[JS] Trying to spawn a sprite randomly every second

Hello unity forums!

I am currently trying to figure out how to, as the title said, spawn a sprite in a random location every second. At the moment, the timer that is supposed to count the time in between spawns doesn't appear to trigger the spawning function when it reaches 1 second like I need it to.

Here's the code:

Code (JavaScript):

1. #pragma strict
2.  
3. var word : GameObject;
4. var spawn_position;
5. var timer = 0.0;
6.  
7. function SpawnWord(){
8. Debug.Log("Spawning");
9. spawn_position = Vector2(Random.Range(1,800),Random.Range(1,800));
10. var tempspawnword = Instantiate(word, spawn_position, Quaternion.identity);
11. }
12.  
13. function Start () {
14.  
15. }
16.  
17. function Update () {
18. timer += Time.deltaTime;
19. if(timer >= 1.0)
20.     {
21.     SpawnWord();
22.     timer = 0.0;
23.     }
24. }

Also if I'm doing anything else wrong here that won't work, please let me know, I'm still pretty new to javascript! (Normally I would be asking on the Unity Answers page, but it won't let me create any new questions :/)

 

Have you tested the function itself? Does it work?

Edit: There is no need to leave a function Start() if you don't write anything inside.

 

Thanks for this, I can't believe I didn't try the function by itself. It did not seem to work, so I ended up re-writing everything and had it work this time.

Here's the code if anyone ends up finding this and needs something to reference:

Code (JavaScript):

1. private var wordClone : GameObject;
2. var word : GameObject;
3. var wordX;
4. var wordY;
5. private var wordPosition;
6. var timer = 0.0;
7.  
8. function Update () {
9.     wordX = Random.Range(-5.0, 5.0);
10.     wordY = Random.Range(-5.0, 5.0);
11.     wordPosition = Vector3(wordX, wordY, transform.position.z);
12.  
13.     timer += Time.deltaTime;
14.     if(timer >= 1.0)
15.     {
16.         Debug.Log("spawning");
17.         Spawnword();
18.         timer = 0.0;
19.     }
20. }
21. function Spawnword ()
22. {
23.     wordClone = Instantiate(word, wordPosition, transform.rotation);
24. }

 

Use InvokeRepeating instead.

--Eric

 

Eric is right. Use invokeRepeating. It will save you tons of time!

 

Thanks, this helps a lot!