Power

Finally made some power-ups!

It was definitely one of the more technically demanding things I've done, but it actually went pretty smoothly.  It felt like what I've learned so far all came together to make things work.  The speed up one worked pretty much first try, which is UNHEARD OF in programming.  There were a few things that I had never tried before, like creating a new gameobject from script instead of using  a prefab, but it went surprisingly well. Usually, when I'm incorporating a new function or component, I try to guess how it works based on how all the other functions and components work. 9 times out of 10 I'm wrong and then have to google how it actually works. BUT... this was a 1 in 10 week!!! My intuitive guess as to how things work turned out to be right more times than not. I think having everything just click and coming off a break week really made this one feel like the work just flew by. Which is great since I kinda pushed it off till the last minute!

Ok, onto what I actually made. First, the speed boost isn't just a speed boost. I programmed the basic power-up so that it can change ANY of the player's stats depending on what the designer (that's me) wants. This is great because I can reuse the same code to make multiple basic power-ups, and all I have to do is change the color to distinguish them.  

But, the more impressive thing is the dash attack. This one was interesting because it doesn't just change what's already there, but it adds something completely new.  I decided to just add an entirely new gameobject to the player instead of cluttering up the main one. This will probably be how I go about major power-ups in the future - either add a component script to the main body or add a new gameobject and component. Regardless, I think I have a solid grasp of how to make a few more cool power-ups. 

NEXT TIME ON: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

• Debugging
• More Power-ups

Like I said last week, there are some MAJOR bugs in the current version. I just can't focus on other things when everytime I test something I get stuck or shoot across the screen. So bug squashing and spring cleaning are the top priority for next week. After that, more power ups. Hopefully, I can make a habit of making one new power-up a week on top of whatever that weeks main goal is. Maybe by then I'll have a better name for it than just "Power-up".