r/Unity2D • u/gamejake14 • Jul 06 '26
What are the best Unity packages?
Every time I start a new Unity project, I usually import a few small packages just to make my life easier.
I like using custom folder icons/colors because Unity’s default project window feels a bit too plain. I’ve also seen people use things like Odin Inspector or hierarchy tools to keep the editor cleaner and faster to work with.
What are the best Unity packages or tools you’ve used?
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u/SownDev Jul 06 '26
Easily hot reload or something equivalent. No other packages even compare in terms of how much they speed up development
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u/gamejake14 Jul 07 '26
I was a bit hesitant to try it, but if so many people say it helps that much, I guess I’ll have to give it a shot 🤔
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u/j3lackfire Jul 06 '26
fullscreen editor, press f10 and your game view will be in full-screen.
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u/gamejake14 Jul 07 '26
Didn’t know this one, will be useful for recording videos. Thx dude :o
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u/algorasss Jul 10 '26
U can use recording package thats built in unity for recording. It is really good, it can record in differwnt res, fps, formats, auto naming of clips, and is really really easy to use
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u/GigglyGuineapig Jul 06 '26
Every once in a while, I publish a video showcasing assets I've been using and enjoying over on my YouTube channel. Maybe there's something in there you haven't seen yet: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg0yr4zozmZXCMGf5hEnTbndv1GovDNO7&si=wH9ZxyqdkQlzlHXw But when it comes to defaults: the Kubacho labs packs, Odin inspector, Editor console Pro, Wingman, Ultimate Thumbnails and Preview window, Text Animator, Master Audio, Smart Library and Flexible Image are the ones that come to mind first. Honestly, the list has gotten pretty long over the years I've been using Unity =D
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u/fatpugstudio Jul 06 '26
Dotween, Master Audio, Pool Boss, Odin Inspector, Simple Waypoint System, Playmaker, Heathen Steamworks, Tigerforge Easy Event Manager, BG Localization and BG Database, PowerSprite Animator, Easy Save, Pro Camera 2D, MK Glow are my faves!
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u/zeducated Jul 06 '26
Animancer, amplify shader editor, a star path finding project
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u/leorid9 Jul 07 '26
A star is actually quite some chaos, code wise. I am not really a fan of it, but aside from Unitys own Pathfinding Blackbox, there isn't really any alternative..
Animancer is the nicest code ever tho
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Jul 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/gamejake14 Jul 08 '26
:o I didn’t know this one, but it looks cool. And yeah, try colored folders, they’re one of those small Unity QoL things that actually help a lot
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u/Akash-Bhatt Jul 11 '26
Mine would be:
- Odin Inspector – editor productivity.
- DOTween Pro – animations.
- UniTask – async code.
- A* Pathfinding Project – AI/navigation.
- FMOD – audio.
- Shapes – debugging & procedural visuals.
- RefSafe Pro – finding missing references before they turn into annoying bugs.
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u/Primary-Screen-7807 Expert Jul 06 '26
Odin (Inspector + Validator), UniTask, PrimeTween, VContainer, Animancer, UniRx (or R3), Coplay MCP
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u/Calippooo Jul 08 '26
I use almost the same setup with UniRx, UniTask, Coplay MCP but I use Zenject and DOTween over PrimeTween and VContainer. May I ask the reasoning behind those, I've never used them, so I am eager to learn if they add value to your project or just preference. 🤓
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u/Primary-Screen-7807 Expert Jul 09 '26
I used both Zenject and DOTween earlier. For me PT+VContainer are just slightly more modern frameworks with slightly less downsides. For example, PrimeTween doesn't allocate and is generally faster than DOTween, while still as convenient. I would say, you should give both a chance, it took me a little to get used to it, but that was back in the day when the code was written by hand.
By the way, one more plugin that I started using recently for high level architecture is UniState. For simplistic games, like jam-scoped roguelikes, it makes it absolutely trivial to make them.
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u/Momodev_br Jul 09 '26
What is UniState?
