Introduction

The first step in creating any 3D game is setting up the environment. In Unity, this involves creating a new scene and adding the necessary objects. For our purposes, we’ll be using a simple cube as our player character.

Setting Up the Scene

To create a new scene in Unity, open the editor and click on “Assets” > “Create” > “Scene”. This will create a new empty scene that you can customize to your liking. Next, we need to add our player character to the scene. In this case, we’ll be using a simple cube. To do this, go to “Assets” > “Import Package” and select the cube from the “Standard Assets” package. Once imported, drag the cube onto the canvas to place it in the scene.

Adding Movement Scripts

Now that we have our player character set up, we can start writing code to implement movement functionality. The first thing we need to do is add a script to our player object. To do this, right-click on the player object in the hierarchy and select “Add Component” > “Script”. This will open the “Add Component” window, where you’ll see a list of available scripts. In this case, we want to use the “Character Controller 2D” script. Select this script and click “Add”.

Writing the Movement Code

Now that we have our script configured, we can start writing code to implement movement functionality. The first thing we need to do is create some variables to store the player’s current position and velocity. We’ll also need a variable to keep track of whether the player is jumping or not. Here’s an example of how we might set this up:

<script>
        public float moveSpeed = 5f;
        public float jumpForce = 10f;
        public float turnSpeed = 2f;

        private Vector3 targetVelocity;
        private bool isJumping = false;
        private Transform groundCheck;

        public void Move(Vector2 direction) {
            // Calculate the target velocity
            targetVelocity = new Vector3(direction.x * moveSpeed, 0f, direction.y * moveSpeed);
        }

        public void Jump() {
            // Check if the ground is beneath the player
            if (Physics2D.OverlapCircle(groundCheck.position, 0.1f)) {
                // Apply a force upward to make the player jump
                GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(new Vector2(0f, jumpForce), ForceMode2D.Impulse);
                isJumping = true;
            }
        }

        void Update() {
            // If the player is jumping, apply a force upward to keep them in the air
            if (isJumping) {
                GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(new Vector2(0f, jumpForce), ForceMode2D.Impulse);
            } else {
                // Move the player based on user input
                if (Input.GetButtonDown("Horizontal") && !isJumping) {
                    Move(Vector2.right);
                }
                if (Input.GetButtonDown("Horizontal") && !isJumping) {
                    Move(Vector2.left);
                }
                if (Input.GetButtonDown("Vertical") && !isJumping) {
                    Move(Vector2.up);
                }
                if (Input.GetButtonDown("Vertical") && !isJumping) {
                    Move(Vector2.down);
                }
            }
        }

        </script>

Testing the Movement Code

Now that we have our movement code written, we can test it out by running the game and moving the player around. If everything is set up correctly, you should be able to move the player around using the arrow keys or WASD keys on your keyboard. You should also be able to jump by pressing the space bar.

Troubleshooting

If you’re having trouble getting your movement code to work, there are a few things you can try:

• Make sure that your player object has a Rigidbody2D component attached to it. This is necessary for the player to move around and respond to user input.
• Check the values of your public variables in the inspector window to make sure they’re set correctly. If the values are incorrect, you won’t be able to move the player around or jump.
• Make sure that your ground check is properly configured. The ground check is used to detect when the player is on the ground and able to jump. If the ground check is too high or too low, the player may not be able to jump or may fall through the ground.

Conclusion

In this guide, we walked you through the process of implementing basic 3D player movement in Unity using a copy-and-paste solution. By following these steps, you should be able to create a simple platformer game that allows the player to move around and jump. With some additional tweaking and customization, you can turn this into a full-fledged game with multiple levels, enemies, and power-ups.