Shield Durability

How to change color of Shield from script

In this article we change the Shield to take 3 hits before it breaks. First we got the logic part in the script. Next we change the VFX of the Shield. The color will change based on the value of shield health. Finally we will add a visual indication just like our health UI display.

Script — 3 hits before shield breaks

Pseudocode

if shield power up is picked up
then set shieldhealth to 3
then activate shield and update shield vfx
if damaged and shield is active
then shieldhealth —
then update shield vfx
if shieldhealth == 0
then deactive shield

Actual Code

Shield part of on Damage() method. If Shield isn’t activated then player is damaged normally.

if (_isShieldActive == true)
{
    _shieldHealth--;
    if (_shieldHealth <= 0)
    {
        //deactivate shield gameobject
        _shield.SetActive(false);
        _isShieldActive = false;
        //exit function with return
        return;
    }
    else
    {
        //TODO UpdateShieldVisual        
    }
}

Method that activates the shield. (Other powerup cases are removed here)

public void PowerUpPickUp(string PowerUpType)
{
    switch (PowerUpType)
    {
        case "Shield":
            _isShieldActive = true;
            //activate shield game object
            _shield.SetActive(true);
            _shieldHealth = 3;
            break;
    }
}

Change Shield Color Based on Durability

The bold code parts add the VFX for the shieldhealth. Our shield is using the SpriteRenderer so we use that to change the color.

SpriteRenderer.color

On Player Hit

We also included our shieldhealth is 0 as a case in our switch statement.

if (_isShieldActive == true)
{
    _shieldHealth--;
        //UpdateShieldVisual
        switch (_shieldHealth)
        {
            case 3:
                _shieldSprite.color = Color.cyan;
                break;
            case 2:
                _shieldSprite.color = Color.green;
                break;
            case 1:
                _shieldSprite.color = Color.red;
                break;
            case 0:
                //deactivate shield gameobject
                _shield.SetActive(false);
                _isShieldActive = false;
                break;
            default:
                Debug.Log("Player.Shieldvisual switch default value");
                break;
        }
    }
}

On Shield Activation

public void PowerUpPickUp(string PowerUpType)
{
    switch (PowerUpType)
    {
        case "Shield":
            _isShieldActive = true;
            //activate shield game object
            _shield.SetActive(true);
            _shieldHealth = 3;
            _shieldSprite.color = Color.cyan;
            break;
    }
}

Add Shield UI

We use the same way as in a previous article.

How to display Health on the UI in Unity