• Registered: 2021-06-30
  • Posts: 14
  • User Karma: 5

Topic: Clarification on 2D Stages

The video tutorial on making stages seems entirely geared toward 3D stages.

In the demo folder in the source version, I see there's a "Training Room 2D" but it seems to be the same 3D environment with a material tiled across every surface.

For our project, we're looking to use entirely 2D backgrounds. The most 3D-like element may be some layers for parallax effects but nothing beyond that.

The problem is that a 1024x1024 texture, when used with the example, gets tiled about 7 times horizontally and about 3 times vertically. So without major changes to the way the example stage is built, this would mean every background texture needs to be an image that's almost 8000x3000, which may work in some situations but feels like overkill for a 2D background.

Basically, I'm guessing I'm missing something here or this approach just isn't the way to handle fully 2D stages.

Is there a tutorial on handling fully 2D backgrounds somewhere?

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  • Registered: 2021-06-30
  • Posts: 14
  • User Karma: 5

Re: Clarification on 2D Stages

I ended up just following the tutorial on 3D stages about half way (up to the point of just building the new prefab with an empty object and just the Plane on the Ground layer) and instead of adding 3D objects like the rest of that tutorial, I instead:

- added three quads and scaled them up to be the same width as the Plane: Foreground, Mid, and Background
- I left Foreground close to the origin point (just a little further back from where 2D sprites would be) - I use this for the actual "floor" appearance in-game (not the real floor, of course)
- I put Background further back (basically just trial and error in-game with the alignment on this) until it works well for farther background images like mountains on the horizon / a sky with the moon in it, etc
- Finally, for a subtle parallax effect, the Mid Quad is used for images BETWEEN Foreground and Background (like buildings, trees, etc) and I placed that part way between the two (again, trial and error to get the right look depending on what the background is supposed to look like)

I then added one light pointed at the backgrounds.

I'm sure there are more advanced ways to do this and for some stage designs we might need something more complex too, but for now, this is a starting point for anyone doing a purely 2D (sprites AND stages) fighting game.

The effect is basically just a transparent "real" ground (the Plane, as shown in the UFE tutorial for 3D stages on YouTube) but with a "rear projection" effect like in older compositing techniques for movies. As long as "Point At" is turned off in UFE Camera options (which it likely would be if you're doing a purely 2D fighter), the effect works pretty convincingly.

Would love to hear anyone else's input on other techniques for stages in purely 2D fighters.

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