Struggling with a dash script

Unity Engine
,
1

My dash script only works occasionally but I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I want the player character to be able to dash when double pressing a movement key.

using UnityEngine;

public class DashScript : MonoBehaviour
{
    float dashTimer, dashInterval;
    KeyCode firstKey, secondKey, currentKey;
    bool firstKeyHit, secondKeyHit, dashed;

    void Start()
    {
        dashTimer = 0.2f;
        dashInterval = dashTimer;
        firstKeyHit = false;
        dashed = false;
        secondKeyHit = false;
        firstKey = KeyCode.None;
        secondKey = KeyCode.None;
    }


    void Update()
    {
        if(!firstKeyHit)
        {
            currentKey = GetKey();
        }

        if (Input.GetKeyUp(currentKey) && currentKey != KeyCode.None)
        {
            firstKey = GetKey();
            firstKeyHit = true;
        }


        GetSecondKey();
        Compare();
        Timer();

    }

    //Compares the two keys and sets the new position accordingly
    private void Compare()
    {
        if(firstKey == secondKey && !dashed && firstKey != KeyCode.None)
        {
            Debug.Log("In the compare method");
            Vector3 newPos =
                secondKey == KeyCode.W ? gameObject.transform.forward :
                (secondKey == KeyCode.S ? -gameObject.transform.forward :
                (secondKey == KeyCode.D ? gameObject.transform.right :
                (secondKey == KeyCode.A ? -gameObject.transform.right : Vector3.zero)));

            Debug.Log(firstKey.ToString() + secondKey.ToString());
            gameObject.GetComponent<CharacterController>().Move(newPos * 10);

            firstKey = KeyCode.None;
            secondKey = KeyCode.None;
            dashed = true;
        }
    }

    //Timer window for a doublepress
    private void Timer()
    {
        if (firstKeyHit)
        {
            dashTimer -= Time.deltaTime;

            if(dashTimer < 0)
            {
                dashTimer = dashInterval;
                dashed = false;
                firstKeyHit = false;
                secondKeyHit = false;
                currentKey = KeyCode.None;
            }
        }
    }

    //Gets the second key value
    private void GetSecondKey()
    {
        if(firstKeyHit)
        {
            secondKey = GetKey();
            secondKeyHit = true;
        }
    }

    //Gets the key value pressed
    private KeyCode GetKey()
    {
        KeyCode returnValue = KeyCode.None;

        if(Input.GetKey(KeyCode.W))
        {
            returnValue = KeyCode.W;
        }
        else if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.S))
        {
            returnValue = KeyCode.S;
        }
        else if( Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.A))
        {
            returnValue = KeyCode.A;
        }
        else if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.D))
        {
            returnValue = KeyCode.D;
        }

        return returnValue;
    }
}

Any help appreciated!

2

You’re being inconsistent in GetKey(). You’re using both Input.GetKey and Input.GetKeyDown.

Your timer is only 0.2s?? Should probably increase that to 0.5s.

In Update you have:

if (...GetKeyUp())
{
    .... = ...GetKeyDown()
}

Which doesn’t make sense. GetKeyDown() would be NONE if GetKeyUp() is true in the same frame.

3

Hi thanks for your reply. The reason the GetKey is inconsistent is because I used it for testing purposes. I could test with GetKey() on W and GetKeyDown() on the other keys. And in the first part of the Update() method currentKey is just to see when you’re walking. E.G if I’m holding down W, currentKey is W. But I don’t want it to check for the doubletap until I release W to actually do the doubletap. Hence, firstkey try to be set until currentKey is released

Sorry, I should’ve included this information in the thread.

Thanks for your reply!

4

I just reread your reply and realised I missunderstood the second part of your comment. I’ll look into alternate solutions for chekcing the keys. Thank you!