Multiple cameras as child or assign coords/rot to main cam

Questions & Answers
1

There are several different “states” in my game, each distinct and focused on a different setup. Should I use just a single camera and change coords/rot, or should I assign the entire state to its own gameobject, including all the elements in that state, and the camera as well?

2

I prefer to use one script on one camera, and move it based on the state:

// Common code for reading scrollwheel:
   ...
if(placingTowers) {
  camSetUp1();
  // spaceBar places towers, etc...
}
else camSetUp2();

A hidden benefit is if you are smoothing the camera (esp with lerp) then you can easily add smooths for switching camera modes (instead of snapping back, you quickly pull back.) Otherwise, camera code is rarely that long and it seems easier to keep it in one file.

A drawback is you can’t directly find and adjust “fixed camera 3.” If your cameras are different styles (Ortho, narrow view / perspective using render texture) you might use two cams to avoid having to change that in code (or if some things can’t be changed in code.)

Performance-wise, I can’t think of how either set-up would be better.