Hi! I’m a complete beginner and I’m using tutorials and chatgpt to learn, I hope that doesn’t make everyone immediately mad. Sorry!
What I’m trying to do is make a top down car combat game, I’m currently working on a weapon that orbits around a car and zaps electric arcs out at cars nearby. I’ve created a Electric arc using this great tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NWqTKYEIlU
Then I’m trying to use code to move the positions (Pos1-4) around, making Pos1 the weapon and Pos4 the target car then setting 2 and 3 in between. However when the prefab is called it just displays the arc in the preset bezier curve in a fixed position on the map.
What am i doing wrong? Here is my (and chatgpt’s) code:
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.VFX;
public class OrbitingWeapon : MonoBehaviour
{
public float flySpeed = 10f; // Speed at which the weapon flies forward
public float detectionRadius = 5f; // Radius to detect nearby cars
public float orbitDistance = 3f; // Distance to maintain while orbiting
public float orbitDuration = 5f; // Duration of the orbit before self-destructing
public float zapRadius = 2f; // Radius for zapping nearby cars
public int damagePerZap = 10; // Damage dealt per zap
public float orbitSpeedMultiplier = 1.5f; // Speed multiplier for orbiting
public GameObject zapVFXPrefab; // Electric Ark prefab for zap effect
private Transform targetCar; // Car being targeted
private Transform firingCar; // Car that fired this weapon
private bool isOrbiting = false; // Status of the weapon's orbiting
private float orbitTimer; // Timer to track orbit duration
private Vector2 orbitOffset; // Offset position for orbiting
private VisualEffect zapVFXInstance; // Instance of the zap effect
private bool hasLoggedZapInfo = false; // Flag to track zap logging
public void Initialize(Transform firingCarTransform)
{
firingCar = firingCarTransform; // Set the firing car
}
void Update()
{
if (isOrbiting)
{
OrbitAroundTarget();
ZapNearbyCars();
orbitTimer += Time.deltaTime; // Increment orbit timer
if (orbitTimer >= orbitDuration)
{
Destroy(gameObject); // Destroy the weapon after orbit duration
}
}
else
{
FlyForward(); // Move the weapon forward
CheckForNearbyCars(); // Check for nearby cars to target
}
}
private void FlyForward()
{
transform.Translate(Vector2.up * flySpeed * Time.deltaTime); // Move forward
}
private void CheckForNearbyCars()
{
Collider2D[] hits = Physics2D.OverlapCircleAll(transform.position, detectionRadius); // Detect nearby cars
foreach (var hit in hits)
{
if (hit.CompareTag("Damaging") && hit.transform != firingCar) // Check if hit is a damaging car and not the firing car
{
targetCar = hit.transform; // Set target car
Debug.Log($"Target car detected: {targetCar.name}");
BeginOrbit(); // Start orbiting around the target car
break;
}
}
}
private void BeginOrbit()
{
isOrbiting = true; // Set orbiting status
orbitTimer = 0f; // Reset orbit timer
orbitOffset = (transform.position - targetCar.position).normalized * orbitDistance; // Calculate orbit offset
Debug.Log($"Orbiting started. Orbit offset: {orbitOffset}");
}
private void OrbitAroundTarget()
{
// Update orbit offset based on orbit speed
orbitOffset = Quaternion.Euler(0, 0, flySpeed * orbitSpeedMultiplier * Time.deltaTime) * orbitOffset;
transform.position = (Vector2)targetCar.position + orbitOffset; // Update position based on target car's position
Debug.Log($"Orbiting around target car at position: {targetCar.position}. Current position: {transform.position}");
}
private void ZapNearbyCars()
{
Collider2D[] carsInRange = Physics2D.OverlapCircleAll(transform.position, zapRadius); // Check for cars in zap range
foreach (Collider2D car in carsInRange)
{
if (car.CompareTag("Damaging") && car.transform != targetCar && car.transform != firingCar) // Validate car for zapping
{
TopDownCarController carController = car.GetComponent<TopDownCarController>(); // Get the car controller
if (carController != null)
{
// Log zap info only once
if (!hasLoggedZapInfo)
{
Debug.Log($"Weapon Position: {transform.position}, Target Position: {car.transform.position}, Zap Effect Position: {transform.position + (car.transform.position - transform.position).normalized}");
hasLoggedZapInfo = true; // Set the flag to true after logging
}
carController.TakeDamage(damagePerZap); // Apply damage
Debug.Log($"Zapping car: {car.name}, Damage dealt: {damagePerZap}");
// Instantiate zap effect if it doesn't exist yet
if (zapVFXInstance == null)
{
GameObject zapEffectObj = Instantiate(zapVFXPrefab, transform.position, Quaternion.identity);
zapVFXInstance = zapEffectObj.transform.Find("ElectricArk-VFXGraph")?.GetComponent<VisualEffect>();
if (zapVFXInstance == null)
{
Debug.LogError("ElectricArk-VFXGraph child object with VisualEffect component is missing!");
Destroy(zapEffectObj); // Clean up if the effect is not valid
return;
}
Debug.Log("Zap effect instantiated.");
}
// Update positions for the zap effect
UpdateZapEffectPositions(car); // Update the bezier points for the zap effect
}
}
}
// Reset the flag after the zap is performed to allow future logging if needed
if (carsInRange.Length > 0)
{
hasLoggedZapInfo = false;
}
}
private void UpdateZapEffectPositions(Collider2D car)
{
Vector3 carPosition = car.transform.position;
Vector3 weaponPosition = transform.position; // Get current weapon position
// Set the start point (orbiter) and end point (car being zapped)
zapVFXInstance.SetVector3("Pos1", weaponPosition); // Start point (orbiter)
zapVFXInstance.SetVector3("Pos4", carPosition); // End point (car being zapped)
// Calculate the midpoints for bezier curve dynamically
Vector3 midPoint = (weaponPosition + carPosition) / 2;
// Control point for bezier curve
Vector3 controlOffset = new Vector3(0, 1.5f, 0); // Height adjustment for curve
// Set control points for bezier curve
zapVFXInstance.SetVector3("Pos2", midPoint + controlOffset);
zapVFXInstance.SetVector3("Pos3", midPoint - controlOffset);
// Debug log for bezier positions
Debug.Log($"Zap effect positions updated: Pos1={weaponPosition}, Pos2={midPoint + controlOffset}, Pos3={midPoint - controlOffset}, Pos4={carPosition}");
zapVFXInstance.Play(); // Play the effect each time we zap
}
}
While I’m at it actually, the weapon also doesn’t ignore the firing car and in fact attaches itself to the car that fired the weapon. thats the problem after this problem, maybe I can get a twofer?
