Are global functions good practice in Gideros?

Ninjadoodle

Hi guys

I have a lua file with a bunch of reusable functions and I like to use in my scenes/levels. I'm just wondering whether this is good practice.

Here is a simple example of one of them ...

------------------------------   ------ GLOBAL FUNCTIONS ------   ------------------------------   function shakeScreen(container)   local dy = (application:getLogicalHeight() - 320) / 2 container:setPosition(-10, dy - 10) GTween.new(container, 0.25, {x = 0, y = dy}, {delay = 0, ease = easing.outBounce})   end

Thank you in advance

hgy29

It depends on your religion To me locals should be preferred for maintainability and to prevent name clash. Other than that, there is nothing wrong in using globals if they make the code faster or easier to read.

antix

You could always make your reusable code into a utility class..

Utility = Core.class()   function Utility:init() end   function Utility:shakeScreen(container) local dy = (application:getLogicalHeight() - 320) / 2 container:setPosition(-10, dy - 10) GTween.new(container, 0.25, {x = 0, y = dy}, {delay = 0, ease = easing.outBounce}) end

Using the same principle as I outlined with the player class in main.lua..

UTILITY = Utility.new()

Then in the classes that need it just use..

self.utility = UTILITY

After 3 published games this method has worked out without any negative consequences that I know of

Ninjadoodle

Thanks @hgy29

@antix - Thanks! It seems like this would be a good way to do it on a larger project.

I appreciate the help!

totebo

I tend to extend existing classes, like Table.shuffle(). It's quite rare that you need a global method that is completely independent (in my experience), but I do tend to create them like your first example. But that would be stuff like rPrint() (recursive print) and stuff like that. I would make screenShake part of the camera class, or gameworld class.

antix

Camera Class

totebo

... depending on whether you want camera shake or earthquake shake.

hgy29

Could I have milk shake instead ?

antix

Soy Shake for me thanks (Strawberry made with real fruit). I've given up consuming infant bovine growth hormone (with the added pus, eww)

Ninjadoodle

@totebo - when you refer to a game world class, would that be the level class in my case?

Stage01 = gideros.class(Sprite)

function Stage01:init()

The issue here is that I have many levels with different code, so I would have to do the setup for every level.

There are so many ways to do the same thing, I'm starting to get confused / feel like I'm doing things wrong lol.

antix

@Ninjadoodle the different code in levels is because these are like little sub games that all require different code right? Or something else?

Ninjadoodle

@antix - yeah, basically all the levels would be different tiny games

antix

@Ninjadoodle you will either have to create a class for each type of level, or have one huge-as class with a lot of conditionals in there.

I think personally I would go with a separate class for each sub game type or it will most likely soon become unmanageable.