How to Do Vector Addition in Unity for Beginners

Discover how to implement vector addition in Unity and understand the basics of transforming object positions in your game projects.
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This video is based on the question stackoverflow.com/q/72517574/ asked by the user 'NatusPotatus' ( stackoverflow.com/u/14652606/ ) and on the answer stackoverflow.com/a/72517998/ provided by the user 'Jayne' ( stackoverflow.com/u/19220777/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Understanding Vector Addition in Unity

If you’re a budding game developer just starting your journey, you might encounter a mix of excitement and frustration as you dive into programming concepts. One common question that often arises is related to vector addition in Unity. This is particularly relevant when building interactive games, such as your pinball project. Let’s break down your questions to help clarify how vector operations work in Unity, ensuring your game objects move as expected.

The Problem: Stuck in Place

You mentioned experiencing a problem where your object moves only once when you press play. This can happen when the Update() function, responsible for continuous updates in each frame, keeps resetting the object’s position to the same value instead of allowing it to change over time.

The Basics: Why Isn't It Moving?

Understanding the Update() Function

The Update() method is called every frame, which means changes you want to apply to your game objects should be handled there.

In your code, the position is being set to a fixed value every time Update() runs. Since none of the position-related variables (xPosition or yPosition) change after their initial definitions in the Start() method, the position always resets to these original values.

The Solution: Implementing Vector Addition

To make your object move dynamically, you should implement vector addition properly. Here’s how you can do it:

Steps to Implement Vector Addition

Modify the Update Method

Instead of simply resetting the transform.position to a static point, you will need to add the xSpeed and ySpeed to the current position. Your updated Update() method should look like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This change allows your object's position to be altered over time based on its speed in the x and y directions.

Variable Changes

Ensure that the xSpeed and ySpeed values are changing (if desired) during the game. This could involve implementing user inputs or game physics to create movement variations.

Why Can't We Use transform.position + = (value 1, value 2)?

In C# , the syntax you used is incorrect. When using + =, you need to add Vector2 objects directly. So remember, always create a new Vector2 with the values you want to add before applying it to transform.position.

Conclusion

Incorporating vector addition in Unity may seem challenging at first, but understanding how to manipulate object positions with vectors will enhance your game development skills significantly. Always ensure that modifications in your object's properties are allowing for continuous change within the Update() function.

With practice, you’ll overcome this obstacle and be ready to tackle even larger challenges in your game development journey. Happy coding, and keep experimenting!