The course is intended for beginner game designers who want to learn how to create games with ease using PlayMaker in Unity, as well as for individuals interested in learning game development by recreating games. The course is divided into two sections: Starting Off with PlayMaker and Creating Crossy Roads.

10. Make a Pinball 2D Game in Unity and Playmaker by max designer (Udemy)

The Make a Pinball 2D Game in Unity and Playmaker course is designed to teach visual scripting with Unity 3D and Playmaker. The course instructor is Max Designer. The course allows students to create games and apps quickly without learning programming languages such as c# or javascript. The aim of the course is to enable students to create professional and good looking apps. The course is easy to follow and imitate and provides step-by-step procedures.

The course content and sections include basics, build the table, 2D colliders, Playmaker code, ball and points display, particles and targets, and level and menu. Each section is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the topic covered. The basics section provides a foundation for the course, and the build the table section covers the creation of the gaming table. The 2D colliders section covers the implementation of 2D physics simulation in the game.

The Playmaker code section provides an understanding of visual scripting using Playmaker. The ball and points display section covers the implementation of the ball and points system in the game. The particles and targets section covers the implementation of particle effects and targets in the game. Finally, the level and menu section covers the creation of different levels and menus for the game.

Overall, the Make a Pinball 2D Game in Unity and Playmaker course covers all aspects of creating a Pinball 2D game using visual scripting with Unity 3D and Playmaker. Students can expect to learn how to create professional and good looking games and apps without the need for programming languages. The course is easy to follow and provides step-by-step procedures, making it accessible to both beginners and experienced game developers.