Help creating a timer

[arr5454]

Hey everyone,

I'm fairly new to coding and love2d and I'm working on a simple Pong game to practice developing. I got the basic game to work and I would like to implement a feature where each time the ball spawns in the center of the screen after each point, it will stay there for 3 seconds before moving. I've read different ways to make a timer but I'm not sure where to put it (in the drawBall() function in ball.lua, or just in main.lua?) or how to make it countdown in real seconds. I would also like to make the countdown appear in the center of the screen in a "3, 2, 1 GO!" sort of way.

Thank you very much in advance!

EDIT: Forgot to upload game file

[Beelz]

I would go with something like this:

Code: Select all

canMove = false
moveTime = 3

love.update(dt)
   if moveTime > 0 then
      moveTime = moveTime - 1 * dt
      canMove = false
   else
      canMove = true
   end

   if canMove then
      -- Move
   end
end

[kbmonkey]

This is a very nice looking pong clone!

Similar to what Beelz said, I would functionalize the pause code:

Code: Select all

function updatePauseTimeout(dt)
    pauseTimeout = pauseTimeout and (pauseTimeout - dt) or 4
    return pauseTimeout < 1
end

function drawPauseTimeout()
    if pauseTimeout > 3 then
	    love.graphics.printf("3", 0, 100, love.window.getWidth(), "center")
	elseif pauseTimeout > 2 then
	    love.graphics.printf("2", 0, 100, love.window.getWidth(), "center")
	elseif pauseTimeout > 1 then
	    love.graphics.printf("1", 0, 100, love.window.getWidth(), "center")
	elseif pauseTimeout > 0 then
	    love.graphics.printf("GO!", 0, 100, love.window.getWidth(), "center")
	end
end

Then just call updatePauseTimeout(dt) and drawPauseTimeout() from love.update and love.draw.

When the ball is lost, simply set

Code: Select all

pauseTimeout = 4

[s-ol]

Hey everyone,

I'm fairly new to coding and love2d and I'm working on a simple Pong game to practice developing. I got the basic game to work and I would like to implement a feature where each time the ball spawns in the center of the screen after each point, it will stay there for 3 seconds before moving. I've read different ways to make a timer but I'm not sure where to put it (in the drawBall() function in ball.lua, or just in main.lua?) or how to make it countdown in real seconds. I would also like to make the countdown appear in the center of the screen in a "3, 2, 1 GO!" sort of way.

Thank you very much in advance!

EDIT: Forgot to upload game file

Where you put the timer is up to you really, I would put it in main.lua probably since it is not really ball-related.
To count seconds, you can use dt:

Code: Select all

local countdown = 3 -- do sth after 3 seconds

function love.update(dt)
  if countdown and countdown > 0 then -- only if countdown is running
    countdown = countdown - dt
  end
  if countdown < 0 then
    countdown = nil
    ball.paused = false -- for example
  end
end

-- somewhere else
if countdown and countdown >= 1 then
  love.graphics.print( math.floor(countdown), 20, 20 ) -- draw countdown on screen
end

[arr5454]

This is really helpful, thank you all very much.

The rumors I've heard of the love community being one of the best are true!