C# How to call a function in only one of many prefab clones?

Questions & Answers
1

I’m making a space shooter game similar to Galaga where the enemies above you shoot at you randomly. The enemy prefab is cloned multiple times (all with a unique name; enemyclone1-enemyclone8) and all share the same script. Inside of that script is the function to shoot. I want to pick a random clone and call the shoot function so only he shoots a projectile. Is this possible?

Here’s what i have:

Enemy Script

 public void shoot()                             //Shoots laser down from enemy's current position
    {     
        Instantiate(laser, transform.position, Quaternion.identity);
        GetComponent<AudioSource>().Play();

        }
}

Game Manager Script

void shipToShoot()
    {
        int random = Random.Range(0,onscreenShips);   //Picks random enemy ship number
        var shooter = GameObject.Find("enemyclone" + random);   //Sets shooter equal to random enemy
        shooter.GetComponent<Enemy_S>().shoot();      //Makes enemycloneX shoot?
    }

When I do this I get these errors

69878-unity-2016-05-12-00-22-48.png

This is where I’m stuck. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

2

The problem is here:
Instantiate(laser, transform.position, Quaternion.identity);

“laser” variable is null. Make sure you have assigned the prefab to laser from inspector or through “Resources.Load()”.

3

My suggestion would be to make a list of Enemy_s and use the following code

    Enemy_s[] Enemies = GetComponentsInChildren<Enemy_s>();
    int onscreenShips = gameobjects.Length;

   if (onscreenships > 0)
{
    int random = Random.Range(0,onscreenShips);  
    Enemies[random].shoot();
}

It avoids using the Find function often, which is bad for performance;