Keeping a variable over scripts

I have finally set-up a user login screen which checks the information against a database. Should the user enter correct account details they'll then be taken to the Character scene where they would either chose an existing character or create a new one. What I need to do is hold onto the username (or id from the database) across the menu script to the characters script and of course into the main game logic scripts so I can read and write to the correct database account entry when needed.

Can someone help me out with this? I'm coding in C#. I had thought about saving the username locally to a player's computer, but that's probably not a great idea. What's the best way to go about persistent accounts in a game?

 

Create a singleton object to access special global game objects from...

something like so:

(note it does NOT inherite from MonoBehavior)

Code (csharp):

1.  
2.  
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using System.Collections;
5.  
6. public class Game
7. {
8.  
9.     #region Singleton Interface
10.  
11.     private static Game _instance;
12.  
13.     public static Game Instance
14.     {
15.         get
16.         {
17.             if (_instance == null) _instance = new Game();
18.             return _instance;
19.         }
20.     }
21.  
22.     #endregion
23.  
24.     #region CONSTRUCTOR
25.  
26.     private Game()
27.     {
28.         //block constructor so only singleton
29.     }
30.  
31.     #endregion
32.  
33.     #region Properties
34.  
35.     public string Username
36.     {
37.         get;
38.         set;
39.     }
40.  
41.     #endregion
42.  
43. }
44.  

Then from any scripts you write you can say:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. Game.Instance.Username = "someusername";
3.  
4. if(Game.Instance.Username == "joe")
5. {
6.     //do stuff
7. }
8.  

I use this to store many global entry values for the game. Like an object that represents the player, inventory, etc.

And yes, it'll persist from level to level.

 

Why not simply using a static class instead of a singleton? This saves the call over Instance:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. public static class Game
3. {
4.   public static string Username; // optional: make it as a property when code should be performed when accessing or setting values
5. }
6.  

 

because more can be done than in a static.

static classes don't lend toward many design patterns out there.

Nor does it let me do the simple stuff like implementing interfaces, referencing my singleton (could be used as parameter this way), or having a simple upgrade path to multiton (which could help in multi-player mode).

Furthermore I don't have to type 'static' everywhere.

 

For the simple use case the OP had its enough, no need to create an extra singleton when all you want to do is to store plain data

 

That can be true, and worth your posting a static class as a solution.

You just asked why I use singleton, so I gave an answer.

Neither is more correct than the other, and there are actually other solutions as well, so we can leave it up to OP to decide what they need. Obviously they're in the beginning of structuring their game... who knows what else they'll need to jam in there, so who knows how "simple use" the OP requires.

 

It was not my intend to mock you. Let the OP do what he wants

 

I wasn't criticizing an attempt to mock. I was criticizing your over simplification of the scenario.

... smiley

 

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I tried both methods and the public class seems to work best (the singleton worked but it kept throwing errors when trying to use the value). Is this going to be a safe method to use to store username and password (internally) for a multi-player online game?