Lives Counter

First we'll need to add a global variable to the top of our program called lives. Start it at five.

int lives = 5;

Next, we'll want to display this in our program. Add code to your render() method to display it:

textSize(24);

fill(255);

text("Lives: " + lives, 50, 100);

Respawning the Player
We're going to override the die() method for the player class. This allows us to only remove the player from the game when it is out of lives. When the player still has lives, we'll simply move it, restore health, and reduce the life counter.

void die()

{

if(lives > 0)

{

x = width / 2;

y = height - 200;

curHealth = maxHealth;

lives--;

}

else

{

curHealth = 0;

isAlive = false;

}

}

Why invulnerability on respawn?

This is an optional step. All projects benefit from it, but it's only *required* if your player does not have a health system implemented.

A common problem in this kind of game is that the player might respawn on top of a bullet or in a dangerous location. To make things more easier for our players, we'll make their ship invulnerable for a few seconds.

The Timer

We'll follow create an invulnerability timer with a simple rule:

• If invulnerability timer is zero, it means the player can take damage

• Otherwise, the player is invulnerable
  

At the top of the player class, we'll create an invulnerability timer.

int invulnTimer = 0;

In the die() method, we'll need to add a line to set invulnerability to some value each time the player respawns.

invulnTimer = 120;

In the act() method, we'll decrease that time by one so long as it is greater than zero.

if(invulnTimer > 0)

{

invulnTimer--;

}