Can Unity draw connections between sprites?

Can Unity do this? I want the player to be able to place lots of circles on a plain background, then connect them as shown. Imagine that each step shown in the animated gif below is a snapshot along the way as the player drags the front of the wire to connect the circles. I'm imagining using a couple of resizable sprites to piece the wire together. Doable? Is there a better way? This is just an example of what I need to do. I really like the idea of writing this in C# and having it run everywhere, including in browsers, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on something that turns out to be impossible.

 

It's not whether Unity can do it, it's whether you can do it. Anything is possible; you program it to do what you want. If there isn't an automatic built-in way, then you do it yourself.

--Eric

 

Well that's good to hear. I would appreciate hints. I've spent quite a bit of time in tutorials and scouring the documentation, and I don't see it yet.

 

There are many many ways you could do it, so if you experiment with something and it works, go for it.

--Eric

 

I don't find anything helpful in your comment.

 

What about your first idea? Did you try that?

--Eric

 

I couldn't see where I could dynamically resize a sprite. Plus that seems like a really hokey approach.

 

You can change the x/y scale of the transform.

--Eric

 

research tile maps in unity, then when the finger or drag occurs you would choose a suitable tile image. It does take code however.

 

Streteching a quad or sprite is not a hokey approach, but I would personally use a line renderer component and set positions as you go. You can round the corners in the settings for it (i dont think you can get that wide of a radius without subdividing your corners into more positions though)

You'll just need to decide on rules for how the line will be drawn as the player moves their cursor, because in order for it to always connect to the cursor (without the cursor perfectly moving along each axis like in the gif), you'll need to diverge the line onto the other axis a lot earlier.

It could be as simple as this:

• While the mouse is held on the first object
  
• Create 4 points on the line renderer
• Assign the first and last points to the first object and the cursor
• Assign the second and third points to the X axis midpoint between the two, keeping the Y position of each
• Once the mouse is within a distance of the second object, set the positions as usual but set the last position to the second object (gives the effect of snapping to it)

You could get a lot fancier and create rules for whether the line starts vertical or horizontal, depending on whether the distance is more vertical or horizontal. It could split multiple times based on a distance-limit per segment, etc.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/class-LineRenderer.html