I have been experimenting with various possibilities for keeping track of objects that a user collects throughout the game. In response to my original question, Plinky suggested two approaches: global variables for relatively simple scenarios and arrays for more complicated collection scenarios.
I understand how to solve this with global variables, but I'm struggling with implementation using arrays. As you can see from the attached file, I am using two arrays. arrayInventory is a sort of 'map' of the inventory slots on the final page. It includes a slot number and the x/y coordinates where sprites should be placed when displayed in the inventory. Meanwhile, arrayCollection is an empty array that I am using to store the UID of collected sprites.
Everything goes swimmingly until I reach the final stage of my game. Using the debugger, I can see that my collection array has been populated with the correct UID, but I cannot figure out how to spawn an object based on this UID information. Is there anything I can do with the UID at this stage?
I realize that it might be illogical to spawn an object with UID since it references a *unique* identifying number for the sprite. But it seems that I should be able to reposition the sprite with the UID if it hasn't actually been destroyed.
(As a side note, I can imagine another approach that keeps track of things by using sprites that have multiple frames and named animations, but I want to figure out the UID thing first.)
I hope I'm posting this before everyone goes to bed across the pond. :) The file is posted at:
transmedia.trinity.edu/~adelwich/temp/array-inventory-by-uid.c3p
Thanks!