Getting Started with Unity 5.x 2D Game Development

Physics components

The Physics engine of Unity works by components. Some describe properties of the object itself, others with respect to each other, or some even within a certain region of the game world.

They can be divided as follows:

• Rigidbodies: Which define a rigidbody within the Physics engine
• Colliders: Which define a physical shape for the rigidbodies
• Joints: Which impose one or more constraints on the rigidbodies
• Effectors: Which change the physical property in some region of the game world, influencing all the rigidbodies within that region

A summary diagram of the different components of the 2D Physics engine of Unity

Now, let's see them in ...