Okay, so today I wanted to mess around with getting a “blank score” – you know, like when you’re starting a game and the score is just zero. Sounds simple, right? It kinda is, but there are a few ways to do it, and I figured I’d walk through what I tried.
The Super Basic Start
First thing I did was just, like, think about what a score even is. It’s a number, duh. So I started with a plain old variable:
I figured that made the most sense. My “score” is just going to be a plain, simple variable. I put the value to zero
Displaying That Zero
Next, I needed to actually see that zero. Just having a variable in the background doesn’t do much. So, this is where it depends on what you’re working with. Are you using a game engine? A website? Just a plain text console? I started with a console, just to keep things ultra-simple:
I then print the socre out.
Making it Look “Blank” (Even Though it’s Zero)
Now, here’s where the “blank” part comes in. Sometimes, you don’t want to see a big “0” at the start. Maybe you want it to look empty, or maybe just have some dashes. Here’s what I played with:
- Just Empty: I literally just didn’t show anything until the score changed. Easy peasy. If the score is still zero, I don’t print anything to the screen.
- Dashes: I used a few dashes, like “—“. This is nice because it shows something is there, but it’s not a number yet. I replaced the ‘0’ with ‘—‘.
- Placeholder Text: I put in something like “Score: ” but without any number after it. This is good if you want some context.
Experimenting
So, after all that, I spent some time just messing around. I tried adding to the score, resetting it, and seeing how the different “blank” options looked. It’s really a matter of taste and what fits your project.
I made a loop. It added 1 to the score every second. I had it stop when the score got to, say, 10. I watched the ‘blank’ part turn into a real score. I set the score back to 0, and the display went back to ‘blank’.
That’s pretty much it! It’s a small thing, but it’s a good starting point for any project where you need to keep track of points. And hey, even simple stuff can be fun to explore!
