How do I "link" objects in the Layout editor?

Hi,

I'm looking for a way to tie or link objects to other in the Layout editor.

For example, let's say I have a Switch object and a Door object. I'm looking for a way to say "this switch is linked to this door".

Something like this:

Switch1 opens Door1

Switch2 opens Door2

Switch3 and Switch4 open Door3

At first I was thinking of using the UID of the doors in a instance variable inside the switch, but I've read somewhere that the UID of objects can change everytime new objects are added in the Layout editor.

Any advices?

instance variables, for example a switch could have "doorid" as variable. Set it to the UID of the door you want it to open.

Then upon the event of the door to open

door-open-condition

door pick by unique ID = switch.doorid: open door

this way only the door with the fitting ID is opened.

If you need one switch to open more doors, use an array or give doors a specific switchID and then instead of picking by UID, pick doors by comparison door.switchid = switch.doorid

Edit: if you dislike using the UID, use the instance variables on both door and switch to connect them like I explained in the last part

You could use variables for the switches. Then conditions to make the door "open"

Well, that's what I wanted to do first, but I read elsewhere in the forum that UID often change when we add stuff to a layout. I wouldn't want to carefully copy paste the UID of all my doors into my switches, only to discover later that the UID of all my doors have randomly changed and I need to rewire them all...

Also, just to help a bit, is there a good tutorial somewhere about how to work with UID (in general). I'm not sure I understand how "pick by unique ID" is supposed to work.

You could give them both the same instance variable. So

on switch touched

for each door

door compare instance variable = switch.variable

• open door.

Ah I see. You mean that I would create my own instance variables that would act as UID, but that I would control by hand.

Man, it's so simple. Why didn't I think of that!

For those interested, here's how I did it:

Instance variable "doorID" inside the door and "switchID" inside the switch.

Event:

Player: On collision with Switch

System: For each Door (This is important, otherwise, it won't work)

Switch: switchID = Door.doorID

Action:

set variable Door.open to True

I have a similar setup and did more or less the same thing (door has SwitchID variable that will hold switch's UID and vice versa), but I did an extra step to skip the tedium and error-proneness of entering all the IDs by hand.

I made an invisible sprite called "linker" and placed it in my layouts connecting the switches to the doors. Then on layout start, I loop through all the linkers, pick the door and switch that it overlaps, and set the ID variables there.

Then I delete the linker sprite since it's unused except at initialization. This was handy for me since I'm a more visual person, so being able to see in the editor which doors were linked to which switches was helpful.