Unity releases experimental 2D development tools

The creators of the widely-used Unity engine has released the 2D Experimental Preview: a collection of new tools that could become standard.

Available to all Unity developers for free, the build includes various features and tools that are still in development, with the company stressing this release is designed to invite feedback at this early stage.

Tools include 9-splice sprits – a 2D technique allowing devs stretch, rotate and expand textures and sprites that adapt as the image changes – and the tile map, which can be used to lay out level tiles on multiple layers in order to design environments quickly.

2D physics have also been updated with the CapsuleCollider2D, a new 2D Physics Casting API and a new 2D Contacts API.

You can check out the full details in Unity’s blog post, or via the release notes. Example projects are also available.