#2dtoolkit

Right off the bat the biggest problem was the lack of texture packing and alpha slicing (can’t actually remember what Unity calls it), these features are both Unity Pro only. But only the alpha slicing is a problem (it automatically slices the sprite so it matches the alpha , therefore saving on overdraw), as for the automatic texture packing, you can easily create your own texture atlases in Photoshop or using the great Texture Packer software.

The 2D workflow is fairly simple, but good, they haven’t overloaded Unity with 2D features but have added just the right amount so people can get started. One of the biggest additions is a new 2D physics engine, it is powered by the open source Box 2D physics engine. I have been having a little play and it works much like the 3D physics engine, but…2D, it seems fairly robust and has been used in LOADS of games, so it should pretty watertight.

As I haven’t done lots of in-depth dev in Unity I don’t know if there is any big downfalls or omissions in the new systems, but I guess they will keep adding to it and fixing problems over time. Personally I am still undecided about going all in with just the native 2D tools, sticking with the 2DToolkit or a mixture of the both. I think I might end up using 2DToolkit for the background sections and the native tools for characters/animated objects. A big factor in that it the new Animation window and workflow, it allows me to mix traditional animated sprite sheets with being able to rotate, scale and translate separate sprites in the same animation. I could for example have a few arm shape sprites and then flick between them whilst having the arm rotate smoothly, it adds another way of approaching animations, which is exciting.