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Crash Course 2: Invaders - Part 12

by Hectate (Updated on 2015-05-02)


Part 12: Destroying the Enemy Ships

Now we put those bullets to use! We want to give the enemy some health so it can take a few hits, and then destroy it once it takes too much damage.

Step 83: While still in the Bullet's events we should be looking at the Actor - Type collision event. We're going to use the same collision to also tell the Enemy Ship that it was hit by a bullet.

From the palette, find the Trigger Event [text] in all behaviors for [Actor] block (found in Behavior > Triggers) and snap it above the Kill Self block (we want it to be triggered first).

Type "Hit" into the text field, and then grab the blue Actor Of Type block from the collision event wrapper above and insert it into the Actor spot. The event should look like the image below.

http://static.stencyl.com/help/images/trigger_event_hit.png

Step 84: Switch to the Enemy Ship actor and access the Events tab for it. Click Add Event and select Advanced > Custom Event.

http://static.stencyl.com/help/images/cc2_create_custom_event.png

Step 85: The event wrapper will appear, in the blank field type "Hit". This will cause the previous "tell" block we added (to the bullet) to trigger any code that we put in this event when triggered.

Now, if the enemy was just going to take one hit and be destroyed we could put a kill self block in here and be done with it. However, we actually want the enemy ship to take multiple hits. To track how many hits it can take, we're going to need an attribute to store a "Health" value.

Step 86: Create a new Attribute, select Number for its type, and name it Health Points (click the Attributes button on the Palette, then the Create an Attribute button).

Step 87: Add another event to the Enemy Ship. Create a When Creating Event (click + Add Event, then mouse over Basics, then click When Creating).

Step 88: Now lets actually set the initial Health value. Click on Attributes -> Setters in the Palette and drag over the Set Health Points to [ ] block, snap it inside the When Created Event, and type 3 into the empty field.

Step 89: Now that each Enemy Ship will have 3 health points when they're created, lets do some damage to them when they're hit.

Switch back to the Enemy Ship's Custom Event, and then grab the Increment Number By [ ] block (found in Numbers & Text > Math in the pallete) and put it inside the custom event. Switch the "increment" field to "decrement", and select "Health Points" in the number field (if not there already). Finally, in empty field type "1".

Step 90: Finally, we need to add an Event that checks the number of Health Points the Enemy Ship has left and destroys it if it has 0 (or fewer, in case it gets hit more than once very quickly).

To start, click the + Add Event button, mouse over Basics again, and select When Updating. Next, drag an if block inside the Always block (in Flow -> Conditions in the Palette).

Step 91: Now we add a "Less Than Or Equal To" block (under Flow -> Conditions again, it looks contains a "<=" between two numbers) to the empty field in the if block and then check whether Health Points (found in Attributes > Getters) is less than or equal to 0 or not.

Step 92: Here's where we put the Kill Self block (under Actor > Properties, if you recall).

Now our enemy ships will be killed if they are hit by three or more bullets! Feel free to test this out now. That said, its not very fun for them to just disappear; let's fix that!

Step 92: We want to use our Explosion sound effect we uploaded earlier. If we add a [Play] [Sound] block (found in Sound & Images > Sound) and select our Explosion sound effect from the dropdown menu (click the block and then select the Explosion sound we uploaded earlier), that sound will play right as our Actor is removed from the Scene.

http://static.stencyl.com/help/images/cc2_play_explosion.png

Step 93: Now we need to add an effect to our Enemy Ship Actor Type so the player can tell when it’s hit. Switch back to the Custom Event. We’re going to use blocks under Actor -> Effects in the Palette

For the effects, grab these three blocks:

  • Apply Effect [ ] to [Actor]
  • Make Negative
  • Remove All Effects From [Actor]

We also need to have a Do After timer block (Flow > Time in the palette).

Put the Make Negative block inside the Apply Effect block's blank space. Snap the Do After block in just below this and type ".1" into the blank for the time. Finally, put the Remove All Effects block inside the timer.

http://static.stencyl.com/help/images/cc2_hit_effect.png

With all this in place, test the game. If everything is working, it’s time to create a way for our player to win the game.

 

Click here to go to Part 13.

Disclaimer: Use comments to provide feedback and point out issues with the article (typo, wrong info, etc.). If you're seeking help for your game, please ask a question on the forums. Thanks!

130 Comments

Boxcars
@AndroidAdmiral Try adding "Kill[Self]" at the end of your Bullet event and remove the Enters Screen event completely.

@BennyBoiHD777 Make sure that you have checked "Cannot Be Pushed" under the Enemy Ship properties.

0 5 years, 9 months ago
AndroidAdmiral
My bullets keep going through the enemy ships and i did each step exactly the same as the tutorial
this is what i did

Bullets:
Actor-Type:
When [self]hits a [Enemy Ship] - first actor actor of type
Trigger event [hit] in all behaviors for [self]

Enters screen:
When [Self] [exits] the [screen]
kill [Self]

Enemy Ship:
Custom Event:
When [hit] happens
[decrement] [health points] by [1]
apply effect [make negative] to [self]
do after [.1] seconds
remove all effects from [Self]

Updating:
When updating
If [[health points] <=[0]]
[Play] [Explosion]
kill [Self]

created:
When created
set health points to [3]

0 5 years, 9 months ago
WhyIsThisNotWorking
@Magneter r/Ihadastroke
-1 5 years, 10 months ago
BennyBoiHD777
when i shoot my enemy they just get pushed off screen and there not effected by gravity so i dint know what i did wrong and they just change colour and the sound dosnt play
0 5 years, 10 months ago
Andrew Barden
I cant add 3 to set health to 3
0 6 years, 6 months ago
CONCORD11
@Magneter can i help with spelling
-1 6 years, 7 months ago
elirooney92
When I add "set health points to" I can't input a number. My options are 'Self', 'Choose Attribute', 'Last Collided Actor', and 'Last Created Actor'. Any advice?
4 6 years, 11 months ago
ichimitch
Sorry, need to amend my last comment.
I said "I have an issue where the enemy ship is being destroyed with two "hits" no matter what the "health points" value is set to .... :S"
What is actually happening is that the enemy ship is losing 2 "health points" whenever it is hit, rather than the desired 1 health point...

I heave health points set to 6 upon creation of enemy ship
I have trigger event "hit" in all behaviours for actor type
the "hit" event is set to decrease health points by 1'

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the "I have trigger event "hit" in all behaviours for actor type" is an issue?... perhaps it's being triggered more than once?

0 7 years, 3 months ago
ichimitch
I have an issue where the enemy ship is being destroyed with two "hits" no matter what the "health points" value is set to .... :S
0 7 years, 3 months ago
ZootedInc
If your having problems where the enemies ships arent dying. or rather they arent registering being hit by the bullets. this is what i did to fix it

go to bullet actor and events, then go to the tab where you have....

when {self} hits a {enemy ship} - {first actor} {actor of type}
Kill self

I just removed the kill self and now my bullets kill the enemies also they kill their self some how

3 7 years, 6 months ago

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