Lives are running inconsistently.

Question

Hi, In my game I have set up a lives system so that you have three lives and then you die. When I run the game the lives system will work most of the time. Other times the lives will not be removed or the game will play the game over scene before it is set to. Here is my script...

var health1 : Texture2D; //one live left var health2 : Texture2D; //two lives left var health3 : Texture2D; //full health

 static var LIVES = 3;

 function Update () 
 {
     switch(LIVES)
     {
         case 3:
             guiTexture.texture = health3;
         break;

         case 2:
             guiTexture.texture = health2;
         break;

         case 1:
             guiTexture.texture = health1;
         break;

         case 0:
             Application.LoadLevel (2);
         break;
     }
 }

Any ideas on what is wrong.

Thanks

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by Michael La Voie · Apr 08, 2010 at 12:35 AM

That code looks fine. My best guess is that the bug is in how the lives are decreased.

If you set the lives to decrease by 1 every time there is a collision, then a collision that lasts more than 1 frame could cause multiple lives to be lost at once. That's just an example. You'll need to elaborate more on how lives are decreased and post some code to figure this out.

Update

I saw you posted this code:

private var dead = false;
function OnControllerColliderHit(hit : ControllerColliderHit) { 
    if(hit.gameObject.tag == "Finish") { 
        dead = true; 
        //subtract life here 
        Health.LIVES -= 1; 
    }
}

You could set up an invulnerability period between collisions to prevent this bug:

private var dead = false; private var timeSinceLastCollision = 0;

function OnControllerColliderHit(hit : ControllerColliderHit) { 
    if(hit.gameObject.tag == "Finish" && timeSinceLastCollision <= 0) { 
        dead = true; 
        //subtract life here 
        Health.LIVES -= 1; 
        timeSinceLastCollision = 3;//Wait at least 3 seconds between collisions
    }
    timeSinceLastCollision -= Time.deltaTime;
}

Add comment · Show 4 · Share

QWERTY · Apr 08, 2010 at 01:48 AM 0

Share

Thanks that fixed it. There is still the problem that sometimes the game over scene is played before all lives are lost.

Michael La Voie · Apr 08, 2010 at 03:50 AM 0

Share

Good to hear. If you liked it, vote it up and accept it. As for ending too soon, you may have to ask a second question for that. Have you tried using Debug.Log(Health.LIVES); in an Update statement? That could help you track down when the lives decrease too quickly.

QWERTY · Apr 09, 2010 at 01:58 AM 0

Share

It is working now. Thanks

Michael La Voie · Apr 09, 2010 at 03:36 AM 0

Share

No problem. If it helped you, please vote it up and accept it as the answer

Answer 2

Answer by Peter G · Apr 08, 2010 at 12:38 AM

I'm not sure if you are running in the editor or building your game or what, but your LIVES are a static var and that means there is only one instance so if your player lost some lives then the level was loaded again, he would have the same number of lives as he did last time.

Or like Michael said, the error is more than likely in another part of your code that applies the loss of lives.

Add comment · Show 2 · Share

QWERTY · Apr 08, 2010 at 12:45 AM 0

Share

How could I do that. Right now this is what I have in another script: private var dead = false; function OnControllerColliderHit(hit : ControllerColliderHit) { if(hit.gameObject.tag == "Finish") { dead = true; //subtract life here Health.LIVES -= 1; } I am new to this and don't know much about scripting.

Peter G · Apr 09, 2010 at 10:08 PM 0

Share

Here's my preferred way. declare var health : Health; at the top of your script. Then in function Start () add this health = GetComponent(Health);. Then take out Health.LIVES -=1 and change it to health.LIVES -= 1;. In your health script remove the static keyword.

Lives are running inconsistently.

2 Replies

Your answer

Welcome to Unity Answers

Follow this Question

Related Questions