A Buy Pad

Lesson 7 of 18 in Coddy's Roblox Game: Factory Tycoon course.

Cash is for spending. The blue pads in front of the belt each buy something; the first buys a second dropper. A pad knows its price from an attribute, Price, set when the world was built.

The item it buys waits in ServerStorage.TycoonItems, already in the right place. Buying moves it into the factory's Built folder, which puts it in the world, and moves the pad out to ServerStorage, where nobody can step on it. Moved, not destroyed: a later lesson brings pads back.

if cash.Value >= price then
	cash.Value -= price
	pad.Parent = ServerStorage
	items.Dropper2.Parent = tycoon.Built
end

Every limb that touches the pad fires Touched, a few times in the same moment. After the first one buys, the pad is no longer in tycoon.Buttons, so checking that first stops a double purchase.

Challenge

Medium

Make the first pad work:

Get ServerStorage, and keep local items = ServerStorage.TycoonItems near the top.
When a player touches tycoon.Buttons.Dropper2Pad: do nothing unless they are the owner and the pad is still in tycoon.Buttons. If their Cash is at least the pad's Price attribute, take the price, move the pad to ServerStorage, move items.Dropper2 into tycoon.Built, and start it.

Press Play, earn 30 Cash and buy it, then Check.

Try it yourself

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local CollectionService = game:GetService("CollectionService")
local Debris = game:GetService("Debris")
local Settings = require(game.ReplicatedStorage.Settings)

local tycoon = workspace.Tycoon
local owner = nil

print("Ore is worth " .. Settings.OreValue .. " Cash")

-- Every player gets Cash on the leaderboard
Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
	local leaderstats = Instance.new("Folder")
	leaderstats.Name = "leaderstats"
	leaderstats.Parent = player

	local cash = Instance.new("IntValue")
	cash.Name = "Cash"
	cash.Parent = leaderstats
end)

-- The sign above the factory
local gui = Instance.new("SurfaceGui")
gui.Parent = tycoon.Sign

local signLabel = Instance.new("TextLabel")
signLabel.Name = "Status"
signLabel.Size = UDim2.fromScale(1, 1)
signLabel.BackgroundColor3 = Color3.fromRGB(25, 25, 35)
signLabel.TextColor3 = Color3.fromRGB(255, 255, 255)
signLabel.TextScaled = true
signLabel.Text = "Step on the green pad to claim this factory"
signLabel.Parent = gui

local function setSign(text)
	signLabel.Text = text
end

-- Ore: a small part worth Cash, dropped under a dropper
local function dropOre(dropper)
	local ore = Instance.new("Part")
	ore.Name = "Ore"
	ore.Size = Vector3.new(1, 1, 1)
	ore.Color = Color3.fromRGB(150, 150, 160)
	ore.Position = dropper.Position - Vector3.new(0, 2.5, 0)
	ore:SetAttribute("Value", Settings.OreValue)
	if math.random() < Settings.GoldChance then
		ore.Color = Color3.fromRGB(255, 200, 40)
		ore.Material = Enum.Material.Neon
		ore:SetAttribute("Value", Settings.OreValue * 5)
	end
	ore.Parent = workspace
	Debris:AddItem(ore, 20)
end

-- A dropper runs one loop, however often it is started
local function startDropper(dropper)
	if dropper:GetAttribute("Running") then
		return
	end
	dropper:SetAttribute("Running", true)
	task.spawn(function()
		while dropper:IsDescendantOf(workspace) do
			dropOre(dropper)
			task.wait(Settings.DropInterval)
		end
		dropper:SetAttribute("Running", nil)
	end)
end

-- The conveyor carries whatever rests on it
tycoon.Conveyor.AssemblyLinearVelocity = Vector3.new(Settings.BeltSpeed, 0, 0)

-- The collector turns ore into Cash
tycoon.Collector.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
	if hit.Name == "Ore" then
		local value = hit:GetAttribute("Value")
		hit:Destroy()
		if owner then
			owner.leaderstats.Cash.Value += value
		end
	end
end)

-- Claiming: the first player to step on the pad owns the factory
local claimPad = tycoon.ClaimPad
claimPad.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
	local player = Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)
	if player and not owner then
		owner = player
		claimPad.Color = Color3.fromRGB(120, 120, 120)
		claimPad.Material = Enum.Material.SmoothPlastic
		setSign(player.Name .. "'s Factory")
		for _, dropper in CollectionService:GetTagged("Dropper") do
			if dropper:IsDescendantOf(workspace) then
				startDropper(dropper)
			end
		end
	end
end)