Keyboard Input Issue with Run Toggle

Unity Engine
1

I’m giving the player the ability to run by holding Shift while pressing the direction of travel, rather than walking which is without pressing shift. I have made the backpedal and sidestrafe movements slightly slower than the forward run when holding shift. My problem is this:
When I press S+Shift to backpedal the character moves at speed = 5 as intended. But if I then hold W as well, the backpedal speed increases to speed = 7, for that is the speed at which front run is set.

Here is what I currently have:

private void Running()
{
if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.W) && Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftShift))
{
speed = 7;
}
else if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.S) && Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftShift))
{
speed = 5;
}
else
{
speed = 3;
}

}

Thanks in advance!

2

You are seeing the issue because your first guard (if W & shift) fires even though you also press ‘S’.

I have two recommendations:

first, define what should happen if the user presses both W and S, and code for that.

Second, I recommend you make the code a Little more flexible, by nesting your tests: first test for ‘W’, then, after W was successful, test for shift;

if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.W) && Input.GetKey(KeyCode.S) {
// trying to run both Forward and backwards. Result is Zero - or perhaps a very slow Forward
  speed = 0; // or 1
  return; // Exit to avoid lengthy else clauses
}

if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.W)) {
  speed = 5;
  if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.Leftshift) {
    speed = 7;
  }
  return; // avoid lengthy 'else'
}

... etc

Cheers,
-ch

3

I would rather write that if on this way:

if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.W)) {
  speed = Input.GetKey(KeyCode.Leftshift) ? 7 : 5;
  return; // avoid lengthy 'else'
}
4

Ah, that’s more or less a “religious” question. I’m strongly opposed to syntactical shorthand (like ‘?’ or ‘+=’) that perhaps makes the code shorter, but definitely makes it more difficult to read, port, or maintain. All you achieve is to save a few keypresses once - when you write the line - at the permanent expense of readability and clarity. The end result (what the Compiler generates), however, is identical.

But as I said, it’s a matter of personal preference, taste and coding style.