OOP design question for my combat game involving TIMERS

[dusk pulsar]

I have this code

local Agent = {}
Agent.__index = Agent

function Agent.new(plr,meleeAnimations)
    
    local newAgent = {}
    setmetatable(newAgent,Agent)
    
    newAgent.player = plr
    newAgent.meleeAnimation = meleeAnimations -- this is supposed to be an array IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF HOW THE ANIMATIONS ARE RAN
    newAgent.canMove = true
    newAgent.canUseAbility = true
    
    
    return newAgent
end

-- metamethods, "they're so... meta"

return Agent

I want the booleans listed like canmove and canuseability have a timer that can be activated at anytime. This timer would change the booleans from true to false and at the end of the timer false to true. Normally this wouldn't be an issue however I want to allow this "Timer" to be spam able but I don't know how I would achieve this

Also I understand how this could be a super specific and redundant question.

Also my original solution was really haxy and very inefficient

[edgy glacier]

Can you repeat in simplier teerms

[dusk pulsar]

yeah

so

basically

you see those 2 booleans?

[edgy glacier]

Ye

[dusk pulsar]

I want them to have a property that turns them to false on a timer

and then back to true when the timer is finished

[edgy glacier]

So when the timer runs the boolean os set to false

[dusk pulsar]

no it's set to true

during the timer its false

Hey

actually have an idea

[edgy glacier]

So

[wheat hull]

** You are now Level 5! **

[edgy glacier]

There Is a metamethod called __call

You could make It so when table gets called, It enables a timer with parameter the boolean you want to cjangey

Change

[dusk pulsar]

really?

that's a weird oddly convenient method

what happens when spammed

like if i used it multiple times

[edgy glacier]

Dependa like

How many times

[umbral estuary]

Are you referring to the timer not resetting when it's getting called to often?

Or are you just referring to a boolean?

[dusk pulsar]

if the timer get's called often

i don't want it to break it

[umbral estuary]

You can just make a thread (coroutine/task.spawn), then every time you try to call it just make if first check if it exists

[dusk pulsar]

wait

that's what i did

[umbral estuary]

Then you can keep calling it, but it will only create the timer once

[dusk pulsar]

originally

[dusk pulsar]

no I want it to remove the other instance of the timer

once a new one is created

[umbral estuary]

Ah, so increase it (set it back to the full time e.g. 30 seconds)

[dusk pulsar]

wdym

[dusk pulsar]

i thought abt something similar, however the timers will all have different times

[wheat hull]

** You are now Level 3! **

[umbral estuary]

Welp you've lost me again

[dusk pulsar]

sorry

it sounds complicated when i explain it

ok

[umbral estuary]

so what I think you currently mean is this:

timer 1 takes 30 seconds, timer 2 takes X seconds, timer 3 takes 60 seconds

timer 1: activated 25 seconds left -> called again -> set back to original 30 seconds, counting down again

timer 2: not activated, not doing shit

timer 3: activated, 35 seconds left -> called again -> set back to original 60 seconds, counting down again

[dusk pulsar]

wait

can you go into vc

so i can explain it more fluidly

[umbral estuary]

no, let's me be frank. I'm already reading other threads as well

If you cannot explain your issue then I can simply not help

[dusk pulsar]

oh ok mb

ok

I will right something to explain it alot better

So when we want the player to be unable to move for a certain time
we will use a method called agent:StartTimer(time, property : "in this case it will be the canMove property")

This function sets the canmove to false and then once the time reaches 0 it sets it back to false.

the issue is if you called the startTimer during another starttimer it would interfere with eachother.

[umbral estuary]

Oh you're using agents, I would just use the coroutine or the task library, way easier for such things. Anyways, do you mean "interfere" as in

• running both timers simultaneously
  or
• still running the original timer, even though you only want the longest timer to count
  ?

[dusk pulsar]

running both timers simultaneously

that's the issue

also the "agent" is just an object

just a substitute for the name PlayerData

[umbral estuary]

Oh wait, I forgot the name for "actors" and figured you were using them

[dusk pulsar]

sorry for the confusion

[wispy scarab]

@umbral estuary can i dm u for help after ure done helping him plz?

[umbral estuary]

Anyways, you could just go back to this, but instead of not starting the new one, only start the new one. Then cancel the old one

[wheat hull]

** You are now Level 1! **

[umbral estuary]

no

[wispy scarab]

qunem berant

ok

[dusk pulsar]

HEY I UNDERSTAND IT NOW!!!!!!!

do you think i could store the coroutines in a table???

[umbral estuary]

You can

[dusk pulsar]

and append a new timer for every one that's created

and then automatically remove the earliest timers