Why can I set the position of one prefab when I instantiate it but not another?

Unity Engine
,
1

I have 3 objects.
PlatformManager
Platform
Tile

My Tile prefab is just a sprite and a Box Collider2D
My Platform prefab is generated from n tile prefabs. Eg. 3 tiles.
PlatformManager spawns platforms on a timer as children and moves to the left.

If I Instantiate a Tile prefab directly, I can set it’s position to that of a GameObject parented to the PlatformManager named spawnPoint.

public GameObject tile;
public Transform spawnPoint;

void Start() {
Instantiate(tile, spawnPoint.position, Quaternion.identity, gameObject.transform);
}

That works as expected. The tile prefab appears positioned at the spawnPoint object’s position. But if I use the same approach with the Platform:

public GameObject platform;
public Transform spawnPoint;

void Start() {
Instantiate(platform, spawnPoint.position, Quaternion.identity, gameObject.transform);
}

The Platform prefab instantiates at the world origin.

This is the platform generation code:

public class PlatformGenerator : MonoBehaviour
{
    public int platformSize; //in tiles
    public GameObject tile;
    public float tileOffset;
    Transform currentOffset;
    Transform myTrans;

    void Start()
    {
        for (int i =0; i < platformSize; i++)
        {
            Instantiate(tile, new Vector3(i * tileOffset, 0, 0), Quaternion.identity, gameObject.transform);
        }
       
    }
}

Any ideas?

2

Because your platform will also Instantiate what it is made up of which does not use your platform origin?
‘new Vector3(i * tileOffset, 0, 0)’
should maybe use platform as a starting point?
new Vector3(transform.position + i * tileOffset, 0, 0)’

1 Like
3

That was it! Thanks bud.