Player Setup

Now that we have our level (mostly) setup, we can add start working on the Player Game Object: Samus. Create a new Game Object and give it the name Player.

Player Root Object

Set this object’s position to (39.5, 18.5, 0).

Also get rid of the Fun Ball if you haven’t already.

PlayerObject

If you want me to put enemies as children of their Room, shouldn't I also put Samus in the room she starts in (Room A)?

Samus is special in that she can move between rooms. Enemies on the other hand need to be children of the room so that they are disabled with the room once the Player exits it.

Player Standing Object

Next we’re going to create another Game Object named Standing and set it as a child of Player. Set the local position of this object to (0, 0, 0).

Now add a Sprite Renderer component to the Standing object. Set the Sprite of this component to metroid_samusaran_sheet_0 under the Assets/metroid_samusaran_sheet Sprite Sheet

AddedSprite

Couldn't I have just added a Sprite Renderer to Player, why did I create this child Game Object?

Samus has a number of different states that she can be in, and by separating these states into separate Game Objects we can more easily control the logic of our game.

While Samus is standing, she can jump, she can shoot, and she's two tiles tall.

While Samus is a ball, she can bounce and she's one tile tall.

You could try to program all of these differences (and this is how the project was approached in the past) but it's easier to just handle it by keeping just one Game Object active.

What exactly is the relationship between a parent and a child in Unity

One of the main reasons is purely for organization. Instead of trying to maintain a bunch of objects floating around in the scene you can group objects under a root object.

Setting an object as the child also means that as the parent moves, the child will move with it.

Deactivating a parent will also deactivate the child (which is how you will disable enemies with the room).

There's a lot more to it than that. For example, colliders of children work with the rigidbody of their parent. These kinds of things you'll just become more familiar with as you work with Unity.

What's the difference between local and global position?

Global position is where the object actually is.

Local position is where the object is relative to its parent's position and orientation.

Next let’s add a Capsule Collider to Standing.

Set the Center to (0, -0.1, 0)

Set the Radius to 0.4

Set the Height to 1.8

AddedCapsuleCollider

Why are we using a Capsule Collider instead of a Box Collider?

It's true that a Box Collider is more representative of what the real Metroid would use. However there is a reason for this that we will talk about extensively in 07-Addressing Movement Concerns

Is it normal to have the root Game Object at the center of the Sprites and Colliders?

It's really up to the programmer. Some people prefer to have the bottom of the object represent where the player is and move the Sprite Renderer and Collider up.

This can make some things easier such as checking how far the player is from the ground, but can be worse for things like determining how far the object is from other objects.

It's important to pick one way and stick with it, in this case our root will be at the center of the object.

While a Collider was all that was needed for the Tiles, the Player also needs to move. For that we’ll need a Rigidbody.

Add a RigidBody to the Player Game Object.

AddedCapsuleCollider

Why wouldn't I put the Rigidbody with the Capsule Collider on the Standing Game Object?

For the different states we'll want different colliders. While Standing Samus is 2 tiles tall but in ball form she's just 1 tile tall.

However, these states share the same movement. It would be pretty odd for the velocity to change every time you went between states.

Finally, drag-and-drop the root Player Game Object from the Hierarchy into your Assets to make it a Prefab. Move it into the Prefabs folder for organization.

Why do I need to make the Player a prefab if there will only ever be one of them?

Even if there will only ever be one Player Game Object instantiated, you want to make sure that the Player in this scene stays up to date with the Player you will add to other scenes (like the Custom Level).

Conclusion

That’s it for this tutorial. Once you’re ready commit your changes and move on to 06-Player Movement.