As part of our dedication to empowering creators, our dev team has released the new Starter Asset packages. Find out what this means for your workflow below.
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Overview video on the Starter Assets project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QuPlKzdq14
What are Starter Assets?
Starter Assets are Unity-created free and lightweight first- and third-person character base controllers for the latest Unity 2020 LTS and above, using Cinemachine and the Input System packages. Older versions of Unity may also work with Starter Assets, in some cases with slight modifications. They are designed to give you a quick start into prototyping and building character controllers for various game genres, through systems and methods that allow you to easily build and expand on just about any type of project.
The Starter Assets are split into two separate Asset Store packages: A first-person character controller and a third-person character controller. You can quickly download and import the controller you need for your project directly from the Asset Store. Both controllers are built in the same modular way and based on the same scripts and logic.
The project uses the built-in render pipeline, but the default materials can be upgraded to either URP or HDRP through the standard upgrade paths.
What’s inside the new Starter Asset packages?
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Character controllers: At the core of the new Starter Assets is a set of two lightweight character base controllers, adapted for third-person and first-person control.
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Input System: Starter Assets utilize the Input System. This way, you can modify controller input for various input methods, such as a gamepad, mouse, and keyboard setup, or a touchscreen mobile device (supporting both joysticks and touch zones). If your project is using the old Input Manager, you can enable simultaneous support for both systems in the Project Settings.
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Cinemachine: With the help of Cinemachine, the camera settings are customizable so they can be tailored to your project’s needs. The character prefabs have several exposed values that are easy to adjust to your liking, so you can speedily customize the character’s movement and Cinemachine camera settings to suit your project.
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Visual assets: The Starter Asset packages are supplied with a humanoid-rigged armature that can support various animations, as well as an environment for testing character movement, and a basic joystick set for touchscreen controls.
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Compatibility: Both packages are separate and highly modular, which makes them adaptable to a large variety of use cases. The packages also include ready-to-use prefabs for more efficient integration.
How are the packages used?
Whether you’re completely new to Unity and want to add a player character into your scene, or you’re an experienced game developer looking to quickly test your own features and functionality, the Starter Assets can get you up and running before you know it!
The Third Person Controller package includes an original armature, fully rigged with custom animations that use a humanoid character rig. This simplifies replacing the armature with another character that uses a humanoid avatar. Even more, animations can be changed and adjusted to create an original character for your own project.
How does this change improve the user experience?
The Starter Asset packages allow you to jump right into Unity 2020 LTS – no matter your previous experience or expertise. These starter packages provide a solid base to practice using Cinemachine and the Input System in a character controller with the built-in CharacterController component.
Be sure to check out the package documentation located in the download package to learn how to leverage Starter Assets for your next project. We aim to ensure that these assets remain readily available and up to date for your use. Stay tuned for more announcements as we expand our support for Starter Assets.
You can find the Starter Assets on the Asset Store here:
We would love to get your feedback on these packages by filling out our survey.
FAQ and common issues
Q: How can I add my own character model?
A: You can easily exchange the Player Armature for your own character model by following the steps in the Youtube overview video (timestamp 7:30).
Q: Why don’t the mobile inputs work? I can add the UI overlay, but I can’t move using the UI on my phone.
A: It’s possible that you haven’t hooked up the Player Prefab to the UI Canvas.
Select the UI Canvas. In the Inspector in the UI Canvas Controller Component, make sure to assign the Player Prefab to Starter Assets Inputs under Output. You can see more information in the documentation (linked in this post) or in the Youtube overview video (timestamp 6:50).
Q: The camera is jittering/stuttering and the character controller does not move smoothly
A: This can happen if you have the Player selected in the Hierarchy. This is due to the Editor updating the Inspector UI and is not directly related to the Starter Assets. If you unselect all elements from the Hierarchy, minimize the Transform Component, or enter Playmode in the maximized view, the issue should disappear.
Q: Where can I adjust look sensitivity and inversion?
A: You can control the camera speed in the inputactions file (Assets/StarterAssets/InputSystem/StarterAssets.inputactions). Open the file (click Edit Assets in the Inspector while it’s selected). under Player > Look there’s a configuration for Pointer and Gamepad. On each of those configurations there’s a “Scale Vector 2” processor, this is your sensitivity. The Pointer and Gamepad configurations are separate so you could set different sensitivity for Keyboard/Mouse and Gamepads.
If you’re working on Mobile, the UI_Virtual_Joystick and UI_Virtual_TouchZone prefabs have a field called “Magnitude Multiplier” which will control the sensitivity of those components.
Q: How can I replace the default third person character (Armature) with my own character?
A: To replace the character with your own, replace the Armature’s geometry with the character of your choice, and set the Avatar to your new character. Please be aware that the character rig needs to use the Humanoid system. To see the full process, see our YouTube overview video (timestamp: 7:30).
Q: How can I add a new Input Action?
A: Please take a look in the documentation PDF which is included in the project for steps on setting up new Input Actions (Assets > StarterAssets > Documentation.pdf).
Q: Why do I get an error on Unity 2019 LTS?
A: Starter Assets have mainly been designed and tested for 2020 LTS and 2021 LTS. On 2019 LTS, there is a known error caused by the Lighting Data. To fix it, delete the LightingData.asset from the Playground folder. Open the Playground Scene. Then go to Rendering > Lighting Settings and press Generate Lighting to generate a LightingData.asset that works correctly with 2019 LTS.
Please leave all your questions or comments in the replies below!