Make a field in inspector hold inheriting classes

Question

Hello,

I was wondering if it was possible for a field in the Inspector to change between different classes that extend the given field type.

What I mean is, I have a Weapon class, I also have Gun and Melee, which both extend Weapon. Gun and Melee have their own specific variables but also use some of Weapon's variables.

What I want is for some other script, to have a public variable of type Weapon, and I want to be able to be able to use either a Gun or a Melee inside the field in the Inspector. (So that I am able to edit the variables for that weapon in the inspector no matter what the weapon "type" is).

Here's a quick example

 public class Weapon{
     public string weaponName;
 }
 
 public class Melee : Weapon{
     public float range;
 }
 
 public class Gun : Weapon{
    public float ammoCapacity;
 }

 public class Attack : MonoBehaviour {
    //Can I (inside the Inspector), use a Gun or Melee instead of being forced to a basic Weapon
    public Weapon weapon; 
 }

Thanks!

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by UnityCoach · Jan 06, 2017 at 01:40 PM

You could make your weapon class a ScriptableObject. Then you would have to create weapons as assets and drag and drop them :

 [CreateAssetMenu (fileName = "New Generic Weapon.asset", menuName = "Generic Weapon")]
 public class Weapon : ScriptableObject
 {
     public string weaponName;
 }
 
 [CreateAssetMenu (fileName = "New Melee.asset", menuName = "Melee")]
 public class Melee : Weapon
 {
     public float range;
 }
 
 [CreateAssetMenu (fileName = "New Gun.asset", menuName = "Gun")]
 public class Gun : Weapon
 {
     public float ammoCapacity;
 }

The only limitation, is that ScriptableObject are only references, so changing one changes them all. Which can also be handy.

Add comment · Show 3 · Share

PandawanFr · Jan 06, 2017 at 04:17 PM 0

Share

The only limitation, is that ScriptableObject are only references, so changing one changes them all. Which can also be handy.

By that, do you mean, that I have to create a new script/class for each separate weapon that I want to make?

PandawanFr PandawanFr · Jan 06, 2017 at 04:41 PM 0

Share

Ok, I found a great tutorial for this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItZbTYO0$$anonymous$$nw Thanks a lot!

UnityCoach PandawanFr · Jan 06, 2017 at 05:30 PM 0

Share

Not a new script/class, but a new asset. Though, using the implementation suggested by @Adam-$$anonymous$$echtley solves this.

Answer 2

Answer by Adam-Mechtley · Jan 06, 2017 at 07:40 AM

What you're asking about here is polymorphic serialization, which is not supported. I have answered similar questions e.g., here, discussing possible workarounds.

Add comment · Show 2 · Share

UnityCoach · Jan 06, 2017 at 01:44 PM 0

Share

Er, sorry, didn't read your other post fully :)

PandawanFr · Jan 06, 2017 at 04:42 PM 0

Share

Scriptable Objects was the way to go! Thanks for the help! I ended up using this video to make my Scriptable Objects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItZbTYO0$$anonymous$$nw

Make a field in inspector hold inheriting classes

2 Replies

Your answer

Follow this Question

Related Questions