Lesson 1.3 - High Speed Chase

We need an easier way to change the vehicle’s speed and allow it to be accessed from the inspector. In order to do so what we need is something called a variable.

1. In PlayerController.cs, add public float speed = 5.0f; at the top of the class
2. Replace the speed value in the Translate method with the speed variable, then test
3. Save the script, then edit the speed value in the inspector to get the speed you want

The camera is currently stuck in one position. If we want it to follow the player, we have to make a new script for the camera.

1. Create a new Monobehaviour Script called FollowPlayer and attach it to the camera
2. Add public GameObject player; to the top of the script
3. Select the Main Camera, then, drag the player object onto the empty player variable in the Inspector
4. In Update(), assign the camera’s position to the player’s position, then test

We need to move the camera’s position above the vehicle so that the player can have a decent view of the game.

1. In the line in the Update method add + new Vector3(0, 5, -7), then test

We’ve fixed the camera’s position, but we may want to change it later! We need an easier way to access the offset.

1. At the top of FollowPlayer.cs, declare private Vector3 offset;
2. Copy the new Vector3() code and assign it to that variable
3. Replace the original code with the offset variable
4. Test and save

You may have noticed that the camera is kind of jittery as the car drives down the road - let’s fix that.

1. Test your prototype to notice the jittering camera as the vehicle drives.
2. In FollowPlayer.cs, replace Update() with LateUpdate().
3. Save and test to see if the camera is less jittery.

If we’re going to be creating and editing variables, we need to make sure we don’t accidentally try to make changes when in “Play mode”

1. From the top menu, go to Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Unity > Settings (Mac)
2. In the left menu, choose Colors, then edit the “Playmode tint” color to have a slight color
3. Play your project to test it, then close your preferences

New Functionality

• Camera follows the vehicle down the road at a set offset distance

New Concepts & Skills

• Variables
• Data types
• Access Modifiers
• Declare and initialize variables

Next Lesson

• In the next lesson, we’ll add our last lines of code to take control of our car and be able to drive it around the scene.