SceneBridge

A simple additive scene loading system with a built-in loading screen workflow.

Loads scenes asynchronously in the background, keeps them inactive until fully ready, displays a loading canvas during the transition, and then cleanly activates the new scene while unloading the old one. Designed to provide smooth, controlled scene transitions with minimal setup.

Check out Releases tab to see a history of all versions of this package.

Installation

Install via Package Manager

Select `Install package from git URL...` in the Package Manager

For latest release:
https://github.com/DigitalHazardInc/unity-scene-bridge-networked.git#upm
Or install specific releases:
https://github.com/DigitalHazardInc/unity-scene-bridge-networked.git#v1.0.1

Download the tarball directly from release

Go to Release and download directly from Assets

com.huntergoodin.scenebridge-v#.#.#.tgz

com.huntergoodin.scenebridge-v#.#.#.zip

Select `Install package from tarball...` in the Package Manager

Set Up

1. Install the package
2. Drag the SceneBridge Loader prefab into your scene
3. Feel free to create your own transition canvases

Samples

1. Import the sample
2. Add the sample scenes to the Build Profile

Features

• A singleton-based Scene Loader
  • Centralized loader accessible from anywhere in your project
  • Easy SceneBridge Loader prefab provided to drag and drop into your project
• Custom loading screens
  • Loading screen can display the current progress of the AsyncOperation
  • Loading screen can display various backgrounds with a random selection from an array in the SceneBridge Loader prefab
    • (Optional) Text and image color synchronization accross background images
      • LoadingScreen.correlateTipColorWithBackgoundImg
      • LoadingScreen.correlateHeaderColorWithBackgoundImg
      • LoadingScreen.correlateloadingBarColorWithBackgoundImg
      • InputSystemGatedLoadingScreen.correlateProgColorWithBackgoundImg
      • InputManagerGatedLoadingScreen.correlateProgColorWithBackgoundImg
  • Loading screen can display various text snippets (for tips, lore tidbits, etc.) with a random selection from an array in the SceneBridge Loader prefab
  • Five types of loading screens (more details in the Loading Screens section):

     └── LoadingScreen
     	├── AutomaticLoadingScreen
     	├── UIGatedLoadingScreen
     	├── InputManagerGatedLoadingScreen
     	└── InputSystemGatedLoadingScreen
    

• The loading screen you want can be set in SceneBridgeLoader.chosenLoadingScreen
  • 
• Scene transition animation support
  • Transition animations can play into (and out of) screens
    • Ex: Play a transition animation into the loading screen, then a transition animation into the new scene.
    • Ex: Play a transition animation when loading into a new scene directly
  • Duration control for the animations
    • SceneBridgeLoader.AnimationDuration
    • Included animations are exactly one second to make it easy to calculate the speed of the animation given a duration
  • Mid-point duration control
    • SceneBridgeLoader.TransitionMidPointDuration
    • If you want there to be a slight pause in between the "transition in" and "transition out" animations (to hang on a black screen for a sec or something)
  • Transitions included in the SceneBridge Loader prefab by default:
    • Fade
      • Fade to black / fade out of black
      • Included in the nested Fade Transition Canvas canvas
    • Swipe
      • Swipe to black / swipe out of black
      • Included in the nested swipe Transition Canvas canvas
  • It's easy to swap in/out which animations you want into the SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases array
    • Pass which transition index you want to play by passing it as a variable to the functions outlined below
  • Feel free to create your own transition animations!
    • Remember to add them to the SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases array
    • 
• Several scene loading functions:
  • Outlined in the Loading Functions section
  • Maybe sometimes you want the loading screen to appear, sometimes you don't
• Ability to change loading screen shown
  • In case there are times when gating progression makes sense, and others where it doesn't
• Scene Cleanup – Automatically unload previous scenes after switching to the new one
• (Optional) DontDestroyOnLoad support for persistence across scenes
  • Not sure why you wouldn't want this enabled for a tool like this, but it's an option just in case

Loading Screens

Base Classes (not meant to actually be used):

