Delay a prefab instantiate

Questions & Answers
1

I am doing a infinite ball rolling game and I have a script to instantiate obstacles for the player to avoid. Here it is:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class ColliderManager : MonoBehaviour {
	
	public Transform prefab;
	public int numberOfObjects;
	public float recycleOffset;
	public Vector3 minSize, maxSize, minGap, maxGap;
	public float minx, maxx;
	public Material[] materials;
	public PhysicMaterial[] physicMaterials;
	//public Booster booster;
	
	private Vector3 nextPosition;
	private Queue<Transform> objectQueue;
	
	void Start () {
		//GameEventManager.GameStart += GameStart;
		//GameEventManager.GameOver += GameOver;
		//GameStart();
		
		//objectQueue = new Queue<Transform>(numberOfObjects);
		//for(int i = 0; i < numberOfObjects; i++){
		//	objectQueue.Enqueue((Transform)Instantiate(prefab, new Vector3(0f, 0f, 0f), Quaternion.identity));
		//}
		//enabled = true;
		
		objectQueue = new Queue<Transform>(numberOfObjects);
		for(int i = 0; i < numberOfObjects; i++){
			objectQueue.Enqueue((Transform)Instantiate(prefab));
		}
		nextPosition = transform.localPosition;
		for(int i = 0; i < numberOfObjects; i++){
			Recycle();
		}
	}
	
	void Update () {
		if(objectQueue.Peek().localPosition.z + recycleOffset < Runner.distanceTraveled){
			Recycle();
		}
	}
	
	private void Recycle () {
		Vector3 scale = new Vector3(
			Random.Range(minSize.x, maxSize.x),
			Random.Range(minSize.y, maxSize.y),
			Random.Range(minSize.z, maxSize.z));
		
		Vector3 position = nextPosition;
		position.z += scale.z * 0.5f;
		position.y += scale.y * 0.5f;
		//booster.SpawnIfAvailable(position);
		
		Transform o = objectQueue.Dequeue();
		o.localScale = scale;
		o.localPosition = position;
		int materialIndex = Random.Range(0, materials.Length);
		o.renderer.material = materials[materialIndex];
		o.collider.material = physicMaterials[materialIndex];
		objectQueue.Enqueue(o);
		
		nextPosition += new Vector3(
			Random.Range(minGap.x, maxGap.x),
			Random.Range(minGap.y, maxGap.y),
			Random.Range(minGap.z, maxGap.z) + scale.z);
		
		if(nextPosition.x < minx){
			nextPosition.x = minx - minGap.x;
		}
		else if(nextPosition.x > maxx){
			nextPosition.x = maxx - maxGap.x;
		}
	}
}

The problem is that sometimes when you start the game you run straight into on of the collider obstacles. So my question is if there is a way for me to delay the script for just a few seconds so the player can get going (it’s not exactly fun blowing up on start). Thanks in advance for any help.

4

simply use Invoke() in Unity to time things and start things off at different times.

it’s a strange thing that many beginners seem not to know about this command (who knows why). it is a basic command you use constantly, all the time, in video games - it’s how you start basically anything happening in your game.

you also have InvokeRepeating, and CancelInvoke

so you might have something like

// have this line of code in say Start() ...
InvokeRepeating( "makeAmazingObstacle", 5, 5 );

function makeAmazingObstacle()
{
// write your obstacle routine here
// instantiate an obstacle or whatever
}

Note that inside makeAmazingObstacle, you could well have code like this for example…

Invoke( "hugeFlashingLight", 2.0 );
Invoke( "shakeScreen", 2.1 );
Invoke( "hugeFlashingLight", 2.5 );
Invoke( "changeColoursOfObstacleToRed", 4.75 );
invoke( "getRidOfTheObstacle", 4.95 );

you get it? it’s the basic command you use to make video games.

2
  1. Add a simple started bool you
    check for, and toggle it on some
    seconds into the game.
  2. Have the
    script disabled on start, then
    enable it a few seconds later.
3

First off thanks for the response, technically it worked. problem is though is that now the colliders all spawn at once including where the player is. So I guess I’ll have to figure something else out. Thanks again though.

5

Add this 1st thing in your start

yield WaitForSeconds(2);
6

Adding this for others’ reference… I tried some of these but used frameCount and modulus instead. This will add a new prefab every time another 20 frames passes.

public class GameController : MonoBehaviour {

	private int count = 0;
	private int limit = 25;
	public GameObject prefab;

	void Update(){
		Debug.Log(Time.frameCount);
		if (count < limit && Time.frameCount % 20 == 0) {
			Instantiate(prefab);
			count++;
		}
	}
}