Vanishing Ghost Platforms Game Mechanic Explained in Unity

In this lesson, I will show you how to code and create a vanishing ghost platform. which are platforms that disappear a few seconds after a player object touches it. Ghost platforms are a very popular game mechanic that can be found in almost every platformer.

To create this game mechanic we will use a 3D cube, a transparent material, an animation, and a C# script. The script will use the OnCollisionEnter function to trigger the animation that will fade the platform.

GhostPlatforms.cs

using System.Collections;
using UnityEngine;


namespace InfoGamer
{
    //attach this script to any platform you with to blink and disappear
    public class GhostPlatforms : MonoBehaviour
    {
        [SerializeField] string playerTag = "Player"; //set the playerTag to the string that matches the tag of the objects you wish to trigger the platform
        [SerializeField] float disappearTime = 3;
        Animator myAnim;

        [SerializeField] bool canReset;
        [SerializeField] float resetTime;

        private void Start()
        {
            myAnim = GetComponent<Animator>();
            myAnim.SetFloat("DisappearTime", 1/disappearTime);
        }

        private void OnCollisionEnter(Collision collision)
        {
            if (collision.transform.tag == playerTag)
            {
                myAnim.SetBool("Trigger", true);
            }
        }

        public void TriggerReset()
        {
            if(canReset)
            {
                StartCoroutine(Reset());
            }
        }

        IEnumerator Reset()
        {
            yield return new WaitForSeconds(resetTime);
            myAnim.SetBool("Trigger", false);
        }
    }
}

using Photon.Chat;
using Photon.Pun;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.UI;

public class PhotonChatManager : MonoBehaviour, IChatClientListener
{
    #region Setup

    [SerializeField] GameObject joinChatButton;
    ChatClient chatClient;
    bool isConnected;
    [SerializeField] string username;

    public void UsernameOnValueChange(string valueIn)
    {
        username = valueIn;
    }

    public void ChatConnectOnClick()
    {
        isConnected = true;
        chatClient = new ChatClient(this);
        //chatClient.ChatRegion = "US";
        chatClient.Connect(PhotonNetwork.PhotonServerSettings.AppSettings.AppIdChat, PhotonNetwork.AppVersion, new AuthenticationValues(username));
        Debug.Log("Connenting");
    }

    #endregion Setup

    #region General

    [SerializeField] GameObject chatPanel;
    string privateReceiver = "";
    string currentChat;
    [SerializeField] InputField chatField;
    [SerializeField] Text chatDisplay;

    // Start is called before the first frame update
    void Start()
    {

    }

    // Update is called once per frame
    void Update()
    {
        if (isConnected)
        {
            chatClient.Service();
        }

        if (chatField.text != "" && Input.GetKey(KeyCode.Return))
        {
            SubmitPublicChatOnClick();
            SubmitPrivateChatOnClick();
        }
    }

    #endregion General

    #region PublicChat

    public void SubmitPublicChatOnClick()
    {
        if (privateReceiver == "")
        {
            chatClient.PublishMessage("RegionChannel", currentChat);
            chatField.text = "";
            currentChat = "";
        }
    }

    public void TypeChatOnValueChange(string valueIn)
    {
        currentChat = valueIn;
    }

    #endregion PublicChat

    #region PrivateChat

    public void ReceiverOnValueChange(string valueIn)
    {
        privateReceiver = valueIn;
    }

    public void SubmitPrivateChatOnClick()
    {
        if (privateReceiver != "")
        {
            chatClient.SendPrivateMessage(privateReceiver, currentChat);
            chatField.text = "";
            currentChat = "";
        }
    }

    #endregion PrivateChat

    #region Callbacks

    public void DebugReturn(DebugLevel level, string message)
    {
        //throw new System.NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void OnChatStateChange(ChatState state)
    {
        if(state == ChatState.Uninitialized)
        {
            isConnected = false;
            joinChatButton.SetActive(true);
            chatPanel.SetActive(false);
        }
    }

    public void OnConnected()
    {
        Debug.Log("Connected");
        joinChatButton.SetActive(false);
        chatClient.Subscribe(new string[] { "RegionChannel" });
    }

    public void OnDisconnected()
    {
        isConnected = false;
        joinChatButton.SetActive(true);
        chatPanel.SetActive(false);
    }

    public void OnGetMessages(string channelName, string[] senders, object[] messages)
    {
        string msgs = "";
        for (int i = 0; i < senders.Length; i++)
        {
            msgs = string.Format("{0}: {1}", senders[i], messages[i]);

            chatDisplay.text += "\n" + msgs;

            Debug.Log(msgs);
        }

    }

    public void OnPrivateMessage(string sender, object message, string channelName)
    {
        string msgs = "";

        msgs = string.Format("(Private) {0}: {1}", sender, message);

        chatDisplay.text += "\n " + msgs;

        Debug.Log(msgs);
        
    }

    public void OnStatusUpdate(string user, int status, bool gotMessage, object message)
    {
        throw new System.NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void OnSubscribed(string[] channels, bool[] results)
    {
        chatPanel.SetActive(true);
    }

    public void OnUnsubscribed(string[] channels)
    {
        throw new System.NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void OnUserSubscribed(string channel, string user)
    {
        throw new System.NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void OnUserUnsubscribed(string channel, string user)
    {
        throw new System.NotImplementedException();
    }

    #endregion Callbacks
}