Quick Win 2: Make your movement feel real

We are not adding features. We are improving structure.

Yesterday, you built something important:

• A Player object
• Input separated from movement
• CharacterController driving motion

What you are building

By the end of this step:

• Your player will rotate toward movement
• Movement will feel directional
• Your structure stays clean and scalable

Step 1: Update PlayerController

Open your existing PlayerController script and replace it with this:

using UnityEngine;

[RequireComponent(typeof(CharacterController))]
public sealed class PlayerController : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private PlayerInputReader input;
    [SerializeField] private float moveSpeed = 5f;
    [SerializeField] private float rotationSpeed = 10f;

    private CharacterController controller;

    private void Awake()
    {
        controller = GetComponent<CharacterController>();
        if (input == null) input = GetComponent<PlayerInputReader>();
    }

    private void Update()
    {
        Vector2 move = input != null ? input.Move : Vector2.zero;

        Vector3 worldMove = new Vector3(move.x, 0f, move.y);

        if (worldMove.sqrMagnitude > 0.01f)
        {
            Quaternion targetRotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(worldMove);
            transform.rotation = Quaternion.Slerp(
                transform.rotation,
                targetRotation,
                rotationSpeed * Time.deltaTime
            );
        }

        controller.Move(worldMove * moveSpeed * Time.deltaTime);
    }
}

Step 2: Press play

Press Play.

Your player now turns toward the direction of movement.

Why this matters

You did not add a new system.

You improved an existing one.

• Input is still separate
• Movement is still isolated
• CharacterController still handles collisions

This is how real projects grow.

Stop here

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, we take the exact same structure and prepare it for more than one player.

Dan