Make It Yours

Lesson 19 of 19 in Coddy's Unity Game: Brick Breaker course.

The last feature is a best score that lasts between games. PlayerPrefs keeps small values on the player's device: PlayerPrefs.GetInt(key, 0) reads one, 0 when nothing is saved yet, and PlayerPrefs.SetInt(key, value) saves one. Play Again reloads the scene, and the new GameManager loads the best again.

Then the game is yours to tune. Every number that sets how it plays is a field with a starting value in the code, and the player's Inspector is read-only, so change them there:

Ball: speed (9) and minVertical (0.3).
Paddle: speed (14), wideFactor (1.6) and wideSeconds (8).
GameManager: lives (3) and dropChance (0.15).

Challenge

Hard

Keep a best score between games, then tune the game.

In GameManager, add public TMP_Text bestText; and int best;; Start() begins with best = PlayerPrefs.GetInt("BestScore", 0);
ShowHud() also sets bestText.text = "Best: " + best;
When the last life goes with score > best, set best, PlayerPrefs.SetInt("BestScore", best); and call ShowHud().
Tune speeds, lives and dropChance where they are declared in the code.

Press Play and set a best: it stays after Play Again. Then Check.

Try it yourself

using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
using TMPro;

public class GameManager : MonoBehaviour
{
    public static GameManager Instance;

    public Brick brickPrefab;
    public Transform wall;
    public string[] levels;
    public float spacingX = 1.75f;
    public float spacingY = 0.75f;
    public float topY = 6f;

    public Ball ball;
    public int lives = 3;
    public TMP_Text scoreText;
    public TMP_Text livesText;
    public GameObject gameOverPanel;
    public GameObject[] powerUps;
    public float dropChance = 0.15f;

    int score;
    int level;
    int bricksLeft;
    List<Ball> balls = new List<Ball>();

    void Awake()
    {
        Instance = this;
    }

    void Start()
    {
        balls.Add(ball);
        BuildLevel(0);
        ShowHud();
    }

    void BuildLevel(int index)
    {
        level = index;
        string[] rows = levels[index].Split('/');
        for (int row = 0; row < rows.Length; row++)
        {
            string line = rows[row];
            float left = -(line.Length - 1) * spacingX / 2f;
            for (int col = 0; col < line.Length; col++)
            {
                char c = line[col];
                if (c == '.') continue;
                Vector3 pos = new Vector3(left + col * spacingX, topY - row * spacingY, 0f);
                Brick brick = Instantiate(brickPrefab, pos, Quaternion.identity, wall);
                brick.SetHits(c - '0');
                bricksLeft++;
            }
        }
    }

    public void BrickBroken(Brick brick)
    {
        score += brick.points;
        bricksLeft--;
        ShowHud();
        if (Random.value < dropChance)
        {
            GameObject prefab = powerUps[Random.Range(0, powerUps.Length)];
            Instantiate(prefab, brick.transform.position, Quaternion.identity);
        }
        if (bricksLeft == 0)
        {
            balls[0].ResetToPaddle();
            BuildLevel((level + 1) % levels.Length);
        }
    }

    public void BallLost(Ball lost)
    {
        if (balls.Count > 1)
        {
            balls.Remove(lost);
            Destroy(lost.gameObject);
            return;
        }
        lives--;
        ShowHud();
        if (lives == 0)
        {
            gameOverPanel.SetActive(true);
            lost.gameObject.SetActive(false);
        }
        else lost.ResetToPaddle();
    }

    public void SplitBall()
    {
        Ball source = balls[0];
        Ball left = Instantiate(source, source.transform.position, Quaternion.identity);
        left.Launch(new Vector3(-0.6f, 1f, 0f));
        balls.Add(left);
        Ball right = Instantiate(source, source.transform.position, Quaternion.identity);
        right.Launch(new Vector3(0.6f, 1f, 0f));
        balls.Add(right);
    }

    public void PlayAgain()
    {
        SceneManager.LoadScene(SceneManager.GetActiveScene().buildIndex);
    }

    void ShowHud()
    {
        scoreText.text = "Score: " + score;
        livesText.text = "Lives: " + lives;
    }
}