XCODE - How to update array? - xcode

Question

I'm very new to Xcode/programming and trying to modify existing code
I'm having a small problem where I have an amount of objects (enemies) on the screen at one particular time and cannot redefine their value. I set my enemies to begin with 3 on the screen.
My objective is to change the amount of enemies based on the current score.
I've attached snippets of the code below.
int numberOfEnemies;
if (self.score>=0) {
numberOfEnemies = 3
}
else if (self.score>=100) {
numberOfEnemies = 4
}
// Setup array
enemyArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
for(int i = 0; i < numberOfEnemies; i++) {
[enemyArray addObject:[SpriteHelpers setupAnimatedSprite:self.view numFrames:3
withFilePrefix:#"enemyicon" withDuration:((CGFloat)(arc4random()%2)/3 + 0.5)
ofType:#"png" withValue:0]];
}
enemyView = [enemyArray objectAtIndex:0];
What do I need to do to parse the new value of numberOfEnemies into the array when my score updates?

Answer 1

I'm going to move our conversation into an answer since I don't want it to get too long winded, and I can easily edit and expand on this.
So far, we've established that the reason that you're having issues is that you execute the above code in the viewDidLoad function, which will run at least once when the application is first started. The problem with this is as you've found out, that you arent getting a chance to see a new score, and then update the number of enemies.
I know that game update loops for iOS are usually done in the following structure, but I would recommend finding a tutorial online to get what may be a more efficient/correct way to do it.
From your current structure, I would take the code you have above and create a new function out of it:
-(void) updateDifficulty:(NSTimer *)gameTimer
{
//This can be the code you have above for now
}
Afterwards, inside of your viewDidLoad, I would put the following code:
-(void) viewDidLoad:
{
gameTimer = [NSTimer timerWithTimeInterval:1.0 target:self selector:#selector(updateDifficulty:) userInfo:nil repeats:YES];
[[NSRunLoop mainRunLoop] addTimer:gameTimer forMode:NSDefaultRunLoopMode];
}
What that does is it declares a timer that will keep track of the game time, and with how it was declared, every 1 second it will call the updateDifficulty method. This is the general structure that you want, but again I would highly suggest you check out a game tutorial from Ray Wenderlich for example.
Hope that helps!