[Conceptual] How to keep from destroying multiple objects? (Only one at a time)

Questions & Answers
1

So, I have these enemies that walk left to right, depleting the health of the player. Problem is that whenever I click down a button this can destroy multiple enemies at the same time (no good). Using the picture below, if I press the A button, it should only destroy the first (A) enemy, then if I press it again it will destroy the next (A) character. I am unsure of how to implement this and was wondering what you guys think would be the best approach. 2DRaycasts? Triggers/Colliders? Something else? I’ve tried multiple ideas but to no avail, im sure you guys are smart enough to figure it out though… Thanks for the help!

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2

You can store the same tag game objects in a list. If you spawn them in a script, you can do it in the script or assign them in the inspector to the list. Afterward, every time a key is pressed, you only pull the game object at the index zero and destroy it. Of course, you need to pay attention to your spawn order/assignment order in this solution. I know it is not a fancy solution but simple and time saver.

3

I think the best approach would be to use a c# List composed of these game objects. This way, you can iterate through all the current game objects on the screen and destroy only 1 game object.

Here is some pseudo-code…ish:

public List<GameObject> currObjs = new List<GameObject>();//list of current objects on screen


/*when gameobject spawned on screen*/
currObjs.Add(instantiatedObject);

/*Calling Method Every Time User Presses Button*/
void Update(){
     if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.inputKey))
          FindDestroyObj(inputKey); 
}

/*this would check if you can destroy object on screen*/
private void FindDestroyObj(var inputKey){
     foreach(GameObject obj in currObjs){
          if(obj.GetComponent<ObjScript>().hasButton(inputKey)){//get object's script and call method to check if it can be destroyed
               var tempObj = obj;//make sure this points to original 'obj'
               currObjs.Remove(obj);//remove object from List
               Destroy(tempObj);//this may cause some issues if temp not point correctly
               break;//stop search and continue game
          }
     }
}

/*-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-*/

/*this would be in your game object script (the ones you want to destroy)
    -Checks if the input corresponds to this objects'*/
public bool hasButton(var inputKey){
     return thisInputKey==inputKey;
}

It would be more efficient if it were a hash table, so instead of looking through the entire list, you would only look in a possible place where it can be with that button type (if that makes any sense).

Let me know if you decide to code this out, I would love to help :slight_smile:
@3kWikiGames