Possible to do a 360-degree background scene in 2D?

jcp23

Hi all,

I'm new to AC and just starting the coding process in Unity, but before I get too far into development I need to know the best approach between 2D, 2.5D and 3D.

I'm trying to create a 2D first-person puzzle game that still mimics a 3D environment.

Using the 2D tutorial example to illustrate, the player would be viewing the tree and bench as normal but rather than having to exit the scene to view the street, they'd be able to "spin" (scroll on the x-axis) to see the street or a panorama of the park. They would still "click to exit" to go to the street scene, but they could ideally also "see" it from where they stand next to the tree. I know what I want is possible in 3D, but I don't want the game to look or navigate like a 3D game, which is why I'm favoring 2D.

When I follow the 2D tutorial, it generally has what I'm looking for, and I know I can use the following settings to create the playerless perspective I want:

Movement method: None
Camera perspective: 2D
Moving and turning: Unity 2D

But the background in the tutorial is limited dimensions, only showing the tree and the bench rather than a panoramic view. I can't find examples where there's a 360-degree scene that loops back to start, so I'm wondering if it's not possible in 2D?

Can I create a 360-degree looping background in 2D AC from a first-person perspective, or should I go with 3D and simply leverage art to make it look/feel like a 2D game instead? Looking for the best approach so I don't waste time down the wrong path.

Thanks for your help!

ChrisIceBox

Welcome to the community, @jcp23.

In essence: this is about having a 2D background that loops seamlessly when scrolling sideways?

This'll be possible in 2D, but it'll require a little scripting to get right. You'd first need to start with a background image that looks the same at each end - it'd need to be able to "overlap" itself by the width of the screen, rather than join up end-to-end, if you were to paste it on the inside of a cylinder.

It'd then be a case of teleporting the camera to the opposite side when it goes too far. How you'd do this would depend on which camera type you use. Are you using AC's "Game Camera 2D Drag" type, or a custom one?

The other challenge would be related to interactive Hotspots that are positioned on the overlapping portions. For each of these, you'd need to create a second "dummy" Hotspot that appears in the equivalent position on the opposite side, and set it up to use the same interactions as the real one.

You can find some example scripts to help with this over on this page of the AC wiki:
https://adventure-creator.fandom.com/wiki/Looping_2D_scenes

This page deals with a more traditional 3rd-person 2D game, that involves the camera following an on-screen Player character. You'd need a different script for the camera-handling, but the DummyHotspot script should be able to help.