Space Sprites [Tech Demo]

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Title: Space Sprites
Genre: Technical Study
Dev Platform: Unity
Synopsis:

Recently I was playing Galaxy Force II and marveled at how the rendering engine works. Sega came up with a “Sprite Scaling” technique that would increase the size of sprites to give a 3D look as the player approached them. The amount of detail and precision made me wonder if I could pull off a similar method in Unity, so I ended up creating this study.

The first level is comprised of nothing but 2D sprites (except for the ship model). The ship remains stationary while the objects are scaled in such a way to look three dimensional. I was also able to put in some unique collision detection without having to scale the colliders. With the exception of the starfield skybox, all sprites are scaling towards the craft.

The second stage (which loads after your ship is destroyed or reaches a certain ‘position’ on the map) is a typical 3D stage with terrain, water, buildings, and the like. I put the two together to contrast the difference between the two methods.

Making the jump to Unity3d from Flash

Click on the image to go to the live demo

So… let me explain.

When I was first turned on to Unity3d I honestly didn’t know what to think. I’m a 2D guy, and for the past several years I’ve actually been proud of that. Everyone jumped on the 3D bandwagon and started pumping out terrible games… but that’s for another post.

If you’re a Flash dev and new to unity, you really should check out Richard Hart’s video tutorials. They’re honestly not enough to do anything except get your brain in a Unity3d mind-set, but that’s the first step.