Player Physics|Checkpoint

Re-spawning|Particle Effect
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4
Basic Rigidbody2D properties
• Mass: the weight of an object/character

• Gravity: you can make it behave exactly like in the real world, or you could
make a world with little to no gravity. Gravity affects how things move, how
high character can jump, and how an object reacts to a force against it

• Linear Drag: air resistance when moving along x/y axes

• Angular Drag: air resistance when rotating along x/y axes

• Fixed Angle: can the object spin when hit by something else?

• Kinematic: gravity doesn’t affect the object

Basic Collider2D properties
• Colliders can be box-shaped, circular, edge, or polygonal. Properties vary from
one type to another
• Material: property to assign a type of material to affect objects that collide with it

• Radius: how big or small the circle collider is around the game object

• Size: how big or small the box collider is around the game object

• Offset: how far away the collider is from the game object itself

• Is Trigger: If checked, a GameObject can trigger an event when it collides with another
GameObject. This is useful for setting up events you want to happen when your player comes
in contact with them.
• Example: when the player runs into an enemy, it dies
Hinge Joint Constraint
• The most common use of a hinge joint in Unity is to create a trapdoor for your
player character to fall through

• Unlike your player character, you don’t want your platform or ground to fall away
due to gravity!

• So we add a hinge constraint to tell the physics engine that the object has a point
on it that will constrain it to its position on the screen but allow it to rotate with
the force of gravity without actually falling. There are a few different constraint
types you are able to add to a Rigidbody2D Component.

• A Hinge Joint can be triggered by a collision from another game object

Other Types of Joint Constraints
• There are other types of joints other than the Hinge Joint. Some of
them are:
• Spring Joint 2D: Creates a spring-type effect with two colliding GameObjects

• Slider Joint 2D: Constrains a GameObject along a set path, like an elevator
door. Can also be set to activate upon collision or continually

• Wheel Joint 2D: Constrains an object to a position but allows it to rotate

Exercise #14 – Create a Hinge Joint
• Choose a couple platform game objects and attach a Rigidbody2D and
BoxCollider2D to both of them. Attach a HingeJoint2D to the one on
the right only
• In the example below, they are placed underneath Sonic because we
want the one on the right to open downwards like a trap door when
he collides with it
Exercise #14 – Create a Hinge Joint (Cont.)
• In the Hinge Joint2D component of the right-side platform in Inspector, change
the value of the Connected Rigid Body property by dragging the platform game
object on the left from the Hierarchy view and dropping it into the text box in the
Inspector view
Exercise #14 – Create a Hinge Joint (Cont.)
• Understand what these properties do to get the hinge joint working the
way you want it to:
• Anchor – the hollow circle. It’s the point your platform rotates around
• Connected Anchor – the full circle. It indicates where in your scene the anchor is
placed. If you’re not sure where that is, experiment with its position till you get it the
way you want
• (In many cases, putting the full circle inside the hollow circle will be enough for you to get the
effect you need)
• Enable Collision – check this if you don’t want your trapdoor to swing through the
platform on the left as if it’s invisible! You want them to collide with each other
• Use Limits – check it if you don’t want your trapdoor to rotate fully when something
collides with it. Change the values of Lower Angle and Upper Angle until you get the
effect you need. For this exercise, use degrees 2 and 90, respectively
• Use Motor – check it to apply torque and make the platform rotate and control
speed of rotation when the player collides with it. To understand the values Motor
Speed and Maximum Motor Force, check Reference #1 at the end of this Powerpoint.
For this exercise, use the values -100 and 100, respectively
Exercise #14 – Create a Hinge Joint (Cont.)
Exercise #15 - Creating Friction
• If your ground/platform is much too slippery, you can make it rougher by
controlling the Friction
• Right-click on Assets, and Choose Physics2D
Material
• Name the new material and go to its Inspector
view
• Change the value of friction to whatever suits
you
• Zero is slippery. One is very rough.
Exercise #15 - Creating Friction (Cont.)
• Now you must attach the material to your ground for the friction to work
• Make sure your ground already has a box collider component attached!
• Select the material from your Assets folder, and drag it to the Material property
inside the Box Collider component the Inspector window and drop it
• Now the ground will become as rough or as smooth as you need it to be
Exercise #15 - Creating Bounciness
• Say you have a platform that the player can bounce on like a trampoline
• The procedure is the same as in the previous friction exercise
• Right-click on Assets, and Choose Physics2D Material
• Name the new material and go to its Inspector view
• Change the value of bounciness
• Zero indicates no bounce at all
Exercise #15 - Creating Bounciness (Cont.)
• Make sure the platform has a collider2D component attached
• Drag the bouncy material from the Assets folder all the way to the Material property inside the
Collider2D component the Inspector window and drop it

