Need inspiration on how to tackle "decreasing and increasing a variable overtime"

Hi there!

I can't wrap my head around this seemingly easy problem. I have a spaceship that can fly faster (thruster), if I press shift/fire3. It sould go only faster for a certain time, e.g. until the engines are depleted. After a few seconds, when you don't press shift/fire3, the engine is powering up again to 100% and you can shift-fast-move again.

Now this is what I got so far (I am leaving most of the script away, cause it is a massive player movement script):

Code (CSharp):

1. public void ThrusterCooldownCalculation()
2.     {
3.      
4.         lostThruster += ThrusterDecreaseRate * Time.deltaTime;
5.  
6.  
7.         if (lostThruster < maxThrusterAmount)
8.         {
9.             shiftThrusterMultiplier = 2f;
10.  
11.             if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.A) || Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.LeftArrow))
12.                 animator.SetTrigger("ActivateLeftThruster");
13.  
14.             else if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.D) || Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.RightArrow))
15.                 animator.SetTrigger("ActivateRightThruster");
16.         }
17.         else if (lostThruster >= maxThrusterAmount)
18.         {
19.             //???;
20.         }
21.     }

Now, this is my though-process: I know I can use the first line of code to increase the lostThruster rate over time. It works well. I also know that I need to start the time.deltaTime in that funciton as it only gets triggered after I press Shift/fire3 and this specific function gets called. The issue I am facing now is that I can't wrap my head around the reverse process: After the thruster is depleted (at a 100, e.g. the maxThruster amount) it should count back down as long as I don't press Shift/fire3 again. So it is a typical cooldown effect, but I can't make it work, since within that function, I still count up in the beginning of the code and I can't reverse the effect..

It might be a simple block in my head, but what would you recommend?

Thanks!

 

Think of it as a "cooldown timer," or in this case a "boost thrust timer."

Code (csharp):

1. const float MaxThrusterTank = 2.0f; // seconds
2. float ThrusterTank = MaxThrusterTank;

When you are NOT thrusting, this value slowly counts up at the recharge rate:

Code (csharp):

1. // when not boost thrusting:
2. ThrusterTank += Time.deltaTime;
3. // check if we're full
4. if (ThrusterTank >= MaxThrusterTank) ThrusterTank = MaxThrusterTank;

NOW... when you are double thrusting, either by explicit control or by having triggered a "boost state" that is sticky:

Code (csharp):

1. // when boost thrusting
2. if (ThrusterTank > 0)
3. {
4.   ThrusterTank -= Time.deltaTime;
5.   if (ThrusterTank <= 0)
6.   {
7.     // you have exhausted your boost thrust
8.     ThrusterTank = 0;
9.   }
10.   else
11.   {
12.     // here you may decide to do whatever it is that gives you extra speed
13.   }
14. }

ALSO, you want to make sure the tank is at least a little bit full before allowing thrust, otherwise you can get this half-boost-thrust situation.

 

Hey, thanks!

Over night I came up with a simpler approach: I still use the same variables. If the thruster is fully deleted, I start a coroutine that sets the depleted Thruster back to zero, after a delay of 5 seconds.

Downside to that is that it resets back to zero without counting down slowly. So I think your approach is nicer and more elegant...maybe i'll try it out later tonight