Get to the script

Related to my last blog post regarding accessing setter methods of a prefab script, originally, I was accessing the script through a class field of type Transform, which was attached to a enemy bullet prefab. To get access to the script, I needed to call GetComponent from the returned reference by Instantiate. See the Gist below.



From what I've been told by internet anonymouses, GetComponent is an expensive call to make, especially given the high frequency that fireBullet gets called. A better alternative? Change the class field type from Transform to the script class (EnemyBullet, in my case).



Now you avoid the GetComponent call and get a direct reference to the script. This works in my case because the Enemy class only really needs reference to the EnemyBullet script of the particular prefab. It doesn't use the prefab's transform or other components. If you have a case where you're accessing multiple components of a particular prefab, then you can't avoid the calls to GetComponent. However, figure out which component you use the most and set that as the class field type, to reduce the number of GetComponent calls you make.