Automatic Left/Right movement

Question

First 2d game in Unity. Started Character controller in C#.

Tried to get the character to move constantly right then once it hits the wall move left without needing any input from the player. Looked at a couple infinite runner character controller examples, but they seem to trick the character into thinking the player is holding down the right button in order to make the character run right infinitely "character.Move( 1, false , jump );".

Question: How to make the character start moving right automatically?

Answer 1

Flip a switch depending on the walls' collision face:

bool runForwards = true;

public void WallCollsionHandler(Collider collider){
    if(collider.tag == "Left Facing Wall")
    {
        runForwards = false;

        // Or
        // JumpBackwards()
    }
    else if(collider.tag == "Right Facing Wall")
    {
        runForwards = true;

        // Or
        // JumpForwards()
    }
}

This will stop you getting stuck in a wall as well as switch your direction depending on the wall face you contacted. What you'll need to do is put 2 collision triggers on a wall to differentiate the direction you jump or run.

To make your character constantly move you can apply a constant velocity or position update on each Update, the below is very crude but will get you started:

float movementSpeed = 5f;

void Update(){
    oPos = transform.position;
    transform.position = new Vector3(oPos.x + movementSpeed, oPos.y, oPos.z)
}

Altogether:

public class RunningCharacter : MonoBehaviour {

    float movementSpeed = 5f;

    bool runForwards = true;

    void Update(){
        UpdatePosition();
    }

    void UpdatePosition(){

        Vector3 oPos = transform.position;
        float calculatedPosition;

        if(runForwards){
            calculatedPosition = oPos.x + movementSpeed;
        } else {
            calculatedPosition = oPos.x - movementSpeed;
        }

        transform.position = new Vector3(oPos.x + movementSpeed, oPos.y, oPos.z)
    }

    void OnCollsionEnter(Collider collider){
        WallCollisionHandler(collider);
    }

    void WallCollsionHandler(Collider collider){
        if(collider.tag == "Left Facing Wall")
        {
            runForwards = false;

            // Or
            // JumpBackwards()
        }
        else if(collider.tag == "Right Facing Wall")
        {
            runForwards = true;

            // Or
            // JumpForwards()
        }
    }
}