10 Unity Game Manager Best Practices
If you're developing a game in Unity, there are a few best practices you should follow to make sure your game manager is up to par. Here are 10 of them.
Unity is a powerful game engine used to create games for multiple platforms. It is a popular choice for game developers due to its flexibility and ease of use. One of the most important aspects of game development is the game manager. The game manager is responsible for managing the game’s state, such as the player’s progress, the game’s difficulty, and the game’s overall flow.
In this article, we will discuss 10 best practices for creating a game manager in Unity. We will discuss how to structure the game manager, how to handle game state, and how to manage game events. By following these best practices, you can ensure that your game manager is efficient and effective.
1. Singleton Pattern
The singleton pattern ensures that only one instance of the game manager is ever created, and it also provides a global access point to this instance. This makes it easy for other scripts in your project to access the game manager’s data and functions without having to pass references around or create multiple instances of the same object.
The singleton pattern also helps keep your code organized by keeping all of your game manager logic in one place. This makes it easier to debug and maintain your code since you don’t have to search through multiple files to find what you’re looking for. Finally, using the singleton pattern can help improve performance since there will be fewer objects in memory at any given time.
2. Don’t use the Update() method for time-based events
The Update() method is called every frame, and if you use it for time-based events, your game will run slower as the number of frames increases.
Instead, use a Coroutine or InvokeRepeating to handle timed events. This way, you can set up an event that runs at regular intervals without having to worry about how many frames have passed. Additionally, this approach allows you to easily adjust the frequency of the event by changing the interval parameter.
3. Use Coroutines instead of InvokeRepeating()
Coroutines are more efficient and can be paused or resumed at any time, while InvokeRepeating() will always run until it is stopped. Coroutines also allow you to create complex logic that can be used in game development, such as waiting for a certain amount of time before executing a function. This makes them much more powerful than InvokeRepeating(), which only allows you to execute a function after a set interval.
4. Use a State Machine to manage your game states
A state machine allows you to easily transition between different game states, such as the main menu, gameplay, and endgame. It also helps keep your code organized by separating out each game state into its own class. This makes it easier to debug and maintain your code in the long run. Additionally, a state machine can help reduce complexity when dealing with multiple game states at once. By using a state machine, you can ensure that only one game state is active at any given time, which simplifies the logic of your game manager.
5. Use Scriptable Objects to store data
Scriptable Objects are a type of asset that can store data in the form of variables. This makes them ideal for storing game settings, levels, and other types of data that you want to persist between scenes or even across multiple games.
Scriptable Objects also make it easy to modify your game’s data without having to write any code. You can simply create a Scriptable Object asset, set its values, and then reference it from within your scripts. This makes it much easier to tweak your game’s settings without having to dive into the code.
6. Avoid using GameObject.Find()
GameObject.Find() is a very expensive operation, as it searches through the entire scene hierarchy to find an object with a specific name or tag. This can cause performance issues in your game, especially if you’re using it frequently.
Instead of using GameObject.Find(), use Object Pooling. Object pooling allows you to store objects in memory and reuse them when needed instead of creating new ones each time. This will help improve performance by reducing the amount of time spent searching for objects. Additionally, you can also use Singletons to access components from other scripts without having to search for them every time.
7. Make sure you understand how Unity handles memory management
Unity is a powerful game engine, but it can quickly become bogged down if you don’t manage your memory properly. This means that you need to be aware of how much memory each asset or object in your game is taking up and make sure that you are not overloading the system with too many assets at once.
To do this, you should use Unity’s built-in profiler tool to track memory usage and identify any potential issues. You should also take advantage of Unity’s garbage collection feature to help reduce memory usage by freeing up unused objects. Finally, you should consider using asset bundles to streamline loading times and reduce memory usage.
8. Use Object Pooling to reduce instantiation overhead
When you instantiate a new object in Unity, the engine has to allocate memory for it and then initialize all of its components. This can be an expensive process that takes up valuable resources.
Object pooling is a technique where instead of creating a new instance of an object each time one is needed, you reuse existing objects from a pre-allocated pool. This reduces the amount of work required by the engine and improves performance. It also helps reduce memory fragmentation since the same objects are reused over and over again.
9. Use Prefabs as blueprints for your objects
Prefabs are reusable game objects that can be used to quickly create multiple instances of the same object. This is especially useful when you need to spawn a lot of similar objects, such as enemies or power-ups.
Prefabs also make it easier to manage your game objects since they are stored in one place and can be edited from there. This makes it much simpler to update all instances of an object at once if needed. Finally, Prefabs help keep your project organized by allowing you to store related objects together.
10. Use Asset Bundles to load assets on demand
Asset bundles allow you to load assets only when they are needed, which reduces the initial loading time of your game. This is especially important for mobile games, where users expect a fast and smooth experience.
Asset bundles also make it easier to update your game without having to re-download the entire package. You can simply download the updated asset bundle and replace the old one with the new one. This makes it much easier to keep your game up to date with the latest content.