7 Unity Packages I‘m Currently Enjoying
As a games developer, I find that using good tools are the key to good development. Tools Development and Game Engine Development is such an important part of the process of developing games. Not only can the right tools help with your own productivity but also the teams productivity, streamline development or make development a little more pleasant at times.
As a smaller developer who usually works alone, I rely on the packages available on the Unity Store and Package Manager to get my work done. So below I’ve curated a list of my current favourite packages both built into Unity and paid for in the asset store.
1. Rainbow Folders 2
It’s so simple but so worth it. Rainbow Folders V2 This package automatically colours and labels folders making it easier to find assets in your project hierarchy. You can re-colour, label and add in your own icons but I find this simple utility makes game development a lot easier.
2. Editor Console Pro
Errors are a way of life in any software development pipeline and Unity’s console can be really hard to read when you are dealing with 100s of errors. Editor Console Pro makes the process a little simpler by adding in searching, save searches and more this makes debugging your games 10X easier.
3. Pro-Builder
Have you ever wanted to greybox design a level without having to just use capsules and boxes? Pro-Builder is a fantastic 3D modelling package that is free in Unity. It allows for quicker grey boxing development and even finalized asset creation for your games.
4. Visual Scripting (Bolt)
Previous Unity never really had an official visual scripting package. Now that bolt has been added and rename, we have an officially supported Visual Scripting package for Unity.
Visual scripting allows us to create code without actually typing in the scripts themselves. I personally find this useful when it comes to wanting to create basic scripts or if I’m teaching with someone who has no programming knowledge. Overall, this is a great addition to Unity.
5. Project Search & Replace
Making universal changes to your project never was so simple. Project Search and Replace is insanely powerful, particularly when our objects and scenes continue to get bigger and bigger.
6. Shapes
Freya is fantastic and I highly recommend checking out her YouTube channel. She has also created a Unity Package called Shapes I can’t talk up enough.
It’s just simple and very nicely design particle effects for 2D elements in your game. This can really enhance a very simple game with some player feedback elements, UI designs and much more depending on your design.
7. Heatmap Inputs Analyzer
This is more of a User Experience Research tool but still, I think it’s worth the money. The Heatmap input analyzer maps out where players tend to look or touch on your games. When it comes to any kind of testing or collecting of user data, I find the more the better. This just allows me to see where people are focusing their gaze, what objects stand out for them and then it allows me to make informed design decisions based on real player input.
Conclusion
There’s always more so if you are interested feel free to follow me and drop a comment below.
Thanks for reading!
