Unity Recipes 🔮

Common Implementations

Game Inventory

  • Array or List? Fixed-size?
  • Each entry is a slot?
  • Swap(index, index): swap two items. Don't if they have the same index? Handle merge items if they are stackable.
  • GetTotalQuantity(item): Don't forget to check every slot.
  • HasItem(item)
  • AddItem(slot): add or increase stack
  • RemoveItem(slot, q): remove a quantity from the inventory. Check every slot if needed.
  • RemoteAt(index)
  • GetSlotByIndex(index)

Platformers

A platformer is a game such as Super Mario Bros, in which a player is jumping/climbing between platforms, to reach a goal.

We are considering that you are in Unity 3D, without the Z-axis.

  • 📘: Add a RigidBody to the player
    • 📘: To move the player, use forces (up=jump, left/right=move)
    • 📕: Fix the rotation (X, Y, Z) => prevent unexpected rotation
      • if you can't freeze the rotation, you can create an empty game object. Using a script, update the empty game object to match the player transform. Then, simply place the camera in the empty game object.
    • 📕: Fix the position (Z) => won't fall
    • 📕: Remove frictions => otherwise, the player can stay in the air, by clamping a block
  • 📘: you may nest the camera inside the player, to make the camera follow the player. You can tweak the Z-axis to move the camera near or far from the player.
  • 📘: to check if the player is on the ground, you can check if the player is colliding with the ground
    • 📕: if you are using OnColliderEnter/OnTriggerEnter, beware of a bug when you are both exiting and entering a new block

Breakout

This game is called casse-briques in French. "In Breakout, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen, and the goal is to destroy them all by repeatedly bouncing a ball off a paddle into them." (Wikipedia)

We are considering that you are in Unity 3D, without the Z-axis.

  • 📘: Create 3 walls (left, up, right) with a collider
  • 📘: Create a paddle (ex: flat cube) with a collider and a rigid body
    • 📕: freeze Z-axis
    • 📕: freeze rotation (X, Y, Z)
    • 📘: move the platform by checking the position X of the mouse
      • 🗒: you may use Camera.ScreenToWorldPoint
  • 📘: Create a ball (ex: sphere) with a collider and a rigid body
    • 🗒: make the ball interpolate (smooth collision)
    • 📕: freeze Z-axis
    • 📘: make the ball bounce when colliding
      • 🗒: using Vector3.Reflect
    • 📘: destroy the ball when lost
      • 🗒: check if the renderer is visible
  • 🗒: Set the camera mode to orthographic
  • 📘: Create a brick (ex: flat cube) with a collider
    • 📘: the brick should be destroyed after X hits
    • 🗒: change color when hit, revert back after X seconds
    • 🗒: add indestructible bricks
  • 📘: Create a level using bricks
  • 🗒: Game Manager
    • 🗒: handle points
    • 🗒: handle lives
    • 🗒: handle levels
    • 🗒: create the ball and the paddle
  • 🗒: add menus
    • 🗒: state machine (Play, GameOver, LevelCompleted, etc.)
    • 🗒: update the UI in the setter of points/lives/levels