Keep checking a boolean on the update and changing a variable...hits the perfomance?

Unity Engine
1

So, for all my particle effects (not aaall, but most), I have something like this:

function Update()
{
	if(GameController.gamePaused)
	{
		sfx.playbackSpeed = 0;
	}
	else
	{
		sfx.playbackSpeed = 1;
	}
}

I could put the timeScale to 0, I know, but there are some stuff that needs it always on 1 to work so I did this. My question is, this will affect the perfomance? Also, I want to know this because there are other things that I do something similar: keep checking for a boolean on the update, and change a/many variable(s), that’s why I want to know… Oh, I’m using the free ver., I don’t have the profiler anymore. :frowning:

2

Constantly polling a variable is not really good design. Better to just execute the necessary code when sfx.playbackSpeed is changed.

–Eric

3

The problem is that it’s not that other code is being executed when that variable is changed, but that that variable needs changed when the game is “paused”.

You could use a custom get/set for GameController.gamePaused and have it broadcast a “GamePaused” message to all gameObjects. That would then attempt to find a function called “GamePaused” on each component and call it. Or you could use an event subscription model, and have each object that needs to know the game is paused subscribe to that event (i.e. GameController gets a list of delegates that it registers functions to and calls them on GamePaused…similar to the broadcast method but without the need for reflection).