🚀 Unity API Methods

🧱 Creating objects: Instantiate()

The Instantiate() method allows you to create copies of pre-prepared objects — prefabs. This is the foundation for spawning bullets, enemies, coins, and any dynamic elements.

A prefab is a template object. You create it once, and then reuse it as many times as you want.

using UnityEngine;

public class Spawner : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Variable to store the prefab
    public GameObject cubePrefab;

    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update()
    {
        // If the space key is pressed
        if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space))
        {
            // Create a new object from the prefab
            Instantiate(cubePrefab, new Vector3(0, 1, 0), Quaternion.identity);
        }
    }
}

💡 More about prefabs will be covered in separate tutorials — there you’ll learn how to create, configure, and use them in real projects.

🚶 Moving objects: transform.Translate()

To move an object in space, you can use the Translate() method. It shifts the object by a given distance.

Time.deltaTime helps make the movement smooth and independent of the frame rate.

using UnityEngine;

public class Mover : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Movement speed
    public float speed = 3f;

    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update()
    {
        // Move the object to the right at 'speed'
        transform.Translate(Vector3.right * speed * Time.deltaTime);
    }
}

🎮 Player control: moving left and right

Now let’s add the most important thing — control. We’ll move the object left and right using A/D keys or ← → arrows. Translate() works perfectly for this.

using UnityEngine;

public class PlayerController : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Movement speed
    public float speed = 5f;

    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update()
    {
        // Get direction from keys (A/D or arrows)
        float input = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");

        // Move the object along the X axis
        transform.Translate(Vector3.right * input * speed * Time.deltaTime);
    }
}

💡 Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") returns -1 if left is pressed (A or ←), +1 if right is pressed (D or →), and 0 if nothing is pressed.

⚡ Reacting to 2D triggers

Sometimes you need an object to do something when it collides — collect a coin, activate a portal, etc. Unity provides the OnTriggerEnter2D method for this.

It’s called automatically if the object has a collider with Is Trigger enabled, and it collides with another object that has a Rigidbody2D.

using UnityEngine;

public class TriggerExample : MonoBehaviour
{
    // This method is called when the object enters a trigger
    void OnTriggerEnter2D(Collider2D other)
    {
        // Print the name of the object we collided with
        Debug.Log("Entered trigger with: " + other.name);
    }
}

💡 Make sure this object has a BoxCollider2D or another collider with Is Trigger enabled, and the other object has a Rigidbody2D.

👁 Hiding objects: SetActive()

If you need to temporarily remove an object from the scene without destroying it — use SetActive(false).

using UnityEngine;

public class Hider : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Start is called once when the object is created
    void Start()
    {
        // Disable the object after 3 seconds
        Invoke("Disable", 3f);
    }

    // Method that disables the object
    void Disable()
    {
        gameObject.SetActive(false);
    }
}

💥 Destroying objects: Destroy()

To completely remove an object from the scene, use Destroy(). This is useful for temporary objects: bullets, effects, enemies.

using UnityEngine;

public class SelfDestruct : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Start is called once when the object is created
    void Start()
    {
        // Destroy the object after 5 seconds
        Destroy(gameObject, 5f);
    }
}

💡 You can call Destroy() without a second parameter to remove the object immediately.

📌 Summary

Today we looked at some basic Unity API methods — they help you create objects, move them, hide them, and remove them. These actions appear in almost every game.

But that’s just the introduction. Unity offers dozens of other methods, and we’ll go over them gradually — in thematic tutorials where they’re actually needed.

This means you’re ready to move from basics to creating real game mechanics. See you in the first project!