Netlogo Flocking model turtles are bored - netlogo

Question

I'm new to programming in Netlogo and I need to adapt the code so that turtles get bored after 50 ticks of flying in formation and make a right turn of 90 degrees. I modified the code while looking at some other examples but I get a very strong hunch it doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Can you please help me or give me a hint? Here's the code in question:
turtles-own [
flockmates ;; agentset of nearby turtles
nearest-neighbor ;; closest one of our flockmates
flock-tick
]
to setup
clear-all
create-turtles population
[ set color yellow - 2 + random 7 ;; random shades look nice
set size 1.5 ;; easier to see
setxy random-xcor random-ycor
set flockmates no-turtles
set flock-tick 0 ]
reset-ticks
end
to go
ask turtles [ flock ]
;; the following line is used to make the turtles
;; animate more smoothly.
repeat 5 [ ask turtles [ fd 1 ] display ]
;; for greater efficiency, at the expense of smooth
;; animation, substitute the following line instead:
;; ask turtles [ fd 1 ]
tick
end
to flock ;; turtle procedure
find-flockmates
if any? flockmates
[ find-nearest-neighbor
ifelse distance nearest-neighbor < minimum-separation
[ separate ]
[ align
cohere ] ]
end
to find-flockmates ;; turtle procedure
set flockmates other turtles in-cone vision 90
end
to find-nearest-neighbor ;; turtle procedure
set nearest-neighbor min-one-of flockmates [distance myself]
end
to flock-timer
if any? flockmates [
set flock-tick 50
while [ flock-tick > 0 ] [
set flock-tick ( flock-tick - 1 ) ]
if flock-tick = 0
[ set heading ( heading - 90 ) ] ]
end
The rest of the code is still the same as the the model in the library.
I must admit I'm not really sure of what I'm doin and the northwestern website is also not very helpfull to me (probably my own fault).
Thanks!

Answer 1

If we add comments to your code, we can see the logic problem.
to flock-timer
if any? flockmates [
;the next line sets `flock-tick` to 50
set flock-tick 50
;the next line sets `flock-tick` to 0
while [flock-tick > 0] [set flock-tick (flock-tick - 1)]
;so the next condition will always be satisfied
if (flock-tick = 0) [
;and so the heading will always be changed
set heading (heading - 90)
]
]
end
You might break things up to make it easier to follow the logic.
to flock-timer ;turtle proc
update-flock-tick
if (flock-tick = 0) [get-bored]
end
to update-flock-ticks ;turtle proc
;you can add additional logic here if you wish
if (flock-tick > 0) [
set flock-tick (flock-tick - 1)
]
end
to get-bored ;turtle proc
set heading (heading + one-of [-90, 90])
end
This is not a complete solution, but it should get you started.