Setting up losing a life and game over.

In this tutorial we’ll set up the schematic to lose a life and call game over when all lives have been lost. The schematic will be added to the water at the bottom of the level – if the ball falls into the water, the player will lose a life and respawn.

Lose Life: Schematic

First, we’ll set up the schematic for handling life reduction and game over. Losing a life will lead to destroying the ball and the paddle and spawning a new instance of the ball/paddle player prefab.

Open the Makinom editor, navigate to Schematics and create a new schematic. Change the following settings.

breakout_04_losing_a_life1

Settings

We’ll need 2 prefabs – a death particle and a player prefab.

Prefabs

Click on Add Prefab Resource to add a prefab resource.

  • Prefab
    Select Paddle.
    This is the player prefab (including the mounted ball), it can be found at Assets/Tutorial Resources/Prefabs/.

Click on Add Prefab Resource again to add another prefab resource.

  • Prefab
    Select Death Particle.

Play Sound

Add > Animation + Audio > Audio > Play Sound

We’ll use this node to play a water splash sound.

Play On

  • Object
    Select Machine Object.

Audio Settings

  • Audio Clip
    Select Select Audio Clip and waterSplash.
  • Wait
    Disable this setting.
  • Play One Shot
    Enable this setting.
  • Volume
    Set to 1.

Change Variables

Add > Value > Variable > Change Variables

We’ll use this node to reduce the player’s lives by 1.

Click on Add Variable to add a variable change.

  • Change Type
    Select Variable.
  • Variable Key
    Set to lives.
  • Variable Origin
    Select Global.
  • Type
    Select Int.
  • Operator
    Select Sub.
  • Float Value
    Set to 1 (Value).

Spawn Prefab

Add > Game Object > Prefab > Spawn Prefab

Time to spawn the death particles.

  • Prefab
    Select Prefab 1: Death Particles.
  • Target Type
    Select Object.

Target Object

  • Object
    Select Player.

Destroy Prefab

Add > Game Object > Prefab > Destroy Prefab

We’ll destroy the death particles after 5 seconds.

  • Prefab
    Select Prefab 1: Death Particles.
  • Spawned Prefab ID
    Set to -1.
  • Destroy After Time
    Enable this setting.
  • Time (s)
    Set to 5.
  • Wait
    Disable this setting.

Destroy Player

Add > Game > Player > Destroy Player

We’ll destroy the player (paddle) using this node.

No further settings needed.

Destroy Object

Add > Game Object > Game Object > Destroy Object

We’ll use this node to destroy the ball (i.e. the starting object).

  • Object
    Select Starting Object.

Check Variables

Add > Value > Variable > Check Variables

Now, we’ll check if the player lost all lives.

Click on Add Variable to add a variable condition.

  • Condition Type
    Select Variable.
  • Variable Key
    Set to lives.
  • Variable Origin
    Select Global.
  • Is Valid
    Enable this setting.
  • Exists
    Enable this setting.
  • Type
    Select Int.
  • Check Type
    Select Is Less Equal.
  • Check Value
    Set to 0 (Value).

Change Game State

Add > Game > Game > Change Game State

The player lost all lives (i.e. game over), we’ll set the Game Running state to Inactive.

This node is connected to the Success slot of the previous Check Variables node (i.e. all lives lost).

Click on Add Game State to add a state change.

  • Game State
    Select Game Running.
  • Set State
    Select Inactive.

Show Dialogue

Add > UI > Dialogue > Show Dialogue

We’ll display a game over message for 3 seconds.

  • Dialogue Type
    Select Auto Close.
  • GUI Box
    Select Message.
  • Message
    Set to:
    Game Over

Auto Close Settings

  • Block Accept Button
    Enable this setting.
  • Close After (s)
    Set to 3.
  • Wait
    Enable this setting.

Change Variables

Add > Value > Variable > Change Variables

Before reloading the level, we’ll reset all global variables (lives to 3bricks to 0score to 0ballInPlay to false).

