Understanding Unity's

Component System
Learning Objectives


Understand the concept of Unity's component system.


Explore common components and their roles.


Grasp the significance of component-based design in Unity.

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What is Unity's Component System
The Entity Component System (ECS) is the core of the Unity Data-Oriented Tech Stack (DOTS). As the
name indicates, ECS has three principal parts:

Entities — the entities, or things, that populate your game or program.

Components — the data associated with your entities, but organized by the data itself rather than by
entity. (This difference in organization is one of the key differences between an object-oriented and a
data-oriented design.)

Systems — the logic that transforms the component data from its current state to its next state— for
example, a system might update the positions of all moving entities by their velocity times the time
interval since the previous frame.

8: Unity Technologies, Unity Manual, 2023 3

What is Unity's Component System
In a component system, components are mix-and-match packets of functionality, and objects are built up
as a collection of components, rather than as a strict hierarchy of classes. A component system is a
different (and usually more flexible) approach to object-oriented programming (OOP) that constructs
game objects through composition rather than inheritance. [1]

In a component system, objects exist on a flat hierarchy, and different objects have different collections
of components. An inheritance structure, in contrast, has different objects on completely different
branches of the tree. The component arrangement facilitates rapid prototyping, because you can quickly
mix and match components rather than having to refactor the inheritance chain when objects change.

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022 4
What is Unity's Component System
Unity
ESC Game Objects
Entity
Unity Components: Transform, MeshFilter, Renderer,
Colider, Rigidbody, Script component
Component
RenderSystem: SpriteRenderer, MeshRenderer,
ParticleSystemRenderer
System
MovingSystem:

PhysicSystem: behaviour of RigidbodyComponent,

ColliderComponent
...

5
 Components in Unity
In Unity, components come in various forms. They
can be for creating behavior, defining
appearance, and influencing other aspects of an
object's function in the game.
By attaching components to an object, you can
immediately apply new parts of the game engine
to your object. [10]
Components are one of the three principle elements of an Entity Component
System architecture. They represent the data of your game or program. [8]

10: Goldstone Will, Unity 3.x game development essentials, 2011

8: Unity Technologies, Unity Manual, 2023
6
Components in Unity
Common components of game production come built-in with Unity, such as the
Rigidbody component mentioned earlier, down to simpler elements such as lights,
cameras, particle emitters, and more [10]

To build further interactive elements of the game, you'll write scripts, which are also
treated as components in Unity. Try to think of a script as something that extends or
modifies the existing functionality available in Unity or creates behavior with the Unity
scripting classes provided. [10]

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 Common Components in Unity
Components Using / Datastore
Transform Position, Rotation, scale

Renderer Object appear on the screen

Collider Define the shape of an object for the

purposes of physical collisions

Rigidbody Add motion to GameObject under the

control of Unity's physics engine.

Script All code execution in Unity starts from code

files linked to an object in the scene

Scripts in Unity are more akin to individual

OOP classes, and scripts attached to
objects in the scene are object instances [1]

6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development:

From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C, 8
The Transform Component
Transform: Position, Rotation, and Scale
Transform is a mandatory component that is present on all
GameObjects. Transform handles critical GameObject
information like position (the location of the GameObject),
rotation (the orientation of the GameObject), and scale (the
size of the GameObject). Though the information is displayed
in the Inspector pane, Transform is also responsible for the
parent/child relationships in the Hierarchy pane. When one
object is the child of another, it moves with that parent object
as if attached to it.
6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development:
From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C, 9
The MeshFilter Component

6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development:

From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C, 10
The Renderer Component
Renderer: Allows You to See the GameObject

A Renderer component—in most cases, a MeshRenderer—

allows you to see the GameObject in the Scene and Game
panes. The MeshRenderer requires a MeshFilter to provide
3D mesh data as well as at least one Material if you want it
to look like anything other than an ugly magenta blob
(Materials apply textures to objects, and when no Material is
present, Unity defaults to solid magenta to alert you to the
problem). Renderers bring the MeshFilter, the Material(s),
and lighting together to show the GameObject on screen.
6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development:
From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C, 11
The Rigdbody Component
Rigidbody: The Physics Simulation

The Rigidbody component controls the physics simulation of your GameObject. The
Rigidbody component simulates acceleration and velocity every FixedUpdate
(generally every 50th of a second) to update the position and rotation of the
Transform component over time. It also uses the Collider component to handle
collisions with other GameObjects. The Rigidbody component can also model things
like gravity, drag, and various forces like wind and explosions. Set isKinematic to
true if you want to directly set the position of your GameObject without using the
physics provided by Rigidbody.

