Unity Technologies Unveils 2D Gaming Tools

Unity Technologies unveiled a new 2D tools and workflow for the Unity engine and editor at its’ Unity 2013 Conference. Now in beta the full release will be included with the  Unity 4.3 update later this year.

The tool offers the introduction of a dedicated scene view, which includes specialized 2D scene manipulation tools. Scene view can be toggled between the traditional view or set as the default when creating a project. Importing, manipulating, and working with 2D are facilitated with the addition of a new sprite texture importer type, automated atlasing, and dedicated 2D renderer component.

They have updated the Unity animation editor to include 'dope sheet' functionality and visual sprite animation editing leading for improved control over intricate animations.

The specialized Box2D physics engine has been integrated into Unity to offer improved performance, more stable simulation and smaller game builds. Additionally, polygon collider generation from sprite textures means quicker creation of accurate, but fully editable, physical collider meshes for refined physical response between objects in a scene.