GDevelopApp
Health with shield (update)
Playable game:
https://liluo.io/victrisgames/extension-health
Project files
https://github.com/GDevelopApp/GDevelop-examples/pull/374
Summary:
Manage health (life) and shield points of an object. Health can be assigned to players, enemies, NPCs, or even inanimate objects such as breaking doors and mining rocks.
How to use:
- Set desired values in "Health" and "Shield" behavior properties
- To apply damage use “Damage an object” or “Damage an object protected by a shield”
- To heal health, use “Heal object” action
- To activate the shield, use “Activate Shield” action
- Health and shield regeneration will happen automatically based on properties
Tips:
- While damage cooldown is active, no damage will be applied to health or shield
- Try using the “Blink” extension while damage cooldown is active
- Use the “Is just damaged” condition to trigger audio and visual effects
Health properties:
- Health (life points) Used for starting health
- Maximum health (0 for no maximum)
- Damage cooldown (seconds) Use "0" for no cooldown
- Rate of health regeneration (points per second) Will not exceed max health, even with overhealing enabled
- Delay (seconds) before health regeneration starts after being hit
- Allow heal to increase health above max health (will not exceed max health)
Shield properties:
- Max shield points (Shield will start with this many points when activated)
- Duration of shield (seconds) Use "0" to disable shield timer
- Rate of shield regeneration (points per second)
- Shield will block all excess damage when shield is destroyed
- Delay (seconds) before shield regeneration starts after being hit
- Regenerate shield when it has zero points
- There is no description for "RequireHealth" maybe something like "Health behavior". The name should probably be "HealthBehavior" instead of "RequireHealth" as it's a property and not an action.
Good idea, done.
- ShieldDuration, "Use 0 for making it permanent" instead of "Use 0 to disable shield timer"
Done. (I actually called it "permanent" before and changed it. But I think your idea is good.)
- MaxShieldPoints, "Shield will start with this many points when activated" should there be another property for the initial shield value? (like there is a Health and MaxHealth properties)
Great question!
Health
Starting value: Health points Dynamic value: Health points How to reset to starting value? Impossible, but hopefully the user set MaxHealth the same as Health.
Shield
Starting value: Max shield points Dynamic value: Shield points How to reset to starting value? Max shield points
I wish Health worked like I designed Shield, but I think changing it might be considered a breaking change.
What do you suggest? I don't think we need another property.
- Add function groups for the configuration to clearly see what the "true" actions are.
Done.
- Avoid to start each action by "Change" it's very hard to scan a list if the 1st letter is always the same.
Done.
- Try to be as much concise as possible for function full name. For instance, "Change delay before health regeneration starts" can just be "Health regeneration delay".
I like that; thanks! I changed all similar ones.
- The health generation action is in the shield group.
Fixed.
- MaxShieldPoints, "Shield will start with this many points when activated" should there be another property for the initial shield value? (like there is a Health and MaxHealth properties)
Great question!
Health
Starting value: Health points Dynamic value: Health points How to reset to starting value? Impossible, but hopefully the user set MaxHealth the same as Health.
Shield
Starting value: Max shield points Dynamic value: Shield points How to reset to starting value? Max shield points
I wish Health worked like I designed Shield, but I think changing it might be considered a breaking change. What do you suggest?
It's possible to see Health as initial health and add an hidden property CurrentHealth.
I don't think we need another property.
It's almost a convention to start full health, but I think it's good that the extension allows to start with any value. I think it should be the same for the shield especially because extension users may want their game to start with a shield at 0 if collectables regenerate it.
It's almost a convention to start full health, but I think it's good that the extension allows to start with any value. I think it should be the same for the shield especially because extension users may want their game to start with a shield at 0 if collectables regenerate it.
After thinking about this for a few days, I have updated both health and shield so that there are 3 properties for each:
Health
- Health (this is used for starting health, but I'm keeping the name for backward compatibility)
- CurrentHealth (hidden)
- MaxHealth
Shield
- StartingShieldPoints
- CurrentShieldPoints (hidden)
- MaxShieldPoints
Let me know what you think.
- I wonder if there is too much function groups.
- I usually do a group for actions that change a property value because users define them with the properties editor so they will rarely be used. It allows to quickly find what the "real" actions are.
- The groups could be:
- Health
- Health configuration
- Shield
- Shield configuration
- I'm not sure if "configuration" is the best term for it though.
- What is the purpose of these functions? Should they be hidden?
- SetHitAtLeastOnce
- SetJustDamaged
- Some names are a bit long
- "Duration of damage cooldown" to "Damage cooldown"?
- "Regenerate shield when it has zero points" to "Regenerate when broken"?
- "Delay before shield regeneration starts" to "Regeneration latency" (same for health)?
- "Shield blocks excess damage when it breaks" to "Block exceeding damaged"?
- I wonder if there is too much function groups.
Yes, I think you are probably right. Here are the current conditions and actions:
I usually do a group for actions that change a property value because users define them with the properties editor so they will rarely be used. It allows to quickly find what the "real" actions are.
The groups could be:
- Health
- Health configuration
- Shield
- Shield configuration
I'm not sure if "configuration" is the best term for it though.
I have changed it to match your example. We could use "Shield settings" but since you have used "configuration" already, lets keep it consistent.
What is the purpose of these functions? Should they be hidden?
- SetHitAtLeastOnce
- SetJustDamaged
Yes, these are now hidden. Thanks!
Some names are a bit long
- "Duration of damage cooldown" to "Damage cooldown"?
- "Regenerate shield when it has zero points" to "Regenerate when broken"?
- "Delay before shield regeneration starts" to "Regeneration latency" (same for health)?
- "Shield blocks excess damage when it breaks" to "Block exceeding damaged"?
I tried to improve these.
Thanks for the reviews!
-
Why did you choose to keep these?
- "Regenerate shield when it has zero points"
- "Shield blocks excess damage when it breaks"
-
There is a typo in "zero points".
-
"Apply damage to an object" to "Damage the health"?
-
"Apply damage to a shielded object" to "Damage (with shield)"?
To be honest, I was rushing to get this updated before taking the kids to school. :)
Why did you choose to keep these?
- "Regenerate shield when it has zero points"
Ok, I changed it.
- "Shield blocks excess damage when it breaks"
OK, I made it a bit shorter:
"Block excess damage when shield is broken"
- There is a typo in "zero points".
Where? I guess I removed this.
- "Apply damage to an object" to "Damage the health"?
- "Apply damage to a shielded object" to "Damage (with shield)"?
I thought this was better.
This is on hold until we decide the right way to add defensive armor stats.
(I am also thinking about adding "Apply damage over time")
This is in a good state for this PR. I'm hoping someone can review it this week. Thanks, team!
It's just an idea: instead of expressions to get the result of the last extension, users could use an expression to evaluate a hit before applying it. It could be useful for AI or do a damage preview in the UI.
Most expressions full name are too long.