Question

Hey guys I’m trying to run a loop with a setInterval but I would like each element in the array to use a random interval instead of the entire array doing so… this is the code I am using so far

setInterval(function() {
        for ( var j = 0; j < aliens.length; j++ ){
            aliens[j].shootIt();
        }
    }, 1000+Math.floor(Math.random() * 4000)
);

but I’m kind of stuck here… Thanks in advance!!!

Answer 1

Move the for loop to outside the interval, then call a function on each iteration to have a fixed j for each interval instance.

var shootIntervals = []; //this goes in the "global" context of your game

for ( var j = 0; j < aliens.length; j++ ) {
    intervals(j);
}

function intervals(j) {
    shootIntervals[j] = setInterval(function() {
        if (!aliens[j]) return;
        aliens[j].shootIt();
    }, 1000+Math.floor(Math.random() * 4000));
}

//clearInterval(shootIntervals[j]) when they're destroyed

This will give a static random interval to each item in the array.

Fiddle