I am attempting to create a 2d top-down car racing game. This game will have a random road map each time the player plays the game. I have thought about doing this in two different ways: A tilemap, or just generate the roads by placing different prefabs (straight roads, turns, etc). I have decided to go with the prefab route.
The way I believe it should work is to have prefab square "tiles" which have their own colliders set on the edges so I can tell if a player goes off the track in which case they blow up. I would have a MapGenerator Script which will generate an initial random map by keeping track of the last tile placed (including its location and road type: left turn, straight, right, etc). This script will then keep adding onto the road randomly as the player gets closer and closer to the end which makes it an infinite road.
I just want to know if this is just not efficient or if I am thinking of this completely wrong.
Here are a couple of images showing my road tiles which I made in photoshop and then one prefab for a straight road (take note of the colliders on its edges).
A similar game to one I want to make is Sling Drift which I can provide the link if you want. I don't know the policy on adding links to forum chat.
Also, here is my code for the map generator:
//Type of tyle, types are normal (straight road or horizontal road) and turns
public enum MapTileType
{
NORMAL,
N_E,
N_W,
S_E,
S_W
}
//structure for holding the last tile location and its type.
public struct TypedTileLocation
{
public TypedTileLocation(Vector2 pos, MapTileType tyleType)
{
m_tileType = tyleType;
m_position = pos;
}
public Vector2 m_position;
public MapTileType m_tileType;
}
public class MapGenerator : MonoBehaviour
{
//Map Tiles
public GameObject m_roadTile;
public GameObject m_turnNorthWestTile;
//holds all the tiles made in the game
private List<GameObject> m_allTiles;
//Map Tile Widths and Height
private float m_roadTileWidth, m_roadTileHeight;
//Used for generating next tile
TypedTileLocation m_lastTilePlaced;
private void Awake()
{
//store the initial beginning tile location (0,0)
m_lastTilePlaced = new TypedTileLocation(new Vector2(0,0), MapTileType.NORMAL);
//set height and width of tiles
m_roadTileWidth = m_roadTile.GetComponent<Renderer>().bounds.size.x;
m_roadTileHeight = m_roadTile.GetComponent<Renderer>().bounds.size.y;
m_allTiles = new List<GameObject>();
}
// Start is called before the first frame update
void Start()
{
SetupMap();
}
void SetupMap()
{
//starting at the beginning, just put a few tiles in straight before any turns occur
for (int i = 0; i < 6; ++i)
{
GameObject newTempTile = Instantiate(m_roadTile, new Vector2(0, m_roadTileHeight * i), Quaternion.identity);
m_lastTilePlaced.m_tileType = MapTileType.NORMAL;
m_lastTilePlaced.m_position.x = newTempTile.transform.position.x;
m_lastTilePlaced.m_position.y = newTempTile.transform.position.y;
m_allTiles.Add(newTempTile);
}
//now lets create a starter map of 100 road tiles (including turns and straigt-aways)
for (int i = 0; i < 100; ++i)
{
//first check if its time to create a turn. Maybe I'll randomly choose to either create a turn or not here
//draw either turn or straight road, if the tile was a turn decide which direction we are now going (N, W, E, S).
//this helps us determine which turns we can take next
//repeat this process.
}
}
void GenerateMoreMap()
{
//this will generate more map onto the already existing road and then will delete some of the others
}
// Update is called once per frame
void Update()
{
}
private void OnDrawGizmos()
{
}
}
Thanks!