Posted August 27, 2025 by osiriscastrodevdynasty
The Problem:
This week, my main concentration was on improving the player's interaction loop, that being what occurs when the player is knocked down but not killed as the game kept going in a way even wafter the player's battery depleted. The design required a "reboot" mini-game where the player would be able to quickly mash keys (up up down down) to return to battle. But the player's state wasn't correctly being dealt with after being knocked down or even after the game being won.
This resulted in frustratingly broken gameplay for the end user. Picturing being shot down only to discover your player still freely circulating throughout the level, or worst yet, finally winning and the game did properly recognized the HUD but the player input wouldn't be disabled. These bugs horribly break immersion and destroy the game's core loop of reward and risk. Fixing them was key to providing a polished and professional-feeling product.
The Solution:
The root problem was that the game's state machine the logic that dictates what the player can and can't do was incomplete. Disabling shooting and movement functions existed but weren't being called consistently across all game-over states (e.g., winning vs. dying). Furthermore, the sequence for the reboot mechanic wasn't in place.
My solution was multi-faceted:
Reboot Mechanic: I had the key-sequence reboot mechanism implemented. In the player's HandleDownPressed() and HandleUpPressed() methods, I had code to monitor the player's input sequence. When the downed player inputs the correct pattern (which is stored in an ExpectedSequence array), the HandleRevival() method gets called. The method uses the health component to bring the player back to life, restores their movement and shooting functionality, and hides the reboot HUD widget.
State Consistency: I scrutinized carefully all paths by which a game-over state takes place. I ensured that the PlayerLost() function was completely called not only upon death but also when the battery countdown timer reached zero. This function is now the single cleanup spot for the player state: it ejects the actor, turns off collision, destroys all of the HUD, turns off input, and broadcasts an event so that other systems (like AI) know that the player has died.
Win State Bug: I discovered that the win condition was not properly triggering the state cleanup. I added a new PlayerWin() function, copying the cleanup code from PlayerLost(), but modified to win instead of lose. The function disables player control and removes the HUD, essentially freezing the game in a winning state until the player returns to the menu.
The end result is a much tighter and professional game system. The player now has a clear and interactive recovery system when he is killed, and the game properly and consistently handles success and failure states so the user gets a pleasing and bug-free experience.