Recap: FindNearest

Part of the Game Architecture in Unity section of Coddy's Unity journey. Lesson 36 of 50.

Challenge

Medium

A cleaning robot collects gems, then goes to charge. Gem and ChargePad are empty marker scripts (ready), and the robot has MoveTo(point), which steps it toward a point at speed and returns true once it is there.

In Helpers.cs, write a static class Helpers with a generic method FindNearest<T>(IEnumerable<T> items, Vector3 from) for any component type. It returns the item whose position is nearest to from, or null when there are no items.
In Robot.cs, every frame the robot heads for the nearest gem in the scene, from where it is now, and destroys the gem when it gets there.
When no gems are left, the robot heads for the nearest ChargePad. On arrival it logs Charging once and stays there.

Use FindNearest for both the gems and the pads. Press Play, watch the robot, then Check.

Try it yourself

using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

// Helpers.FindNearest<T>: the item nearest to a point, or null

All lessons in Game Architecture in Unity

1Components, Not Hierarchies

Small Components A Base Enemy Script Abstract Components Components Working Together Recap: Modular Turret

4Serialized Data

Serializable Classes Lists in the Inspector Enums in the Inspector Recap: Loot Table

7State Machines

States as Classes A State Machine Transitions Enemy Brains Recap: Door States

10Project: Arena Survivor

2Interfaces in Unity

IDamageable Interfaces and TryGetComponent GetComponents Recap: Interact Key

5ScriptableObjects

Data Assets Weapon Stats Shared Settings Waves as Data Recap: Item Database

8Reusable Code

Extension Methods A Generic Singleton Generic HelpersRecap: FindNearest

11Final Challenges

Tower Defense Lite Crafting Bench Boss Fight

3Events

C# Events in Unity Subscribe in OnEnable UnityEvent Fields Events Drive the UI Recap: Achievement Popup

6Saving with JSON

JsonUtility Save the Game Load and Defaults Recap: Save Slots

9Object Pooling

Why Pool Objects A Pool with a Queue Unity's ObjectPool Recap: Bullet Pool