Why does my character move back and forth between two opposite directions?

DaveTheCoder

Here's one mistake:

elif blast_meter >= blast_meter: # if reached max
		blast_meter = blast_meter_max # stay at max

But I don't think that matters. I think you could simplify it by replacing the elif with an else, without changing the effect.

NJL64

DaveTheCoder
If you mean, I should say
'''
else:
blast_meter = blast_meter_max # stay at max
'''
That doesn't change anything at all. The player still shoots itself in two opposite directions instead of shooting forward.

DaveTheCoder

I didn't say it would fix that problem.

Try printing out the variables.

NJL64

DaveTheCoder Sorry. I thought it was a reply to the original post. I appreciate you taking the time to look at my script and offer advice, so thank you.

I'll try your suggestion with the printing.
*So far all variables stay the same while in the blast state except direction_facing & velocity keeps swapping back and forth between negative and positive. I'll see what I can gather from this.

DaveTheCoder

"When in doubt, print it out."

Since _physics_process runs 60 times/sec, there may be a lot of output. Instead of printing in real time, you can capture the output, before and after releasing of the space bar, in an array or file, and examine it afterwards. Include a timestamp, Time.get_ticks_msec() or Time.get_ticks_usec(), in the output.

NJL64

DaveTheCoder That's catchy. I'll remember that. Thanks for showing me how to do it. I was meaning to do look for a better solution to having it print perpetually in physics_process.

axolotl

My suggestion would be to take a very close look at get_direction and to write tests for it. It tries to snap the velocity vector to 45 degree steps. A sign error there could easily transform a "right" vector into "left".

NJL64

axolotl Thanks for pointing that out. The "get_direction" function is a little smarter than I am, because it was written for me by another user. I added the comments to help remind me what each line literally does, and the logic makes sense to me, but it's been on my to-do list to study it more so that I can understand it enough to be able to write something like that myself.

I'll examine it more today.

kuligs2

MikeCL he said this not me.. if a man cant keep a word then all character credibility is lost..

NJL64 I'll examine it more today.

I am curious for the solution and eager to see the results.. sometimes you need to nudge someone to get moving.

kuligs2

did it work? its been 3days.. we are still waiting

NJL64

kuligs2 I've got a lot going on right now and lots to do. Please be patient.

I just downloaded GUT and am learning how that works. I'm looking at my code when I have the time.

Here's what I know:

The BLAST function used to work. Character would shoot towards the last direction facing. I haven't made any changes to "get_direction()" since then, so I'm not sure at what point it changed.
When space bar is released, Velocity & Direction Facing keep flipping back and forth between positive and negative, so most likely a sign error.
axolotl kindly suggested looking into the "get_direction()" function and writing tests, so that's what I'm doing. I haven't found the culprit yet.

I'm a confused novice so it takes time. That's just how it is.

MikeCL

kuligs2 Please understand that people live busy lives and do their best. Life often gets in the way.

NJL64

kuligs2 Thank you for trying to be encouraging.

Right now I'm studying and struggling to learn how to use my own functions in GUT (as apposed to a test script, not a lot of great beginner tutorials either). It's probably going to be a while until I uncover the solution to this bug because this GUT stuff is very complicated. Also not in the mood after my boss criticizing me for being stupid, and now I gotta keep failing to figure this bug out.

I've been getting more used to GUT today though. I'm trying to chisel away at this anyway, despite my mood.

kuligs2

NJL64 what is GUT?

DaveTheCoder

kuligs2 what is GUT?

My guess is this:

GUT (Godot Unit Test) is a unit testing framework for the Godot Engine. It allows you to write tests for your gdscript in gdscript.

https://github.com/bitwes/Gut

NJL64

DaveTheCoder Yeah that. I'm studying as I speak how to run tests for my specific script file and function.

kuligs2

DaveTheCoder this didnt made any clearer.. what is a unit test and why do you need it?

If you want to debug the code you written its easier to put print statements at key points to see how data flows.. its been a tried and true method to debug.

There was a wise man with a saying that goes like this: A genius admires simplicity, an idiot admires complexity.

DaveTheCoder

kuligs2 what is a unit test and why do you need it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_testing

kuligs2 If you want to debug the code you written its easier to put print statements

The purpose of unit testing is to ensure that code has no bugs. In many cases it can be automated.

kuligs2 There was a wise man with a saying that goes like this: A genius admires simplicity, an idiot admires complexity.

A wiser man said, 'Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.'

NJL64

It was because my array of directions was in the wrong order.

It should be E, SE, S, SW, W, NW, N, NE . In an attempt to organize my script, I rearranged them, and that must have been when the bug came to be.

If I were gazing at a visual equivalent of my code (in this case, a pizza divided into 8 slices), I would have seen that the indexes created by the wrapi method are specific directions or angles that must match the order of the array, as it scans clockwise 360 degrees.

Thank you @DaveTheCoder, @axolotl, @kuligs2 for taking the time to help me. 🙂

At least now I've learn more about how this function works, and I know about GUT and how helpful it can potentially be when I grasp it fully.

I look forward to coding more, now that I'm not being tormented by this bug.