6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development:

From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C, 12
The Collider Component

6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development:

From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C, 13
Script Components

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022 14
Script Components

1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022 15
Advantages of Component-Based Design (CBD)
There are many advantages of developing the applications
using the CBD

1. Ease of deployment − As new compatible versions

become available, it is easier to replace existing
versions with no impact on the other components or the
system as a whole.

2. Reduced cost − The use of third-party components

allows you to spread the cost of development and
maintenance.

3. Ease of development − Components implement well-known interfaces to provide defined functionality,

allowing development without impacting other parts of the system.

4. Reusable − The use of reusable components means that they can be used to spread the development
and maintenance cost across several applications or systems.

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Advantages of Component-Based Design (CBD)
5. Modification of technical complexity − A component modifies the complexity through the use
of a component container and its services.

6. Reliability − The overall system reliability increases since the reliability of each individual
component enhances the reliability of the whole system via reuse.

7. System maintenance and evolution − Easy to change and update the implementation without
affecting the rest of the system.

8. Independent − Independency and flexible connectivity of components. Independent

development of components by different group in parallel. Productivity for the software
development and future software development.

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Practice – Assets folder structure
Hint: In order to organize the Assets folder, create the following folders:

Source: https://unity.com/how-to/organizing-your-project
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Practice 1 – Create an enemy
1.Create an empty game object, reset its transform, and rename it
Goober (Enemy).
2.Add the Sprite Renderer component to Goober.

Drag and drop an image (SPA_Enemy_Right.png) into the
Sprite field.

Set the Sorting Layer to ‘Enemies’.

Rick Davidson, Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D, 2023 19

Practice 1 – Create an enemy
3. Add Rigidbody 2D component to Goober.

Body Type: Kinematic.
4. Add Capsule Collider 2D component to Goober.

Click 'Edit Collider' and adjust the collider's scale.

Rick Davidson, Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D, 2023 20

Practice 1 – Create an enemy
5. Add an Animator component to 'Goober.'
(optional).

In the 'Assets/Animations' folder, right-click and
select 'Create > Animator Controller.' Open the
Animator window (navigate to 'Window >
Animation > Animator'). Rename the controller to
'Goober Controller' (Goober.controller, also
referred to as 'Goober Animator Controller').

In the Animator window, drag and drop the
downloaded 'Goober Animation' from the 'Assets
> Animations' folder onto the Animator panel.

Rick Davidson, Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D, 2023 21

Practice 1 – Create an enemy
5. Add an Animator component to 'Goober.' (optional).

Select the 'Goober' GameObject and add the Animator Component.

Next, drag and drop the 'Goober Animator Controller' into the 'Controller'
field of the Animator Component."

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Practice 1 – Create an enemy
6. Add an Script component to 'Goober.'.

Select the 'Goober' GameObject, drag and drop the 'EnemyMovement.cs'
scipt into the Inspector window.

6. Press Play and test the movement of Goober.

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Practice 2 – Add Cinemachine Follow Camera
1. Import Cinemachine: Start by ensuring you've installed the Cinemachine package in your Unity project. You
can do this using the Package Manager (Window > Package Manager > Cinemachine).

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Practice 2 – Add Cinemachine Follow Camera
2. Create a Virtual Camera: Right-click in the Hierarchy window, select
"Cinemachine" > "Virtual Camera". This creates a new Cinemachine virtual
camera.


Body: Framing Transposer


Follow: Goober (For testing. In real game, Virtual Camera should follow the
player).

6. Press Play and test the

virtual camera.

Rick Davidson, Complete C# Unity Game Developer 2D, 2023 25

Conclusions

Understanding Unity's Component System: Explored the modular approach

where components encapsulate entity functionalities.


Exploration of Common Components: Introduced vital components like

Transform, Renderer, Collider, Rigidbody, and Scripts, elucidating their roles

and importance.


Component-Based Design Advantages: Discussed the benefits—reusability,

modularity, extensibility — of this design approach.

26
References
1: Hocking, Joseph; Schell, Jesse, Unity in action: multiplatform game development in C#, 2022

3: Geig, Mike, Sams teach yourself Unity Game development in 24 hours, 2014

6: Gibson Bond, Jeremy, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to
Playable Game with Unity and C,

8: Unity Technologies, Unity Manual, 2023

9: Tutorials Point, Learning Unity, 2023

10: Goldstone Will, Unity 3.x game development essentials, 2011

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