Hi i’m new to this forum and are currently looking for a game engine(s) which suits my needs. I intend to make games based on 2D, and interactive sims in 3D(area plannig etc).
Im so far impressed with the features of the unity engine regarding the 3D aspect, but as i read from the few tutorials i found, making 2D games with Unity is basically making a 3D game with a fixed camera angle(viewed from the side).
For a 2D game i was moore looking for a sprite based engine ala TGB, since i would like to avoid the 3D modelling/animations etc…
So im wondering if the way shown in the tutorial named “2D Gameplay Tutorial” is the only way to make 2D games in Unity?
not exactly, thats a way, the other would be using some tricks , like using textured planes with alpha that would work as sprites and viewed from the side with an orthographic camera…and only move your stuff in 2 axes.
done right they will pretty much look like traditional 2d games made with sprites,but with higher control of depth, and for collisions you can use box colliders… the fact that the graphics are 2d doesnt necesarily mean that the collision geometry will also be 2d… the collision geometry can be thicker and that way it will be easy to detect all stuff
there are some games shown in this forum using this tricky tecnique and they look good…
There are many ways to solve problems in Unity, and our 2D game play tutorial is only one way to slice that particular problem. Although it’s likely a great place to start as it will teach you the basics that are needed. Then from there you can “flatten” everything if necessary and use something more akin to a sprite-like environment but use textured planes if you’d like.
Use the search as this has definitely come up a few times and I’m sure you’ll find existing threads that will help.
Their website also has excellent blog posts on game development, theory, techniques and tutorials for their engine.
I was going to use that engine before I settled on Unity.
The only thing, in my opinion, that Unity lacks for 2D games is a 2D primitive (line drawing) toolset -lines, arcs, rects, gradients etc., and a built in (unified?) sprite management system.
If this is eventually added (hopefully), then I feel Unity would be the best out there - especially at its price point!