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In this lesson, you'll change one of the previous features into a new one. In most video games, points and lives are related: one goes up while the other goes down.

/* * In this lesson, you will convert the 'points' into a 'lives' counter * which decreases for each unsuccessful jump and eventually ends the game. */ #include "MakerScreenXVI.h" MakerScreenXVI lcd; byte run0[8] = { //legs in partial stride 0b00000, 0b01100, 0b01100, 0b01100, 0b01110, 0b01100, 0b01010, 0b01010 }; byte run1[8] = { //legs in full stride 0b00000, 0b01100, 0b01100, 0b01111, 0b01100, 0b01100, 0b01010, 0b10001 }; byte wall[8] = { //wall obstacle 0b11111, 0b10101, 0b11111, 0b10001, 0b11111, 0b10101, 0b11111, 0b10001 }; byte crash[8] = { //crashed JumpMan 0b00000, 0b00011, 0b01011, 0b00111, 0b00011, 0b00011, 0b00001, 0b00001 }; //The new icon for the jump part of the animation. byte jump[8] = { //mid-jump icon 0b00110, 0b10110, 0b01100, 0b01111, 0b01110, 0b01011, 0b10000, 0b00000 }; int position = 0; //holds the changing position of the cursor bool runState = 0; //which running animation to draw (0 or 1). int jumpState = 0; //0 ='pre-jump', 1 ='mid jump', 2='post jump' bool buttonState = 0; //will equal 1 after press, 0 after jump completed int wallPosition = 14; //wall can be placed from 0 to 15 /* * Delete the points variable and create a new variable. They are the same * type of variable, but clear variable names are important as the code grows */ int lives = 3;//starting number of lives int animationDuration = 300;//ms between animations of JumpMan's legs int runDuration = 600; //ms between moving JumpMan's position on the screen //Timers to update for each 'level' long animationTimer; long runTimer; void setup() { lcd.begin(); lcd.backlightOn(); lcd.createChar(0, run0); //partial stride character lcd.createChar(1, run1); //full stride character lcd.createChar(2, wall); //wall character in 'slot' 2 of custom characters lcd.createChar(3, crash); //splatted character against the wall lcd.createChar(4, jump); //mid-jump icon pinMode(6,INPUT_PULLUP); //button to trigger jump //Start both timers equal to millis() so that the difference between //millis and the variables is 0. animationTimer = millis(); runTimer = millis(); } void loop() { lcd.setCursor(0,0); lcd.write(4); //draw the jumping icon and the lives count lcd.print(lives); //Set the cursor depending on the state of the character if (jumpState == 0){ lcd.setCursor(position,1); } else if (jumpState == 1){ lcd.setCursor(position,0); } else if (jumpState == 2){ lcd.setCursor(position,1); } if (jumpState == 1){ //if jump has been activated.. lcd.write(4); //draw JumpMan mid-air } else{ lcd.write(runState); //draw the run0 or run1 animation } lcd.setCursor(wallPosition,1); lcd.write(2); //draw wall if ((digitalRead(6) == LOW)&&(jumpState == 0)){ buttonState = 1; //1 means a press is recorded } //Button is unpressed and a jump has been completed if ((digitalRead(6) == HIGH)&&(jumpState == 2)){ jumpState = 0; } // In the timer block for the animation, replace the 300 from // before with the variable animationDuration. if (millis() - animationTimer > animationDuration){ runState = 1 - runState; //draw the next JumpMan animation animationTimer = millis(); lcd.clear(); //clear the LCD to draw a new character } //Replace the 600 ms timer from before with the runDuration variable if (millis() - runTimer > runDuration){ position = position + 1; if (position == 16){ wallPosition = random(3,16); //place wall in column 3 through 15 position = 0; } //if button has been pressed and a jump hasn't been initiated... if ((buttonState == 1)&&(jumpState == 0)){ jumpState = 1; //signal a jump buttonState = 0; //reset button to 'unpressed' in the code } else if (jumpState == 1){ //true if jumpState set to one in the last loop jumpState = 2; //jump is marked as complete } if ((position == wallPosition)&&(jumpState != 1)){//if the jump is missed... drawCrash(); lives = lives - 1; //decrease lives by one with each crash if (lives == 0){ //if all of the lives have been lost... // Clear the LCD and write "Game Over" to it lcd.clear(); lcd.setCursor(4,0); //set cursor near the middle of the screen lcd.print("Game Over"); delay(2000); // Reset all state variables: lives = 3; position = 0; buttonState = 0; runState = 0; /* * Only reset the speed of the runner when the game resets after * all lives are lost. */ //reset the speeds to level one runDuration = 600; animationDuration = 300; } } else if (position == wallPosition){//if the jump is successful... runDuration = runDuration - 50; //speed each position up by 50 ms if (runDuration < 100){//keep runDuration at a minimum of 100 runDuration = 100; } animationDuration = runDuration/2; //Move legs twice per position change } lcd.clear(); runTimer = millis(); } } void drawCrash(){ lcd.clear(); lcd.setCursor(position-1,1); //move cursor one position left of the collision lcd.write(3);//draw 'splatted' JumpMan lcd.setCursor(wallPosition,1); lcd.write(2); //draw the wall delay(1000); // Reset the variables to put the JumpMan back at the starting point position = 0; buttonState = 0; jumpState = 0; } /* * Now your game has a sense of levels and lives. You can see in this * program that lives and points are very closely related. */ // (c) 2017 Let's Start Coding. License: www.letsstartcoding.com/bsdlicense
 

Lives and points are very closely related in your game. In fact, you could probably cut/paste the lives variable into a new place and change a few numbers around (start high and decrease) to implement this feature. If you didn't change the name of the variable, though, you can imagine how confusing it would be for another programmer to look over your code. It wouldn't make sense! Creating the new variable helps keep your thoughts straight.