Objects and hierarchy

Objects are the building blocks of a scene. A player sprite, floor tile, button, invisible trigger, camera, group, and UI label are all objects. The hierarchy shows how those objects are organized and how parent transforms affect children.

Object basics

Every object has:

Area	Purpose
Transform	Position, size, rotation, scale, opacity, and flip state
Name	The label shown in hierarchy, inspectors, graphs, and debug tools
Art or role	Image, group, UI element, camera, empty helper, or runtime marker
Interaction settings	Whether input events can target the object
Components	Optional behavior modules such as Health or Collider 2D
Variables	Optional object-scoped fields
Flow graphs	Optional Object Flow rules

Name important objects early. Graphs and debugging become much easier when objects are called Player, DoorExit, CoinCounter, or EnemySpawner instead of Sprite 12.

Selecting objects

In the Arrange workspace:

Gesture	Result
Click on the stage	Select the top object under the pointer
Drag empty stage	Box-select every object the rubber-band touches
Shift+drag empty stage	Add box-select hits to the current multi-selection
Click in hierarchy	Select the row's object
Ctrl/Cmd+click	Add or remove from multi-selection
Shift+click object	Range-select along the hierarchy order
Click the scene root	Inspect scene-level settings
Esc	Cancel a gesture or clear a focused edit mode

If an object is hard to select on the stage, select it from the hierarchy. This is common for invisible triggers, small colliders, background art, and deeply nested children.

Parenting and groups

Parenting lets one object carry other objects with it. Move the parent and the children follow.

Common uses:

Pattern	Example
Character group	Body, weapon, shadow, hitbox
UI group	Panel, label, icon, button
Level chunk	Platform, hazard, pickups
Spawn template	Empty parent with child sprites and logic

Drag objects in the hierarchy to reorder or reparent them. A child keeps its local transform relative to the parent.

Tip: Use empty groups to organize complex scenes. Empty parents are also useful anchor points for spawn positions, camera targets, and visual effects.

Transform editing

The inspector and stage gizmo both edit transforms.

Field	Notes
X / Y	Position on the scene canvas
Width / height	Sprite or object bounds
Rotation	Degrees around the object's pivot
Scale	Relative size multiplier
Opacity	Visibility intensity
Flip	Mirror art without changing the source asset

Use inspector fields when you need exact values. Use the stage handles for fast layout.

Layering and draw order

Objects draw according to hierarchy and scene ordering. When objects overlap, reorder them in the hierarchy. For characters and props that must paint as one unit, attach a Sorting Group to the parent and use each Sprite Renderer's render order inside that group.

General rules:

• Put backgrounds near the bottom of the scene tree.
• Put gameplay objects above backgrounds.
• Put UI in the UI workspace (screen space), not as ad-hoc stage sprites, when it should stay readable across sizes.
• Group related visuals under a Sorting Group so their order stays stable.

Inspector workflow

The inspector is where object behavior gets specific.

Inspector card	Common work
Transform	Place and size the object
Object	Rename, choose art, toggle visibility and interaction
Components	Add or configure behaviors
Variables	Define object-local values
Motion / Skeleton	Jump to animation setup
Prefab actions	Save, update, or revert reusable templates

With multiple objects selected, shared fields can be edited together. Mixed values indicate that selected objects currently differ.

Prefabs and reusable objects

A prefab is a reusable object template. It can include:

• Child hierarchy
• Art assignments
• Components and fields
• Object variables
• Object Flow graphs
• Motion and skeleton data

Use prefabs for enemies, pickups, projectiles, UI widgets, doors, hazards, and repeated level pieces. Save a configured object as a prefab from the inspector, then place it again from the asset library.

See Prefabs for the deeper reference.

Good hierarchy habits

1. Keep important objects named.
2. Group repeated structures before saving prefabs.
3. Avoid putting global game rules on random scene objects; use Scene Flow instead.
4. Keep invisible triggers named by purpose, such as FallZone or ShopEnterArea.
5. Put debug-only objects in a clearly named group so they are easy to remove before publishing.

Related docs

• Editor overview
• Assets and importing
• Components and properties
• Prefabs