Spaceship Controller in Unity

In this tutorial, I will show how to make a spaceship controller in Unity.

Let's begin!

Steps

  • Place the spaceship model into your Scene

  • Create a new GameObject, call it "Spaceship"
  • Move the Spaceship model inside the "Spaceship" object and change its position to (0, 0, 0)
  • Create a new script, call it "SC_SpaceshipController" and paste the code below inside it:

SC_SpaceshipController.cs

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

[RequireComponent(typeof(Rigidbody))]

public class SC_SpaceshipController : MonoBehaviour
{
    public float normalSpeed = 25f;
    public float accelerationSpeed = 45f;
    public Transform cameraPosition;
    public Camera mainCamera;
    public Transform spaceshipRoot;
    public float rotationSpeed = 2.0f;
    public float cameraSmooth = 4f;
    public RectTransform crosshairTexture;

    float speed;
    Rigidbody r;
    Quaternion lookRotation;
    float rotationZ = 0;
    float mouseXSmooth = 0;
    float mouseYSmooth = 0;
    Vector3 defaultShipRotation;

    // Start is called before the first frame update
    void Start()
    {
        r = GetComponent<Rigidbody>();
        r.useGravity = false;
        lookRotation = transform.rotation;
        defaultShipRotation = spaceshipRoot.localEulerAngles;
        rotationZ = defaultShipRotation.z;

        Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.Locked;
        Cursor.visible = false;
    }

    void FixedUpdate()
    {
        //Press Right Mouse Button to accelerate
        if (Input.GetMouseButton(1))
        {
            speed = Mathf.Lerp(speed, accelerationSpeed, Time.deltaTime * 3);
        }
        else
        {
            speed = Mathf.Lerp(speed, normalSpeed, Time.deltaTime * 10);
        }

        //Set moveDirection to the vertical axis (up and down keys) * speed
        Vector3 moveDirection = new Vector3(0, 0, speed);
        //Transform the vector3 to local space
        moveDirection = transform.TransformDirection(moveDirection);
        //Set the velocity, so you can move
        r.velocity = new Vector3(moveDirection.x, moveDirection.y, moveDirection.z);

        //Camera follow
        mainCamera.transform.position = Vector3.Lerp(mainCamera.transform.position, cameraPosition.position, Time.deltaTime * cameraSmooth);
        mainCamera.transform.rotation = Quaternion.Lerp(mainCamera.transform.rotation, cameraPosition.rotation, Time.deltaTime * cameraSmooth);

        //Rotation
        float rotationZTmp = 0;
        if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.A))
        {
            rotationZTmp = 1;
        }
        else if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.D))
        {
            rotationZTmp = -1;
        }
        mouseXSmooth = Mathf.Lerp(mouseXSmooth, Input.GetAxis("Mouse X") * rotationSpeed, Time.deltaTime * cameraSmooth);
        mouseYSmooth = Mathf.Lerp(mouseYSmooth, Input.GetAxis("Mouse Y") * rotationSpeed, Time.deltaTime * cameraSmooth);
        Quaternion localRotation = Quaternion.Euler(-mouseYSmooth, mouseXSmooth, rotationZTmp * rotationSpeed);
        lookRotation = lookRotation * localRotation;
        transform.rotation = lookRotation;
        rotationZ -= mouseXSmooth;
        rotationZ = Mathf.Clamp(rotationZ, -45, 45);
        spaceshipRoot.transform.localEulerAngles = new Vector3(defaultShipRotation.x, defaultShipRotation.y, rotationZ);
        rotationZ = Mathf.Lerp(rotationZ, defaultShipRotation.z, Time.deltaTime * cameraSmooth);

        //Update crosshair texture
        if (crosshairTexture)
        {
            crosshairTexture.position = mainCamera.WorldToScreenPoint(transform.position + transform.forward * 100);
        }
    }
}
  • Attach the SC_SpaceshipController script to the "Spaceship" object
  • Create a new GameObject, call it "CameraPosition" and move it inside the "Spaceship" object
  • Move the Main Camera inside the "CameraPosition" object and change its position to (0, 0, 0)
  • Tweak the "CameraPosition" object position until you are happy with the result

  • Move the Main Camera outside of the "Spaceship" object
  • In SC_SpaceshipController assign Camera Position, Main Camera, and Spaceship Root (this should be a transform of a spaceship model) variables

  • Create a new UI Canvas (GameObject -> UI -> Canvas)
  • Right-click on Canvas object -> UI -> Image
  • Change the alignment of a new image to the top-left

  • Assign the sprite below to the image

sci-fi crosshair

  • Finally, assign the newly created image to Crosshair Texture in SC_SpaceshipController

The Spaceship controller is ready. Use the mouse to look around, A/D to rotate along the Z-axis, and Right Mouse Button to accelerate.

Links
Unity 6