Tips on Editor workflows, debugging, graphics, art assets, and 2D best practices in Unity 6
If you're using Unity every day, you know how important it is to work efficiently. Our goal is to help you make the most of the tools so you can get more done in less time.
This updated 100+ pages guide offers tips to speed up your workflows throughout every stage of game development, and it's useful whether you're just starting out or if you've been a Unity developer for years.
Read on to get the highlights from the Tips to increase productivity with Unity 6 e-book.
What's in the guide?
This chapter covers tips on how to navigate the Editor more quickly, focusing on the Editor interface. Some of the topics include but are not limited to customizing preferred shortcuts, working with multiple Inspectors, defining your preferred default settings with Presets and more.
Do you want to focus on a specific Editor window? Double-click any tab (Project, Scene, Game, etc.) to go full screen in Unity.
In this chapter, you’ll find tips and best practices for creating 2D games, working with lighting, sprite libraries, and more. The tips are based on learning points from Unite talks and the 2D samples Dragon Crashers, Happy Harvest, Gem Hunter Match.
If you're looking to create lighting effects that are independent of global scene lights, consider using a Sprite Custom Lit shader. This shader substitutes for scene lighting, allowing you to modify the 2D light texture information and control the lighting on each piece. The result is creative illumination of the sprites, like a shimmery effect that moves over pieces in a match 3 game.
In this section of the guide, we cover how to configure different URP or HDRP settings in your Unity project, a few techniques to fix light leaks, as well as managing shader, prefab and material variants, tips for asset creation and preparation, and many more.
Did you know that you can use trim sheets for optimizing your project’s performance? It reduces the number of individual textures required, while still allowing for visually complex and varied designs on the models.
Here you’ll learn about how to use UI Toolkit to work more effectively with UI design, using native OS emojis in your project, or integrating localization early on in your game to reach more markets.
Did you know that you can use UXML files similar to prefabs? For example, you could have a project with a UXML layout that contains an item icon and count number that you need to spawn many times inside an inventory.
If you right-click on any UXML you get the option to create a template, which can later be added to any other visual element in the Hierarchy pane or instantiated from code. Once created you can find it in your Library and Project view.
In this chapter, you’ll find a few quick tips on debugging in Unity, such as configuring your Console Log Entry for improved readability.
By default, the Console Log Entry shows two lines. For improved readability, you can configure this to be more streamlined with one or multiple lines depending on your preferences (see the image above).
Here you’ll learn more about Unity Version Control, Build Automation, Build Server, as well as the Asset Manager, for better and more efficient team collaboration.
If you’re already familiar with Unity Version Control, did you know that you can work on multiple branches in parallel, without losing your work, with the Shelve and Switch option?
Starting with UVCS package version 2.7.1, you can use shelvesets to temporarily save your current changes when switching between branches, to make sure your unfinished work is safely stored and easily accessible.
You can download many more e-books for advanced Unity developers and creators from the Unity best practices hub. Choose from over 30 guides, created by industry experts, and Unity engineers and technical artists, that provide best practices for efficient game development with Unity’s toolsets and systems.
