Creating potatoes

Let's begin where we left off:

function SpawnPotato(position) {
    -- We will finish this in the next step!
}

while true {
    wait(1)
    position = Vector3.new(math.random(-100,100), 100, math.random(-100,100))
    SpawnPotato(position)
}

---

The first step in spawning a potato is creating its model. We will create a ball with a mesh applied to it that looks like a potato. For this, we can use the Instance.new() function.

function SpawnPotato(position) {
    newPotato = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
    newPotato.Shape = "Ball"
    newPotato.Position = position
    newMesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh", newPotato)
    newMesh.Scale = Vector3.new(1.5, 1.5, 1.5)
    newMesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://477543051"
    newMesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://477543054"
    Debris.AddItem(newPotato, 60)
}

while true {
    wait(1)
    position = Vector3.new(math.random(-100,100), 100, math.random(-100,100))
    SpawnPotato(position)
}

Let's break it down:

• newPotato = Instance.new("Part", workspace.Potatoes) creates a new Part and puts it in workspace.

• newPotato.Shape = "Ball" and newPotato.Position = position sets the new part's shape to Ball and sets its position to the position we generated.

• newMesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh", newPotato) creates a new SpecialMesh (part's appearance) and puts it in the part.

• newMesh.Scale = Vector3.new(1.5, 1.5, 1.5), newMesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://477543051" and newMesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://477543054" set the mesh's model to be a potato.

• Debris.AddItem(newPotato, 60) will delete the potato after 60 seconds, in case it's not picked up by anyone.

Great, now we have potatoes falling in a loop. But the potatoes can't currently be picked up. Let's fix it.

First, after the potato is created, we will need to listen to the event when the potato is touched:

function SpawnPotato(position) {
    newPotato = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
    newPotato.Shape = "Ball"
    newPotato.Position = position
    newMesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh", newPotato)
    newMesh.Scale = Vector3.new(1.5, 1.5, 1.5)
    newMesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://477543051"
    newMesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://477543054"
    Debris.AddItem(newPotato, 60)
    
    event newPotato.Touched(otherPart) {
        
    }
}

while true {
    wait(1)
    position = Vector3.new(math.random(-100,100), 100, math.random(-100,100))
    SpawnPotato(position)
}

However, the Touched event is triggered when anything touches the potato, including non-players and the map, such as the baseplate. To prevent this, we can check if the potato was touched by a player's limb:

function SpawnPotato(position) {
    newPotato = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
    newPotato.Shape = "Ball"
    newPotato.Position = position
    newMesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh", newPotato)
    newMesh.Scale = Vector3.new(1.5, 1.5, 1.5)
    newMesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://477543051"
    newMesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://477543054"
    Debris.AddItem(newPotato, 60)
    
    event newPotato.Touched(otherPart) {
        if otherPart.Parent:FindFirstChild("Humanoid") {
            sound = Instance.new("Sound", newPotato)
	    sound.SoundId = "rbxassetid://3125624765"
	    sound.PlayOnRemove = true
	    newPotato:Destroy()
	}
    }
}

while true {
    wait(1)
    position = Vector3.new(math.random(-100,100), 100, math.random(-100,100))
    SpawnPotato(position)
}

Let's explain how this works. A player's character is actually a model comprised of limbs and a Humanoid object which is what makes the model a character that can walk, jump, die, etc. Only characters have the Humanoid object, therefore if the touched part's parent has a Humanoid, it is a limb belonging to a character.

At the moment, the potato is immediately deleted from the game world with :Destroy() to give the effect that it was "collected", and a "Beep" sound is created and played to alert the collector about it.

Nice potatoes!

In honor of my friend NicePotato, who helped me a lot with the Powerlang project, let's add a second type of potato into our game, called the "nice potato". It will be a bigger and brighter version of the normal potato, and in the future, it will give more points to the player that collects it.

First, let's implement a 2% chance of getting a nice potato into our SpawnPotato function:

function SpawnPotato(position) {
    isPotatoNice = false
    if math.random(1,50) == 1 {
	isPotatoNice = true
    }
    
...

As you noticed, we have added a new variable isPotatoNice to the function, which is false by default, but using an if block, it has a 2% (1/50) chance of becoming true.

Now let's make the part appear bigger and brighter if isPotatoNice is true.

function SpawnPotato(position) {
	isPotatoNice = false
	if math.random(1,50) == 1 {
		isPotatoNice = true
	}
	newPotato = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
	newPotato.Shape = "Ball"
	newPotato.Size = Vector3.new(1,1,1)
	newPotato.Position = position
	newMesh = Instance.new("SpecialMesh", newPotato)
	newMesh.Scale = Vector3.new(1.5, 1.5, 1.5)
	newMesh.MeshId = "rbxassetid://477543051"
	newMesh.TextureId = "rbxassetid://477543054"
	Debris.AddItem(newPotato, 60)
	if isPotatoNice {
		newMesh.VertexColor = Vector3.new(2,2,2)
		newPotato.Size = Vector3.new(4,4,4)
		newMesh.Scale = Vector3.new(6,6,6)
		Instance.new("Sparkles", newPotato)
	}

...

Note the new if statement at the end. It will check if the potato is indeed nice, and if yes, then:

• It will set the mesh's vertex color to 2,2,2 (essentially doubling its brightness)

• It will increase the size of the potato by 4 times

• It will add sparkles to the potato

By now, you should be able to see potatoes and nice potatoes rain from the sky.

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But the game isn't fun without points. Let's add a system where players get rewarded points for collecting potatoes.