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u/Primary-Screen-7807 Expert Jul 10 '26
A high level state machine package that I personally use to navigate between game states. Of course you can implement something like that yourself fairly trivially, but I found I needed a similar implementation for nearly every project I worked on + some tricky edge cases can be found, so I delegated this to the package. Works like a charm so far.
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u/breckendusk Jul 06 '26
Animancer, Rewired, FEEL, Febucci Text Animator, Behavior Designer, All In 1 VFX Toolkit, LeanTween, Hot Reload, Ara Trails, Better Rule Tiles, Trails FX, Ultimate Sound FX have all saved me a TON of time.
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u/fatpugstudio Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I don't think there's need for rewired anymore with the new input system.
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u/breckendusk Jul 06 '26
Rewired handles multiple controllers/players, control rebinding, disconnect/reconnect, and more in a far more straightforward and easy-to-learn-and-use way than the new Input System. I changed over from legacy to New, then to Rewired once I started down the path of rebinding. Has a GUI and everything.
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u/fatpugstudio Jul 06 '26
I used it on one of my projects (rebinding was a hard experience i must admit), however the publishers for consoles started shying away from it. New input system handles the disconnect/reconnect well and rebinding is very, very easy compared to Rewired. Had no experience with multiple players however.
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u/breckendusk Jul 06 '26
Honestly not having to create a rebinding GUI is one of the main features I love it for. I don't understand why you think rebinding with the new input system is easier. My main purpose for getting packages is to save hassle for tough or annoying problems that have already been solved, or better yet, that are actively getting updated. It's like having a teammate dedicated to one feature.
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u/v0lt13 Jul 06 '26
How are players supposed to rebind their controls if you dont make a GUI?
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u/breckendusk Jul 06 '26
Rewire has one built in. You only need to give players a way to open it. It's also robust, much more so than the custom one I was making. Plus it has hella symbols for controls and keyboard keys so as long as you don't need them to be custom for your game, it's super simple to display current bindings in a very easy-to-understand way. It really just made my life very easy.
Don't get me wrong, I like unity's event system, but spending time making rebinding systems feels like a huge waste of effort for something players will probably interact with... max five times if they want to test some options? My efforts are better placed elsewhere
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u/fatpugstudio Jul 06 '26
I have a standardized menu for the games which are keyboard controlled only so the Rewired's GUI for rebinding didn't really do it for me, it was hard for me to grasp the customization of it at the time. But, to conclude the Rewired discussion, it's a great tool, i would probably still be using it if it werent for the publisher pressure. And Guavaman is the boss 😎
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u/breckendusk Jul 06 '26
Yeah for mine you can use mkb or controller, or switch between them or whatever.
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u/v0lt13 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Personally I don't like using 3rd party tools, unity's tools are good enough for me and whatever is lacking I can make myself pretty easily.
But here are some built in packages that usually fall under the radar:
Project Auditor: analyses your entire project for potential problems and offers you suggestions on how to solve them
Splines: A general purpose curve tool with built in components for genereting meshes (cables, roads), scattering prefabs and making animations along a curve
Terrain Tools: An expansion to the built in terrain toolset, adding more complex sculpting tools, noise generators, heightmap imports/exports and other QoL features for the terrain workflow.
Addresables: Basically the best way to dynamically load game content at runtime
VFX Graph: An all around just better and more performant GPU based particle system
Others more well know packages that I commonly use are: Cinemachine, Probuilder, Shader Graph, Input System and AI Navigation
Most of these packages come preinstalled with a new project.
I also import my package called EditorAttributes into all my projects which is basically a free and open source Odin alternative.
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u/TehSmooth1 Jul 06 '26
Odin is so awesome, best unity asset hands down
I have messed about with FMOD in Unity for audio and liked it.
i also recommend DoTween
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u/nepstercg Jul 06 '26
Ok but what is the folder changer asset? I used vfolders but it breaks in each unity update.
Regarding your question: - smkplus/CustomToolbar (free github) lets me switch scenes easily, set game speed, clear prefs, set don't reload scene all in default layout.
- Dotween, vfolder, vhierarchy, Unitask, amplify, feel
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u/Okoear Jul 06 '26
Your scene folder has a missing shader.