Lesson 4.1 - Watch Where You’re Going

You’ve done it before, and it’s time to do it again... we must start a new project and import the starter files.

1. Open Unity Hub and create an empty “Prototype 4” project in your course directory on the correct Unity version.
   If you forget how to do this, refer to the instructions in Lesson 1.1 - Step 1
2. Click to download the Prototype 4 Starter Files, extract the compressed folder, and then import the .unitypackage into your project.
   If you forget how to do this, refer to the instructions in Lesson 1.1 - Step 2
3. Open the Prototype 4 scene and delete the Sample Scene without saving
4. Click Run to see the particle effects

We’ve got an island for the game to take place on, and now we need a sphere for the player to control and roll around.

1. In the Hierarchy, right click (or select “+”) > 3D Object > Sphere
2. Rename it “Player”, reset its position and increase its XYZ scale to 1.5
3. Add a RigidBody component to the Player
4. From the Library > Textures, drag a texture onto the sphere

If we want the camera to rotate around the game in a smooth and cinematic fashion, we need to pin it to the center of the island with a focal point.

1. Create a new Empty Object and rename it “Focal Point”,
2. Reset its position to the origin (0, 0, 0), and make the Camera a child object of it

1. Create a new “Scripts” folder, and a new “RotateCamera” script inside it
2. Attach the “RotateCamera” script to the Focal Point

Now that the camera is attached to the focal point, the player must be able to rotate it - and the camera child object - around the island with horizontal input.

1. Create the code to rotate the camera based on rotationSpeed and horizontalInput
2. Tweak the rotation speed value to get the speed you want

The camera is rotating perfectly around the island, but now we need to move the player.

1. Create a new “PlayerController” script, apply it to the Player, and open it
2. Declare a new public float speed variable and initialize it
3. Declare a new private Rigidbody playerRb and initialize it in Start()
4. In Update(), declare a new forwardInput variable based on “Vertical” input
5. Call the AddForce() method to move the player forward based forwardInput

We’ve got the ball rolling, but it only goes forwards and backwards in a single direction! It should instead move in the direction the camera (and focal point) are facing.

1. Declare a new private GameObject focalPoint; and initialize it in Start(): focalPoint = GameObject.Find("Focal Point");
2. In the AddForce call, Replace Vector3.forward with focalPoint.transform.forward

Optional: Take a moment to experiment with the Global vs Local dropdown menu, and how toggling between the two changes your coordinates and positioning.

New Functionality:

• Camera rotates around the island based on horizontal input
• Player rolls in direction of camera based on vertical input

New Concepts and Skills:

• Texture Wraps
• Camera as child object
• Global vs Local coordinates
• Get direction of other object

Next Lesson:

• In the next lesson, we’ll add more challenge to the player, by creating enemies that chase them in the game.