SKLabel is not showing when it's assigned to a specific element

Question

(All the following code has been written in Swift Playgrounds)

First I added 3 variables and put those in an array

var rnaBacteriaCopy1 = SKSpriteNode()
var rnaBacteriaCopy2 = SKSpriteNode()
var rnaVirusCopy4 = SKSpriteNode()

let rnaCopies = [
rnaBacteriaCopy1,rnaVirusCopy4,rnaBacteriaCopy2
]

Then I assigned SKTextures to those variables (text is similar for each of them)

rnaBacteriaCopy1 = SKSpriteNode(texture: SKTexture(image:(here I inserted a PNG))
        
rnaBacteriaCopy1.position = CGPoint(x: 1160, y: 325)
       
 rnaBacteriaCopy1.isHidden = true 
       
 addChild(rnaBacteriaCopy1)

Lastly with the public override function touches began I made it pick a random variable and if the variable picked was a specific one, display the label.

override public func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) {
        var therandomCopy = rnaCopies.randomElement()
        rnaCopies.randomElement()?.isHidden = false 
if therandomCopy == rnaBacteriaCopy1 {
            // Fading Label
            var tryAgainLbl = SKLabelNode(text: "Uh oh! Try again.")
            tryAgainLbl.fontSize = 70.0 
            tryAgainLbl.position = CGPoint(x: frame.midX, y: frame.midY)
            tryAgainLbl.fontColor = .white
            
            let fadein = SKAction.fadeIn(withDuration: 1)
            let remove = SKAction.removeFromParent()
            tryAgainLbl.run(SKAction.sequence([fadein,remove]))
            addChild(tryAgainLbl)
            //Hide this copy 
            rnaCopies.randomElement()?.isHidden = false 
            rnaCopies.randomElement()?.isHidden = true 
        }

At the end I made the random element hide, so you could see other SKTexture and click on it. I already tried making the if statements as specific as possible (putting && != to other variable other than this). But it doesn't work, any ideas why?

The label code works when run on its own. Therefore I would add in a print("this works") in the Fading Label code. If it never prints then you know it is the "therandomCopy == rnaBacteriaCopy1" which is the issue. If it does print, then maybe increase the "tryAgainLbl" zposition as it could be hidden behind other objects. I do not know what "therandomCopy" is, are you comparing 2 spritenodes to each other with ==? — JohnL, Apr 18 '21 at 09:56
Ah sorry! I forgot to add the code in the original post. therandomCopy is a variable containing a random element from the array — Eliza Romero, Apr 18 '21 at 14:28

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 18 '21 at 15:15

Give the nodes names, this is so you can reference them.

You can set the name where you set the position and isHidden etc..

rnaBacteriaCopy1.name = "bacteria1"

To note, you can give the same name to more than 1 node, so if it makes sense for all of your bacteria nodes to have the name "bacteria", then you can do that.

You can provide the virus a name also:

rnaVirusCopy4.name = "virus"

Now, in your touches began replace this code:

if therandomCopy == rnaBacteriaCopy1 {

With this:

if therandomCopy.name == "bacteria1" {

This means if the randomCopy node has the name "bacteria1" then proceed with the label code inside the if.

This solution didn't quite work well for me (not sure why). I'll try comparing therandomCopy to the texture the node has. Maybe that'll work? Thanks for the help anyway @JohnL :) — Eliza Romero, Apr 18 '21 at 18:05

SKLabel is not showing when it's assigned to a specific element

1 Answers1