Trying to aply a force on a rolling ball based on an empty GameObject’s axis

I’m new to unity and to C# scripting, and I’m trying to improve in the roll-a-ball project. What I wanted to do is to change the camera using the horizontal inputs and accelerate the ball in the chosen direction using the vertical inputs. To do so, I created an empty GameObject and attached the following script to it.

Code (CSharp):

1. public GameObject player;
2. public GameObject target;
3. public float speed;
4. public float tspeed;
5. private Rigidbody rb;
6.  
7. void Start ()
8. {
9. rb = player.GetComponent<Rigidbody>();
10. }
11.  
12. void FixedUpdate ()
13. {
14. float move = Input.GetAxis (“Vertical”);
15. float turn = Input.GetAxis (“Horizontal”);
16.  
17. rb.AddForce (Vector3.MoveTowards (transform.position, target.transform.position, 1.0f) * move * speed);
18. transform.Rotate (Vector3.up, turn * tspeed);
19. }
20.  
21. void LateUpdate ()
22. {
23. transform.position = player.transform.position;
24. }

“player” is the ball and “target” is an empty child to the empty GameObject, positioned (0,0,1) to it. The camera is also a child to the empty GameObject.

Right now, I can easily turn the empty GameObject, along with the camera and the target using the horizontal inputs, and when I press the vertical inputs the ball accelerates in that direction. However, once it starts moving, I can’t change the direction of the aplied force, and it keeps accelerating into infinity (though I can move the camera and the target). How can I fix this?

Any help is appreciated, and if there’s a way to simplify or make my script better, I’d like to learn it.

 

I think you've misunderstood what Vector3.MoveTowards does. The way you're using it, it takes your current position, and computes a point 1 unit closer to the target position... and then you use this position as a force to apply to your ball, which is obviously not valid.

I think what you're looking for is something more like this:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. Vector3 towardsBall = target.transform.position - transform.position;
3. rb.AddForce(towardsBall.normalized * move * speed);
4.  

 

Thanks! Just tested it and it worked perfectly.