How to set the parent of an instantiated game object

Questions & Answers
1

I’m working on a simple “space shooter” game. I have a player prefab a player script attached. The following code takes place within my update.
//Activate Shield if (Input.GetKeyDown(shieldKeyCode)){ if (shieldOn == true) { } else { shieldOn = true; GameObject clone = Instantiate(shieldMesh, transform.position, transform.rotation) as GameObject; clone.transform.parent = gameObject.transform; } }

I had hoped that this would make the transform of my player prefab the parent of the shield mesh game object clone. However, when I run my game I get a “Null Reference Exception” error pointing to the final line of code.

I have tried using SetParent() to no avail as well.

End goal, I want the shield to instantiate upon key press, gaining a parent of the player’s transform keeping the shield wherever the player is. As of right now it just instantiates a shield and leaves in where it was (while giving my NRE error).

2

//Activate Shield
if (Input.GetKeyDown(shieldKeyCode)){

            if (shieldOn == true)
            {

            }
            else
            {
                shieldOn = true;                
                GameObject clone = Instantiate(shieldMesh, transform.position, transform.rotation) as GameObject;
                clone.transform.parent = gameObject.transform;
                
            }