Click on Add Variable to add a variable change.

  • Change Type
    Select Variable.
  • Variable Key
    Set to lives.
  • Variable Origin
    Select Global.
  • Type
    Select Int.
  • Operator
    Select Set.
  • Float Value
    Set to 3 (Value).

Copy the previous variable change and change the following settings.

  • Variable Key
    Set to bricks.
  • Float Value
    Set to 0 (Value).

Copy the previous variable change and change the following settings.

  • Variable Key
    Set to score.

Click on Add Variable again to add another variable change.

  • Change Type
    Select Variable.
  • Variable Key
    Set to ballInPlay.
  • Variable Origin
    Select Global.
  • Type
    Select Bool.
  • Bool Type
    Select Value.
  • Bool Value
    Disable this setting.

Load Scene

Add > Game > Scene > Load Scene

We’ll use this node to reload the scene.

  • Reload Scene
    Enable this setting.

Change Game State

Add > Game > Game > Change Game State

Finally, we’ll set Game Running to Active again – the game continues.

Click on Add Game State to add a state change.

  • Game State
    Select Game Running.
  • Set State
    Select Active.

Wait

Add > Base > Wait

The player still has lives, we’ll wait for 1 second before respawning the player.

This node is connected to the Failed slot of the Check Variables node checking the global int variable lives (i.e. the player still has lives).

  • Time (s)
    Set to 1 (Value).

Change Variables

Add > Value > Variable > Change Variables

We need to set ballInPlay to false, otherwise the player wont be able to fire the ball again after respawning.

Click on Add Variable to add a variable change.

  • Change Type
    Select Variable.
  • Variable Key
    Set to ballInPlay.
  • Variable Origin
    Select Global.
  • Type
    Select Bool.
  • Bool Type
    Select Value.
  • Bool Value
    Disable this setting.

Spawn Prefab

Add > Game Object > Prefab > Spawn Prefab

Finally, we’ll spawn the player’s prefab again.

  • Prefab
    Select Prefab 0: Paddle.
  • Target Type
    Select Position.

Position

  • Vector3 Type
    Select Value.
  • Value
    Set to X=0, Y=-9, Z=0.

And that’s it for the schematic – click on Save Schematic and save it as LoseLife in Assets/Schematics/.

Lose Life: Trigger Machine

We’ll add the LoseLife schematic to the Water game object in the scene (child object of Level) using a Trigger Machine. The machine should start when the Ball enters the water’s trigger while the Game Running game state is Active (i.e. we wont lose a life after winning, since the state is inactive at that time).

Add a trigger machine component to the Water game object (e.g. using the component menu: Makinom > Machines > Trigger Machine). Change the following settings.

Start Settings

  • Trigger Enter
    Enable this setting.
  • Start By Other
    Enable this setting.

Click on Add Check to add a game object check for the starting object. We only want the machine to start when the Ball is the starting object.

  • Check Type
    Select Name.
  • Name
    Set to Ball.
  • Check Type
    Select Is Equal.
  • Is Valid
    Enable this setting.

Additionally, we’ll check the game states.

  • Check Game States
    Enable this setting.

Click on Add Game State to add a game state check.

  • Condition Type
    Select Game State.
  • Game State
    Select Game Running.
  • Check State
    Select Active.

Machine Execution Settings

  • Asset Type
    Select Schematic.
  • Schematic Asset
    Select LoseLife.
  • Execution Type
    Select Single.
  • Update Type
    Select Update.
  • Stop On Destroy
    Disable this setting.

And that’s it – don’t forget to save the scene.

Testing

Hit Play to test the game. You’ll now lose a life when you miss the ball and it falls into the water. If all lifes are lost, you’ll get a game over message and the game restarts. However, you don’t know how many lives you’ve left or the score you achieved …

The next tutorial will handle the HUDs.