Absolute Course! Unity 6 - ECS/DOTS Programming Masterclass

High-Performance 2D Survival Game Development with Unity ECS

"While GameObject could only handle 1,000 units, ECS runs smoothly even with 100,000 units."

Unity ECS/DOTS is Unity's next-generation development approach based on multithreading and memory optimization. However, the reality is that it's difficult to learn on your own due to concepts that are completely different from traditional Unity.

This course is prepared for those who are new to ECS. Starting from the basic concepts of Entity-Component-System, you'll master patterns that can be immediately used in actual games.

Why should you learn ECS now?

• Unity Technologies is pushing ECS as the next-generation standard architecture. It has been stabilized since Unity 6, and it's a technology that will be required in more projects going forward.

  
  

• ECS is a core technology that enables players to experience more objects, smoother frames, and more complex simulations from mobile to console.

• There are still not many developers who can properly handle ECS. If you acquire ECS development capabilities, it becomes a major competitive advantage in the job market.

• ECS is not a concept unique to Unity. Similar patterns are spreading in other engines and frameworks, such as Unreal's Mass Entity System and Bevy Engine.

Key Learning Content:

• IComponentData, ISystem, Authoring Pattern

  
  

• Parallel Processing Using Burst Compilation and IJobEntity

• SRP Batcher Configuration and GPU Instance Utilization

• Unity Physics and ITriggerEventsJob for Collision Handling

• Hybrid pattern using MonoBehaviour and ECS together

• Dynamic Entity Management Techniques Using EntityCommandBuffer

The hands-on project is a vampire survival style game, designed to handle tens of thousands of enemies and projectiles simultaneously so you can experience ECS performance firsthand. After completing the course, you'll be able to apply ECS directly to your own projects.

ECS Basic Concepts

• Rather than extensive theoretical lessons, you'll learn essential ECS concepts in a concise manner and then immediately write practical code to master the structure of ECS programming.

  
  

ECS Basic Usage

• We start with basic logic implementation through Component, System, and Authoring.

• The collision handling and optimization process using Unity Physics is underway.

2D Sprite Animation Shader Provided

• Pure ECS does not yet support sprite animation. The most reliable approach for this is using shader techniques, which is the best solution.

• Provides a complete shader graph optimized for ECS that utilizes Sprite Offset, and learn techniques for implementing 2D animation in an ECS environment. (The lecture does not cover shader graph creation.)

How to Use the ECS-Dedicated Monitoring View

• We proceed by actively utilizing essential monitoring views during ECS development to check accurate data.

• Entity Hierarchy View

• Components View

• Systems View

• Archtypes View

  
  

Monitoring for Optimization

• Verify the activation of Job Worker Threads using IJobEntity in the profiler.

Hybrid Batch Group activation status verification

• Proceed while monitoring the Frame Debugger to ensure there are no parts where batching is broken.

• ECS automatically handles GPU Instancing, while we examine the process of checking whether Hybrid Batch Group is enabled.

Scene Transition and System Initialization

Scene transitions in ECS also require a complex procedure. While in MonoBehaviour, scene objects are automatically cleaned up during the scene loading process when scenes are unloaded, ECS requires manual handling.

After taking the course

• ECS capabilities ready for immediate deployment in practice

  • Fully functional game project portfolio

  • Mastering ECS Design Patterns and Best Practices

  • Performance issue analysis and resolution skills (Frame Debugger, Profiler analysis)

  
  

• Acquiring a Differentiated Technology Stack

  • Unity ECS/DOTS Expertise - Still a Scarce Developer Pool

  • Burst and Job System Optimization Experience

  • Data-Oriented Programming Mindset

  
  

• Scalable Game Architecture

  • A structure that easily handles thousands to tens of thousands of entities

  • Applicable to various genres including multiplayer and large-scale simulations (Netcode for Entities)

Pre-enrollment Reference Information