Hi,
My game is 2.5D, meaning that it uses 3D graphics while the gameplay can be achieved using 2D physics. The Unity scene view works very poorly in this scenario. It’s hard to build a 3D environment on the 2D physics plane (x,y), because of the way the camera pivots around the Y axis. If the scene view camera could simply pivot around the Z axis, I don’t think this would be an issue anymore.
I could use 3D physics instead, but is there a performance advantage to using 2D physics over 3D? I don’t want to have to rework all of my gameplay to work with 3D, add complexity, and potentially a negative impact to performance because of such a simple issue.
I’m not sure I’m understanding fully, but the type of physics used has no impact on the Scene view.
In case there is any confusion on this, choosing a 2D vs. 3D configuration when creating a project has no bearing on physics, and just sets a few defaults with convenience as the intent. You can switch between 2D and 3D modes at any point, without directly changing how your game runs. I would recommend using the 3D editor mode for 2.5D projects, since the options and optimizations are mostly based on graphics.
You’re probably using a perspective camera, so 2D Scene view wouldn’t really give you a lot of insight into how your game will work, except for in limited, specific cases. Feel free to toggle the 2D mode in Scene view if you feel like it would be useful at any point.
You might still consider using 3D physics if there are objects that use the z-axis, such as enemies that fire weapons toward the screen from a different plane than the one the player moves on. If there isn’t a lot of this, you can still get away with 2D physics for these types of interactions. I’m certain that the overhead is lighter with 2D physics, but I don’t really know how big of an impact it is.