How to animate and move player node simultaneously, using sprite kit scene? - swift

Question

I'm working on a small ios game with this joystick library implemented onto it. My issue is after calculating the direction the joystick is going, I want the character to change to a running animation (I implement the animation using an .sks file). It almost works except after the animation has begun, it stops and doesn't finish until the player lets go at the stick. Some of my code is down below. Any help is appreciated.
Function to setup stick:
func setupJoystick() {
addChild(analogJoyStick)
analogJoyStick.trackingHandler = { [unowned self] data in
self.thePlayer.position = CGPoint(x: self.thePlayer.position.x + (data.velocity.x * 0.04), y: self.thePlayer.position.y + (data.velocity.y * 0.04))
let degrees = self.analogJoyStick.data.angular * 360 / (2 * .pi)
if degrees > 0 {
let walkAnimation:SKAction = SKAction(named: "WalkLeft")!
self.thePlayer.run(SKAction.repeatForever(walkAnimation), withKey: "animating")
} else if degrees < 0 {
let walkAnimation:SKAction = SKAction(named: "WalkRight")!
self.thePlayer.run(SKAction.repeatForever(walkAnimation), withKey: "animating")
}
}
analogJoyStick.beginHandler = { [unowned self] in
let degrees = self.analogJoyStick.data.angular * 360 / (2 * .pi)
if degrees > 0 {
let walkAnimation:SKAction = SKAction(named: "WalkLeft")!
self.thePlayer.run(SKAction.repeatForever(walkAnimation), withKey: "animating")
} else if degrees < 0 {
let walkAnimation:SKAction = SKAction(named: "WalkRight")!
self.thePlayer.run(SKAction.repeatForever(walkAnimation), withKey: "animating")
}
}
analogJoyStick.stopHandler = { [unowned self] in
self.thePlayer.removeAction(forKey: "animating")
}
}
Here is a visual of the coding:
Spritekit Demo

Answer 1

I read the joystick library instructions and saw two methods (handlers) you can use:
var beginHandler: (() -> Void)? // before move
var stopHandler: (() -> Void)? // after move
In beginHandler() add the (repeated) walk animation:
let walkAnimation: SKAction = SKAction(named: theAnimation)!
thePlayer.run(SKAction.repeatForever(walkAnimation), withKey: "animating")
And remove the action in stopHandler()
thePlayer.removeAction(forKey: "animating")
Or using the closures (also from the documentation):
joystick.beginHandler = { [unowned self] in
let walkAnimation: SKAction = SKAction(named: ".sks")!
self.thePlayer.run(SKAction.repeatForever(walkAnimation), withKey: "animating")
}
joystick.stopHandler = { [unowned self] in
self.thePlayer.removeAction(forKey: "animating")
}