• Loading Screen
  • LoadingScreen.cs
  • Base class for all loading screens
• Gated Loading Screen
  • GatedLoadingScreen.cs
  • Base class for gated loading screens

Derived classes (meant to be used):

• Automatic Loading Screen
  • AutomaticLoadingScreen.cs
  • Loads directly into the next scene automatically when the scene is ready
  • Example Canvas provided in the SceneBridge Loader prefab
• UI Gated Loading Screen
  • UIGatedLoadingScreen.cs
  • Progression blocked behind a button press
  • Example Canvas provided in the SceneBridge Loader prefab
• Input Manager Gated Loading Screen
  • InputManagerGatedLoadingScreen.cs
  • Uses Unity's old Input Manager
  • Progression blocked behind a if (Input.GetKeyDown()) logic gate
  • Example Canvas provided in the SceneBridge Loader prefab
• Input System Gated Loading Screen
  • InputSystemGatedLoadingScreen.cs
  • Uses Unity's new Input System
  • Progression blocked behind a if (anyButton.IsPressed()) logic gate
  • Example Canvas provided in the SceneBridge Loader prefab

Loading Functions

• Load Scene Asynchronously With Loading Screen And Transitions
  • Called using SceneBridgeLoader.Instance.LoadSceneAsynchronouslyWithLoadingScreenAndTransition("scene_name", transitionInIndexFirst, transitionOutIndexFirst, transitionInIndexSecond, transitionOutIndexSecond)
  • Flow:
    1. Play transition animation at transitionInIndexFirst
    2. Enable loading screen
    3. Play transition animation at transitionOutIndexFirst
    4. Load scene/gate logic (if any)
    5. Play transition animation at transitionInIndexSecond
    6. Disable/reset loading screen
    7. Enable new scene
    8. Unload old scene
    9. Play transition animation at transitionOutIndexSecond
  • Takes a string (sceneName) for the scenes name you're loading into
  • Takes an int (transitionInIndexFirst) for the "transition in" animation (for anim in the index of SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases)
  • Takes an int (transitionOutIndexFirst) for the "transition out" animation (for anim in the index of SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases)
  • Takes an int (transitionInIndexSecond) for the "transition in" animation (for anim in the index of SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases)
  • Takes an int (transitionOutIndexSecond) for the "transition out" animation (for anim in the index of SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases)
• Load Scene Asynchronously With Transitions
  • Called using SceneBridgeLoader.Instance.LoadSceneAsynchronouslyWithTransition("scene_name", transitionInIndex, transitionOutIndex)
  • Flow:
    1. Play transition animation at transitionInIndex
    2. Load new scene
    3. Enable new scene
    4. Unload old scene
    5. Play transition animation at transitionOutIndex
  • Takes a string (sceneName) for the scenes name you're loading into
  • Takes an int (transitionInIndex) for the "transition in" animation (for anim in the index of SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases)
  • Takes an int (transitionOutIndex) for the "transition out" animation (for anim in the index of SceneBridgeLoader.transitionCanvases)
• Load Scene Asynchronously With Loading Screen
  • Called using SceneBridgeLoader.Instance.LoadSceneAsynchronouslyWithTransition("scene_name")
  • Flow:
    1. Enable loading screen
    2. Load scene/gate logic (if any)
    3. Enable new scene
    4. Unload old scene
    5. Disable/reset loading screen
  • Takes a string (sceneName) for the scenes name you're loading into

Future Plans

No plans on when I'd release these features, would likely depend on my needs for a specific project/boredom/random interest in moving this project along.

• Minimum loading screen duration
  • Add a variable to all loading screens that has X seconds (tunable) alive to prevent loading screens from flashing too quickly on fast loads
• Timer Conditional Loading Screen
  • A type of derived loading screen (one for each type of screen) that stays on the mid-transition animation until X seconds (tunable) before it decides to show the loading screen.
    • Maybe inheritance isn't the best call here... maybe make this a toggleable option in all loading screen classes? Or use a design pattern like an Interface or something?
  • Another solution to the "loading screens from flashing too quickly on fast loads" problem but also one that some games might just feel better with