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Lesson 3.2 - Make the World Whiz By

We’ve got the core mechanics of this game figured out: The player can tap the spacebar to jump over incoming obstacles. However, the player appears to be running for the first few seconds, but then the background just disappears! In order to fix this, we need to repeat the background seamlessly to make it look like the world is rushing by! We also need the game to halt when the player collides with an obstacle, stopping the background from repeating and stopping the obstacles from spawning. Lastly, we must destroy any obstacles that get past the player.

The background moves flawlessly at the same time as the obstacles, and the obstacles will despawn when they exit game boundaries. With the power of script communication, the background and spawn manager will halt when the player collides with an obstacle. Colliding with an obstacle will also trigger a game over message in the console log, halting the background and the spawn manager.

We need to repeat the background and move it left at the same speed as the obstacles, to make it look like the world is rushing by. Thankfully we already have a move left script, but we will need a new script to make it repeat.

Create a script to repeat background

In order to repeat the background and provide the illusion of a world rushing by, we need to reset the background object’s position so it fits together perfectly.

 variable to its actual starting position by assigning it 

 to reset position if it moves a certain distance

Reset position of background

We’ve got the background repeating every few seconds, but the transition looks pretty awkward. We need to make the background loop perfectly and seamlessly with some new variables.

Fix background repeat with collider

When the player collides with an obstacle, we want to trigger a “Game Over” state that stops everything. In order to do so, we need a way to label and discern all game objects that the player collides with.

 to test if player collided with the “Ground” or an “Obstacle”

If they collided with the “Ground”, set 

, and if they collide with an “Obstacle”, set 

Add a new game over trigger

We’ve added a gameOver bool that seems to work,  but the background and the objects continue to move when they collide with an obstacle. We need the MoveLeft script to communicate with the PlayerController, and stop once the player triggers gameOver.

private PlayerController playerControllerScript;

 and getting the PlayerController component

Stop MoveLeft on gameOver

The background and the obstacles stop moving when gameOver == true, but the Spawn Manager is still raising an army of obstacles! We need to communicate with the Spawn Manager script and tell it to stop when the game is over.

 using the same technique you did in MoveLeft.cs

Add a condition to only instantiate objects if 

Stop obstacle spawning on gameOver

Just like the animals in Unit 2, we need to destroy any obstacles that exit boundaries. Otherwise they will slide into the distance… forever!

 Obstacles if their position is less than a 

Destroy obstacles that exit bounds

Background stops when player collides with obstacle

Obstacle spawning stops when player collides with obstacle

Our character, while happy on the inside, looks a little too rigid on the outside, so we’re going to do some work with ANIMATIONS

Lesson Recap

Control the execution of code with common logic structures 

Level 1 Application Scripting

Joy Horvath

Instructional Designer

CWC_U3.L2.S2_U6.mp4

CWC_U3.L2.S6_U6.mp4

CWC_U3.L2.S1_U6.mp4

CWC_U3.L2.S7_U6.mp4

CWC_U3.L2.S5_U6.mp4

CWC_U3.L2.S3_U6.mp4

CWC_U3.L2.S4_U6.mp4

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Use tags to label game objects and call them in the code

Use script communication to access the methods and variables of other scripts

Select the appropriate common Unity methods to use, e.g., Awake, Start, Update, FixedUpdate, Collision, and Trigger Events, given a desired feature to code

Achieve a desired result by using Unity API methods, given Unity’s script documentation

Achieve a desired result with different parameters by using various method overloads

Distinguish a correct use of any given Unity API method from an incorrect use

Control or trigger the state of components, such as an Animator Controller, Light, AudioSource, or User Interface element by using appropriate methods

Construct an input listener, given a scenario where a specific type of input is required

Print a message consisting of concatenated strings and variable values to the console by using Unity's Debug.Log method

Unity Version 6.0