First-Person Player Setup

Overview

The tutorial sets up a basic first-person player in Unity for a 3D survival game, covering scene setup, camera, character controller, mouse look, movement, jumping, and ground detection.

Project Setup

• Target audience: users with prior Unity and coding experience; fast-paced series.
• Create a new 3D project named “3D Survival game” (any name is fine).
• Goal: implement a first-person player with movement and camera look.

Scene Preparation

• Add Terrain: 3D Object > Terrain; leave default settings initially.
• Create Player: empty GameObject named “player”; position in front of the scene view.
• Add a Cylinder as a child: scale wider and taller; center within the parent.
• Remove Cylinder Capsule Collider: Character Controller will handle collisions.
• Add Character Controller to player: adjust radius to match cylinder (~0.57–0.6).

Camera Setup (First-Person)

• Drag Main Camera into player GameObject as a child.
• Reset camera local position; move to head height at top of the cylinder.
• First-person view allows immersive look from the player’s eyes.

Scripts and Attachment

• Create folder: Assets/Scripts.
• Create two C# scripts: MouseMovement, PlayerMovement.
• Paste provided code contents into each class (inside class brackets).
• Attach both scripts to the player object in the Inspector.

Mouse Look (MouseMovement script)

• Purpose: rotate view with mouse; lock/hide cursor during play.
• Public settings:
  • mouseSensitivity default 100; adjust in Inspector as needed.
• Key variables:
  • xRotation, yRotation track rotation degrees around axes.
• Start:
  • Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.Locked to center and hide cursor.
• Update:
  • Read “Mouse X” and “Mouse Y” inputs from Input Manager.
  • Scale by mouseSensitivity and Time.deltaTime for frame-rate independence.
  • xRotation minus-equals mouseY to invert vertical look (natural FPS behavior).
  • yRotation plus-equals mouseX for horizontal look.
  • Clamp xRotation to [-90, 90] to prevent over-rotation (no “owl neck”).
  • Apply rotation using Quaternion.Euler(xRotation, yRotation, 0) to the player transform.

Player Movement and Jump (PlayerMovement script)

• Public settings (defaults):
  • speed = 12; gravity = -9.81f * 2; jumpHeight = 3.
  • stepOffset and slope handled by Character Controller settings; e.g., step offset ~0.7.
• References:
  • controller: assign the player’s CharacterController component.
  • groundCheck: create empty child “ground check”; place at player’s feet.
  • groundDistance: ~0.4; radius for sphere ground detection.
  • groundMask: LayerMask used to identify ground layers.*

Ground Detection

• Physics.CheckSphere(groundCheck.position, groundDistance, groundMask) determines isGrounded.
• On grounding and downward velocity, reset vertical velocity to a small negative (e.g., -2) to avoid accumulating fall speed.

Movement Input and Application

• Read axes:
  • Horizontal: A/D or Left/Right; Vertical: W/S or Up/Down.
• Build movement vector:
  • move = transform.right * x + transform.forward * z (XZ-plane).
• Move:
  • controller.Move(move * speed * Time.deltaTime) for smooth, frame-independent motion.

Jumping

• Condition: if Input.GetButtonDown("Jump") and isGrounded, then jump.
• Set vertical velocity using the physics-based formula:
  • velocity.y = Mathf.Sqrt(jumpHeight * -2f * gravity).
• Apply gravity each frame:
  • velocity.y += gravity * Time.deltaTime.
• Apply vertical motion:
  • controller.Move(velocity * Time.deltaTime).

Layers and Ground Mask Configuration

• Add a Layer named “Ground”.
• Assign Terrain (and any platforms/stairs) to the Ground layer.
• Set PlayerMovement.groundMask to Ground in the Inspector.
• Without layer assignment, ground checks will fail and jumping will not work.

Practical Notes and Tuning

• Sensitivity: increase (e.g., 200) if look is too slow; platform-dependent feel.
• Gravity feel: adjust gravity multiplier if fall is too floaty or too snappy.
• Clamp only vertical look; do not clamp horizontal rotation for a human player.
• Step Offset and Slope Limit: tune to traverse stairs and hills without jumping.

Demonstrated Results

• Player can:
  • Look around with mouse, clamped vertically.
  • Move with WASD/arrow keys.
  • Jump with Space when grounded; lands under gravity.

Settings Summary

Input Mappings (Unity Input Manager)

Key Terms & Definitions

• Character Controller: Unity component providing capsule-based movement with collisions.
• Ground Check: Transform at feet used as the center for Physics.CheckSphere ground detection.
• LayerMask: Bitmask selecting layers to include in physics queries.
• Quaternion.Euler: Constructs a rotation from Euler angles (degrees) for X, Y, Z axes.
• Time.deltaTime: Time between frames; used for frame-rate independent motion.
• Clamp: Restrict a value within a min and max range.

Action Items / Next Steps

• Assign Ground layer to Terrain and any walkable surfaces; set groundMask accordingly.
• Tune mouseSensitivity, speed, gravity, jumpHeight for preferred feel.
• Verify groundCheck position at player’s feet; confirm groundDistance radius detects contact.
• Future additions: implement running, refine movement, build environment with terrain, trees, and grass.