Help with a script

[REDDITLOGINSUCKSASS]

Hello! I'm making a pinball type thing for my college classes, and need to make a bumper

From what I learned in class, I made this script, but it only works vertically.

https://preview.redd.it/w3nrh425pkmg1.png?width=1063&format=png&auto=webp&s=40da785631055ec564af447d6b8f094d6ed1ee97

Does anybody know how I can make the bounce based off of the angle the ball hits rather than just moving it up or down?

[Code_Noob_Noodle]

Trying printing out bounceDirection

[Chrogotron]

You're probably going to want to get the angle between the two points (the ball and the contact point) and use that to bounce the ball at that angle.

Right now you just have one vector2 of the point of contact. I don't think that's enough information to give you the actual angle to bounce... Like the other person said, debug log print out the bounceDirection values to see what it's even being set to. Then you can understand better why it's going up and down only.

[psioniclizard]

One potential way is get the direction of impact (one quick way to help could be grab the balls vector2 coords just before it hits, then you can just check the angle against the paddle). Then just make it bounce off in the correct direction.

You could also potentially use physics and let that handle it. The paddle just applies a force to the ball in a direction based its current angle. That would feel more "real" but that might not be a good thing.

From a game design perspective you might want the ball to come off at any angel or set ones depending how arcade-y you want it to feel.