Resolved Objects getting destroyed with singleton pattern when using timeline?

I hope this is the right group to post this in. I'm new to timeline so forgive me if this is a stupid question.

I am writing a 2D game with some hand-drawn art and I want to have "cut scenes" where I animate "paper puppets" and play an audio clip.

I created a PencilPowerPuppet object and added a sprite render, particle trail and audio source and I added a TimelineDirector to it. I animated the position and rotation and dragged an audio clip into the playable asset.






When I play the animation or play the game it works perfect.

But I want to have a collection of "puppets" and my intention is to play a random one from the collection when a level (scene) starts.

So I created a PuppetManager component.


I am using a singleton pattern for this PuppetManager because I will always have the same collection of puppets to choose from for every scene.

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using Random = UnityEngine.Random;
5.  
6. public class PuppetManager : MonoBehaviour
7. {
8.     [SerializeField] private List<GameObject> puppets = null;
9.     [SerializeField] private float chanceToPlayPuppet = 25f;
10.  
11.     private bool _puppetPlaying;
12.  
13.     public static PuppetManager Instance;
14.  
15.     private void Awake()
16.     {
17.         if (Instance != null && Instance != this)
18.         {
19.             Destroy(gameObject);
20.         }
21.         else
22.         {
23.             Instance = this;
24.             DontDestroyOnLoad(gameObject);
25.             _puppetPlaying = false;
26.         }
27.     }
28.  
29.     public void PlayRandomPuppet()
30.     {
31.         if (_puppetPlaying || Random.Range(0, 100) > chanceToPlayPuppet) return;
32.         int index = Random.Range(0, puppets.Count - 1);
33.         var puppet = puppets[index];
34.         if (puppet == null)
35.         {
36.             Debug.Log($"Puppet[{index}] is null.");
37.             return;
38.         }
39.         Debug.Log($"Playing puppet {puppet.name}");
40.         _puppetPlaying = true;
41.         puppet.SetActive(true);
42.         StartCoroutine(StopPuppet(puppet));
43.     }
44.  
45.     private IEnumerator StopPuppet(GameObject puppet)
46.     {
47.         yield return new WaitForSeconds(5f);
48.         if (puppet != null) puppet.SetActive(false);
49.         _puppetPlaying = false;
50.     }
51. }
52.  

I have a LevelController class that calls PuppetManager.Instance.PlayRandomPuppet() in OnEnable().
This plays a puppet when starting a level:

Code (CSharp):

1. using System;
2. using System.Collections;
3. using System.Collections.Generic;
4. using UnityEngine;
5. using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
6.  
7. [RequireComponent(typeof(AudioSource))]
8. public class LevelController : MonoBehaviour
9. {
10.     [SerializeField] private string _nextLevelName = null;
11.     [SerializeField] private AudioClip _nextLevelSound = null;
12.    
13.     private Monster[] _monsters;
14.     private AudioSource _audioSource;
15.     private bool _levelComplete;
16.  
17.     private void Start()
18.     {
19.         _audioSource = GetComponent<AudioSource>();
20.     }
21.  
22.     private void OnEnable()
23.     {
24.         _levelComplete = false;
25.         _monsters = FindObjectsOfType<Monster>();
26.         MusicManager.Instance.PlayNextSong();
27.         PuppetManager.Instance.PlayRandomPuppet();
28.     }
29.  
30.     // Update is called once per frame
31.     void Update()
32.     {
33.         if (MonstersAreAllDead())
34.         {
35.             _audioSource.PlayOneShot(_nextLevelSound);
36.             StartCoroutine(GoToNextLevel());
37.         }
38.     }
39.  
40.     private bool MonstersAreAllDead()
41.     {
42.         if (_levelComplete) return false;
43.         foreach (var monster in _monsters)
44.         {
45.             if (monster.gameObject.activeSelf)
46.                 return false;
47.         }
48.  
49.         _levelComplete = true;
50.         return true;
51.     }
52.    
53.     private IEnumerator GoToNextLevel()
54.     {
55.         yield return new WaitForSeconds(1);
56.         SceneManager.LoadScene(_nextLevelName);
57.     }
58. }
59.  

Whenever the scene changes, the puppet I get from the collection is null.
Puppet[0] is null.
UnityEngine.Debug:Log (object)
PuppetManagerlayRandomPuppet () (at Assets/Scripts/PuppetManager.cs:36)
LevelController:OnEnable () (at Assets/Scripts/LevelController.cs:34)

I only ever change the active state of the puppet game object so how is it getting destroyed? Shouldn't it get preserved since it's contained by the Singleton DontDestroyOnLoad PuppetManager?

I don't have this issue with my MusicManager which uses the same pattern so the Timeline is the only difference I can think of.

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections.Generic;
2. using UnityEngine;
3.  
4. [RequireComponent(typeof(AudioSource))]
5. public class MusicManager : MonoBehaviour
6. {
7.     [SerializeField] private List<AudioClip> musicClips = null;
8.    
9.     public static MusicManager Instance;
10.  
11.     private AudioSource _audioSource;
12.     private int _currentSong = -1;
13.  
14.     private void Awake()
15.     {
16.         if (Instance != null && Instance != this)
17.         {
18.             Destroy(gameObject);
19.         }
20.         else
21.         {
22.             Instance = this;
23.             DontDestroyOnLoad(gameObject);
24.             _audioSource = GetComponent<AudioSource>();
25.             _currentSong = 0;
26.         }
27.     }
28.  
29.     private void PlaySong(int clipIndex)
30.     {
31.         _audioSource.clip = musicClips[clipIndex];
32.         _audioSource.Play();
33.     }
34.  
35.     public void PlayNextSong()
36.     {
37.         if (++_currentSong >= musicClips.Count)
38.             _currentSong = 0;
39.         PlaySong(_currentSong);
40.     }
41.    
42. }
43.  

Could the timeline somehow be destroying the puppet after animating it?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

Thanks. I refactored the PuppetManager to take a list of prefabs and I instantiate each one in Awake and store them in a "pool" but they are still getting destroyed when the scene changes. So based on your comment I need to all DontDestroyOnLoad on each of them which makes sense. If that works I'll make this post as Solved.

 

Okay, that worked. Thanks so much.