Thorn - Learn Unity for 2D Game Development

Alan Thorn 2013

Alan Thorn 1

(1)

Abstract

This book is about making 2D games using the Unity engine. It will focus not only on the central concepts critical to 2D games, such as 2D space and projections, but also on the practical workflow that can be followed in Unity for creating 2D games. I use the term 2D game (two-dimensional game) to mean any game that principally relies on only 2D coordinates. Famous 2D games include Tetris, Super Mario Brothers, Angry Birds, and many more.

This book is about making 2D games using the Unity engine. It will focus not only on the central concepts critical to 2D games, such as 2D space and projections, but also on the practical workflow that can be followed in Unity for creating 2D games. I use the term 2D game (two-dimensional game) to mean any game that principally relies on only 2D coordinates. Famous 2D games include Tetris, Super Mario Brothers, Angry Birds, and many more.

In a 2D game, players typically cannot rotate or move the camera freely in 3D space to view objects from other angles and perspectives. The game objects themselves typically move in only two dimensions as well, such as along the X and Y axes (left/right and up/down) but not along the Z axis (forward/backward); like the characters in a side-scrolling platform game. There are, of course, some exceptions to these rules. But generally, 2D games are defined by the restrictions they put on the developerthey negate or remove the third dimension as a principle element in the game.

Necessarily, some might ask why bother creating 2D games at all? And the answer lies mainly in that 2D games have a charm and a simplicity that imparts a classical feel to them, and it is a feel that is popular with many gamers. This chapter represents the start of our journey toward 2D games. In keeping with its practical flavor, the chapter takes a summary look at the Unity engine as it pertains to 2D games only. This chapter acts as a refresher course in the basics for those already familiar with Unity, and as a crash-course for those who are not. The chapters purpose is not simply to emphasize the engine basics in a general and standard way, but to depict them from a new angle; to look at them with a 2D mind-set as opposed to the 3D mind-set that usually introduces the Unity engine. For this reason, some features take on a new importance for us, and some features receive no coverage here at all. Some of the features not discussed in this chapter include light mapping, particle systems, and the animation system Mecanim. The reason is not because these features cannot be integrated into a 2D workflow, because they can. Its simply because we can make 2D games without them if we choose, and so they dont represent a core or a foundation in Unity for 2D games. So lets jump straight in and take a look at the Unity editor and tools from a 2D perspective.