2D Game Assets. What to pick?

Cheers,

First i would like to inform you that this is my first question and I hope this is the right place to post it.

Although I like programming and I’ve always been fascinated with everything that involves it, so far I’m not even capable of writing a single line of code in java, c++ or others.
The only tool that I master is Photoshop and I had an idea for a 2D game that I would like to develop hard to iPhone and Android mobile devices.

After extensive research and lots of video tutorials / courses related to unity game development acquired, I have chosen Unity to do it and I also discovered other additional tools that I describe below:

Umotion 2D - Easily Create 2D Animation for Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/90341-Umotion-2D-Easily-Create-2D-Animation-for-Unity?highlight=umotion

EasyMotion2D - Make 2D Skeleton Animation in Unity3D easily
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/108648-EasyMotion2D-Make-2D-Skeleton-Animation-in-Unity3D-easily.-RELEASED?highlight=easymotion

RageTools: Flash-like 2D Vectors and GUI for Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/106840-RageTools-Flash-like-2D-Vectors-and-GUI-for-Unity?highlight=ragetools

RageSpline - Create smooth 2D graphics inside Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/84767-RageSpline-Create-smooth-2D-graphics-inside-Unity-Coming-soon

ex2D - The best 2D sprite solution for Unity
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/101811-ex2D-the-best-2D-sprite-solution-for-Unity-RELEASED

SM2 (Spritemanager 2) - 2D made easy and efficient!
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/33593-SM2-2D-made-easy-and-efficient!

All my life I opted to acquire the tools I need to learn or develop any kind of work before even know how to use it because I want to be able to do it 100% with no restrictions. Money is not a problem with such small values but I would only like to purchase the best and most useful ones and avoid “replicas”.
I’ve read all the descriptions but I’m still confused about them. I don’t know if they differ or complement each other.

I’m very committed in doing this so I would appreciate if you could explain what I can do exactly with each one of them (not very specific features but some kind of resume), if they are the same and if some of them are “the same” what should I pick? This is also important because after working a little bit with them I will decide then if buy or not Unity Pro (and then money is an more important issue).

I hope I have been enlightening about my question.

Additional info: I’m also starting to learn how to “Blend” :slight_smile:

Thank you all in advance!

I wrote my own 2D animation system using the tutorials from Walker Bros. You can probably do the same and save some money.

do you refer to the paid ones?

and this tools for someone like me with no knowledge at all would not boost me 1000% at least on beginning? none of them?

You missed 2d Toolkit in that list: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/93287-2D-Toolkit-2D-in-Unity-made-simple-RELEASED

I can’t speak for which sprite based solution is better than others as I have only used 2d Toolkit, but I’ve loved it. Creating sprite sheets, animations, and bitmap fonts is really straightforward.

Keep in mind that RageSpline/RageTools are fundamentally different than the others you listed. They are vector based as opposed to sprite based. You have to buy both if you want to use RageTools. Some off the top of my head pros / cons in going that route.

Pros:

  • Better multi-resolution support. Vector graphics will scale.
  • Better asset management. With RageTools you can import your SVGs directly instead of exporting to sprites.

Cons:

  • Possible performance issues on mobile devices. Using RageTools your scenes will have a LOT more vertices than if you had used sprites.
  • RageTools does have some limitations on the SVGs it can import. You’l have to keep in mind when creating assets, and importing existing assets may require modifications.
  • With RageSpline (without RageTools) I think you would be doing all of your art within Unity. That might be an issue if you want to bring on dedicated artists.

Thanks. I checked 2D Toolkit and seems very good (i think tutorial videos dont have sound, or is just me?). So you cant tell if SpriteManager 2 is better? Because the price difference is huge and is also more “famous”. Or 2D Toolkit would be enough to create an angry birds game type?

I don’t have any experience with SpriteManager so I couldn’t say. There are some good threads in the forum where users compare the two of them (and others). The search function on this forum is terrible so I’m not spotting them right away but if you dig around you’ll mind them. 2D Toolkit is the 2nd most popular asset in the store right now and he updates regularly.

2D Toolkit is definitely enough to make something like angry birds (I imagine any of them would be). 2D Toolkit can generate colliders for your sprites automatically. You would need to add some rigid bodies, restrict movement to 2 dimensions, and then create your controls for “launching”. Honestly the hardest part of a game like that would be creating a theme and art that will “click” with a lot of people.

And levels. Also, PhysX (unity’s built in physics engine) might be up for the task, but angry birds uses box2D physics (which can be integrated in unity). Honestly, I would be surprised if unity can pull out 2D graphics as good as Angry Birds’ but I hope to be proven wrong.

So (2D Toolkit + PhysX) or ( Spritemanager 2 + PhysX) are the ideal purchases? Ragespline is out of the question? And how about box2D? What is that? It would be nice to acquire that also? Thanks

I purchased 2D Toolkit and I’m happy with it, it’s well written, easy to setup colliders and cheaper. Go with PhysX, it’s fast enough even on mobiles.

Yes, go with PhysX first since it’s a lot easier to set up. However, if you get performance issues or you don’t get the ‘feel’ you are looking for you can try unity Box2D port.

I purchased 2dtoolkit, and I do like it. But I have to say after watching the ex2d videos ( http://www.ex-dev.com/ex2d/ex2d-videos/ ), I’m thinking ex2d looks a lot more robust. The animation editor in particular has a ton more features than 2dtoolkit, which is a big bonus.

i also found ex2D interface very appealing and very cheap. I will buy that too. So i decided to get 2D toolkit and ex2D. What about physX and box2D? Thanks in advance for all the help

physX is built into Unity. You don’t need to do anything to get it. I wouldn’t bother with Box 2d unless you find that the built-in physics aren’t doing want or if you have performance issues (which I doubt you will).

If you follow the 2d Toolkit tutorial and get a few sprites created, you can then add a “Rigid Body” component to them. This is basically applying physics to the sprite. There are a bunch of options under the Rigid Body component. If you expand “Constraints” you can tell it not to move along the z axis, and to only rotate around the z-axis. This will essentially give you “2D” physics. You’ll want to do lot of tweaking to get the feel right, but start there.

Hello , after a great effort we have realized .FBX exporter directly from Umotion 2D !
In these days we are testing it with great results.
Stay tuned :slight_smile:

Please let us know how you think these two packages compare to each other, I’m really curious!

Hi look over here
http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/124772-2D-Animation-Solution-your-opinion-and-experience

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/120867-Comparison-of-2D-toolkits-available-in-Asset-Store

dunno why to start so much threads about one topic, it only confuses

Hi this was posted 2 weeks ago and yours only a week ago

I love building from scratch, but unless the tool needs a very robust connection with the application he is building, there is no way in the world building a 2D framework from scratch is cheaper then buying any of these.