This week’s Unity workshop was all about UI interfaces. Paul went over, canvases, panels, text and images, as well as appropriate methods of scaling and anchors/pivots. This was helpful as Unity’s UI tools have confused me in the past. With the knowledge from this session, I was able to make a menu screen for my 2D mod (fig. 1). The background was made in Aseprite (along with the text and buttons) with the line and paint bucket tools, using an Autumnal colour palette. Creating this menu meant that I also had to come up with a good name. It may be simple but I like ‘Alone in the Woods’ – it conveys the mood I’m going for with the game. Using the animation window (fig. 2) and the ‘record keyframe’ feature I was able to add some motion to the title, making it bob up and down for some visual intrigue.

(Above, top) Figure 1: The menu screen with background, title, and play/quit buttons. (Above, bottom) Figure 2: The animation timeline used to create the bobbing effect on the title.

Paul was also able to guide me through creating a piece of UI in the game itself which tells the player the number of teddy bears they have picked up and how many they have left to find (fig. 3). I also applied an outline component to the text to make it stand out against the background for ease of readability. This required a chunk of coding that I was unfamiliar with such as ‘singletons’ and ‘instances’, and I still don’t fully understand what each does but it was helpful to be go over it step by step with Paul.

(Above) Figure 3: The text overlay displaying the number of bears collected.

The final addition I made was an obstacle for the player to avoid in the form of toxic goo. I created them in Aseprite using a limited, bright colour palette that differs from the overall colours to signify that it must be avoided. I also added a collider which, when hit by the player, kills them and sends them back to a recent position. I’m really happy with this as it adds an extra layer to platforming, with added stakes and visual variety.

(Above) Figure 4: The pools of acid inside a cave, with a skull sign to signify their danger to the player.

Next week, I want to find a use for the shooting mechanic (possibly to clear obstacles in your way?) as I think that it will make the game more compelling with this extra mechanic in action. Then I’d like to lay a large level with lots of teddy bears to find. I might add a timer too, so the player can see how quickly they were able to pick them all up.

I have also spent a bit of time getting familiar with Unity’s ProBuilder package as it is what I’ll be using for the level design mod. I followed a Brackeys tutorial (2018) which went over each of the tools and how they can be used to construct 3D spaces. Next week I’d like to put more time into this, as so far I’ve definitely been focusing largely 2D mod.

References:

BRACKEYS. 2018. MODELING IN UNITY?! – ProBuilder Tutorial [YouTube user-generated content]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUSOg5YEflM&feature=emb_logo [accessed 11 November 2020].