Devlog #2: Adding a Mission Table

A downloadable game

Posted March 22, 2021 by Mystic Mill Games

Hey guys! I thought I'd update you on some of the progress I've made lately on the game. It's slowly, but steadily coming along and I am starting to see the main components take shape. This week I'll be talking to you about the Mission Table and how I've programmed that into the game.

Mission Table Skeleton

The mission table is created using scriptable objects in Unity 2D. I have written a C# script that contains serialized fields for three different values: starting destination, ending destination, and resources required to run each mission. Since the fields are serialized, I can edit the values easily in the Inspector.

I've mocked up three missions using this script which you can see here.

Three missions as scriptable objects in the Unity project panel.

The serialized fields in the Unity Inspector for one of the missions.

Creating the Mission table prefabs

This was a rather intense process of working with prefabs to create the Missions UI system. I have two main prefabs-- the Mission list component and the Mission prefab itself. Attached to the Mission list component is a script which checks the number of missions currently in the game and then instantiates the required number of Mission prefabs at runtime.

The prefab for the Mission List UI. The correct text isn't yet filled in. This happens at runtime.

Filling out the Mission text fields

The Mission Item UI script is attached to the individual missions. It references the scriptable object for the missions and fetches the three values mentioned above (starting destination, ending destination, resources required). It then concatenates these values into a string and prints them on the mission buttons. The end result is that each of the instantiated Mission prefabs has different text.

The mission list during runtime. The text on each button is now printed as a concatenated string.

Matching the mission string name with the correct scriptable object

The foreach loop that matches the mission string name with the correct object in the game.

Printing to the console whether mission is active

The final step is to check whether or not the player currently has enough resources to start the mission. A simple if statement takes care of this. If there are enough resources, the game prints a "Mission is active" message to the console. As of now, the game doesn't have a way of spending resources; it only checks to see if there are enough resources to run the mission. The ability to spend will come in a future update!

Showing 'Mission is active' in the console when the player successfully starts a mission.

Conclusion

If you've read this far then thank you! I know this was a tech-heavy post but it's a good way for me as a developer to see how far I've come. Through this process I've become a lot more comfortable working with scriptable objects in Unity and also passing in values so that there is better cohesion between my scripts. I can't wait to see what I do next with this game.

See you in a future update!