• Now the player will bounce upon landing on the platform

Checkpoints
• We need to take into account that players can fall into the water or,
eventually, get themselves knocked out by an enemy. Would we start
them at the beginning of the level all over again? Of course not!
We’re going to create a checkpoint system to account for such
circumstances.
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 1: Add
Spikes game object
• Add Spikes game object to your scene
• Change it’s sorting layer to Foreground
• Add a Box Collider 2D component to it
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 2: Add a
Checkpoint GameObject
• Create a new gameObject and call it Checkpoint
• Give it a relevant icon or sprite (e.g. Flag)
• Add a Collider2D
• (Make sure its z position is 0, or otherwise not behind the background)
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 3: Add a
Level Manager GameObject
• Create another empty game object to be used as a level manager, rename it to
Level Manager
• Level Manager will be responsible for all logic related to this game level, but it
doesn’t need to be visible on the scene like Checkpoint and everything else.
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 4: Add
three script files

• Create three script files for each of our 3 newly-created game objects
• Spikes
• Checkpoints
• LevelManager
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 6: Write
LevelManager script Logic
• LevelManager script is responsible for tracking the current checkpoint, it will use
the current checkpoint’s position to return our player to it when respawned.
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 6: Write
LevelManager script Logic

• CurrentCheckpoint is a public variable, so we can change it from

inside Unity. We’ll change it from Unity to set the first checkpoint by
dragging and dropping, then it will be updated dynamically when
player passes by the next checkpoints.
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 7: Write
Spikes script Logic
• Spikes script is responsible for detecting collision of player with it
• Make sure to give the Player a ‘Tag’ in the Inspector view. We’ll use it to make if-conditions easy
• Make sure that “Is Trigger” property of Spikes game object is checked, so that it can be
overlapped with other game objects with box colliders

(other.tag == “Player”)
• Now play the scene. Let the player run through the checkpoint first,
then run at the spikes. The moment he collides with them, he’ll
immediately respawn back at the checkpoint
Exercise #15 - Checkpoints – Step 8: Add collider
to checkpoint (for multiple checkpoints)

• Add Circle Collider 2D to the checkpoint game object and check ‘Is
Trigger’ so that the player can interact with it
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 9: Add Spikes
and Checkpoints Prefabs (for multiple
checkpoints)
• Drag your Spikes and Checkpoints game objects to your Prefabs folder in Assets,
so that you can create multiple Spikes and Checkpoints with same characteristics
Exercise #16 - Checkpoints – Step 10: Write
Checkpoints script logic (for multiple checkpoints)

• Checkpoints script is responsible for updating the currentCheckpoint

variable of the LevelManager when player passes by it

(other.tag == “Player”)
• Now when player interacts with any checkpoint, Checkpoint script will
update the currentCheckpoint of the LevelManager so that the player
will be returned to the currentCheckpoint (the last checkpoint the
player interacts with) when spawned
Exercise #17 – Particle Effect (Animation)
• Particle effect is a unique tool that can add interactivity and
responsiveness to your games. They add to the fine-tuning and detail
of a game’s look and animation

• As in Mario games, the player can break bricks by colliding with them

• The idea we’ll play with is to swipe one sprite with another to create
the illusion of animating a particle effect
Exercise #17 – Particle Effect – Step 1: Add
Brick game object
• Add a Brick game object and place it on a suitable Sorting Layer

• Add component EdgeCollider 2D to its bottom side

Exercise #17 – Particle Effect – Step 2: Create
script “Brick”
• Create script “Brick” and attach it to your brick game object.
Exercise #17 – Particle Effect – Step 2: Create
script “Brick” (Cont.)
• In the If-condition, we check to see if the player game object has the
correct name, and make sure he only needs to hit that block once,
hence the index number zero

• Logically, the player’s y value should always be smaller than the

block’s, so we put that in the condition as well

(other.tag == “Player” && other.GetContact(0).point.y < transform.position.y)

Exercise #17 – Particle Effect – Step 2: Create
script “Brick” (Cont.)
• If the condition is true, the Sprite Renderer will replace the BrickBlock
sprite with the ExplodedBlock sprite

• Then the block will be destroyed altogether after a fraction of time

(other.tag == “Player” && other.GetContact(0).point.y < transform.position.y)

Exercise #17 – Particle Effect – Step 3: Making
modifications after finishing the script

• Go back to Unity and drag and drop your ExplodedBlock sprite to its
variable.
Exercise #17 – Particle Effect – Result
• Now when the player game object hits the brick game object from
below, it will result in the brick exploding, then disappearing
References
• Hinge Joint2D Tutorial. URL retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6awvCT29yU
• Endless Runner Game in Unity. URL retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrQalFLtQT4&list=PLiyfvmtjWC_
XmdYfXm2i1AQ3lKrEPgc9-
• Checkpoints & Respawning - Unity 2D Platformer Tutorial - Part 3.
URL retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndYd4S7UkAU
• HOW TO MAKE 2D PARTICLE EFFECTS - UNITY TUTORIAL. URL
retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z68_OoC_0o