I tried using "+=" instead of just "=", but for some reason my character just jumps forward a bit toward the last direction pressed. I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing or not seeing.

I want them to start moving by themselves in the last direction pressed once the space bar is released and not stop.

  • xyz replied to this.

  • NJL64 Debugging should result in having some hypothesis on what might be wrong with the code. It shouldn't result in being stumped 😃

    Write down your current "working hypothesis" on what's wrong with this code, and debug more on the basis of this hypothesis. Do this over and over, adjusting your hypothesis as you go, until the bug is finally found and resolved.

    This is fundamental for building any piece of software, big or small. So make your priority to learn to do it on your own.

    I'd be interested to hear your current hypothesis on what's wrong with that code.

      NJL64 Use print statements and breakpoints to debug your code. The idea is to follow each step of the execution flow and trace variable values in order to determine where and why they start to diverge from what is expected.

          xyz I think that's good advice, so I've been using those methods to try to debug more today, but I'm still stumped.

          • xyz replied to this.

              • xyz

              • Post #4
              • Edited
              • Best Answerset by NJL64

              NJL64 Debugging should result in having some hypothesis on what might be wrong with the code. It shouldn't result in being stumped 😃

              Write down your current "working hypothesis" on what's wrong with this code, and debug more on the basis of this hypothesis. Do this over and over, adjusting your hypothesis as you go, until the bug is finally found and resolved.

              This is fundamental for building any piece of software, big or small. So make your priority to learn to do it on your own.

              I'd be interested to hear your current hypothesis on what's wrong with that code.

                  i dont see why its not working unless ui_select is bound to different button - not spacebar

                  xyz Thanks! I believe I'll figure it out. And I'll share my solution when I do. 🙂

                  I too think it's important to practice debugging more. So I will.

                  • xyz replied to this.

                      NJL64 Hint: start by printing the velocity immediately before move_and_slide() is called.

                        6 days later

                        kkkkkkabc Still been working on my code (been busy), so I'm trying to look at it as much as I can, but may I ask why rearrange the ifs? If I had to guess, is it because of "else: velocity = Vector2.ZERO"?

                        I rearranged them, but it resulted in just nothing happening when trying to propel my character in the last input direction with space bar (ui_select). Whereas before they were just teleporting a short distance in the proper direction.

                        I'll continue to examine and debug my code more. I'm looking at it right now, and I plan to study and research more today.

                          Yeah, it didn't work, just_realeased is one-time, so you can add Timer under it.The interval is set to 0.1 seconds.
                          There are other ways, but this one works too.

                            kkkkkkabc I'm sorry I didn't get notified about your post.

                            Thank you so much. I'm going to study this and try to incorporate this alternative method. I appreciate it, I've been trying to practice debugging more and trying different methods the past few days, but I'm still a little new to coding, so I still get a little confused sometimes.

                              21 days later

                              Update:

                              Thank you @kkkkkkabc for providing a method to suggest and go off of. I wasn't able to use move_toward() because it's strictly for velocity.x & velocity.y, but I implemented your timer method around what my code would allow and what I'm trying to accomplish.

                              By doing more debugging, I have found that the culprit is that after my movement code, I wrote "else: velocity = Vector2.ZERO" because of course I want the player to stop moving when I'm not inputting a direction. But, as I was starting to suspect, it overrides when I set the velocity's value to anything else later down the page.

                              I commented out "else: velocity = Vector2.ZERO" and sure enough, the "blast attack" shot my character toward the appropriate direction, smoothly and without teleporting them ahead.

                              So I suppose now my course of action is to find a way to work around this oversight so that I can move the character and have them use their "blast attack" without velocity being set back to zero (among many other adjustments). Something I'm sure even a novice like me could figure out with a little thinking. Or at least I'd hope I'd be able to.

                              So just wanted to give that update since I promised @xyz I would let them know my hypothesis and debugging results when I made a breakthrough. (Thanks again to @xyz for your time, patience and help as usual) and thanks everyone in this forum who helped and offered their wisdom.

                              • xyz replied to this.

                                Yes, the code would be simpler if you didn't need to stop, as pacman does

                                NJL64 By doing more debugging, I have found that the culprit is that after my movement code, I wrote "else: velocity = Vector2.ZERO" because of course I want the player to stop moving when I'm not inputting a direction. But, as I was starting to suspect, it overrides when I set the velocity's value to anything else later down the page.

                                Good catch. See that you're perfectly capable of hunting bugs on your own 😃 Keep it up!