How to create a rectangle in Sprite kit using Swift

Question

I'm trying to create a rectangle using swift on Sprite kit, since the rectangle needs to be used as an object in the scene, i assumed that i needed to create a SkSpriteNode, and them give it a size, but it did not worked, this is how i did it:

var barra = SKSpriteNode()
barra.name = "bar"
barra.size = CGSizeMake(300, 100)
barra.color = SKColor.whiteColor()
barra.position = CGPoint(x: 100, y: 100)
self.addChild(barra)

Adding barra to the screen does not change the node counting.

Any help will be appreciated!

Solution 1

You may want to use a SKShapeNode, like this:

var barra = SKShapeNode(rectOfSize: CGSize(width: 300, height: 100))
barra.name = "bar"
barra.fillColor = SKColor.whiteColor()
barra.position = location

self.addChild(barra)

Here's Apple's documentation on SKShapeNode.

Solution 2

The way I was creating the rectangle was not the best, but the problem was the position I was inserting it on the game. This is how I've fixed it:

var barra = SKSpriteNode(color: SKColor.blackColor(), size: CGSizeMake(200, 200))
barra.position = CGPoint(x: CGRectGetMidX(self.frame), y: CGRectGetMidY(self.frame))
barra.zPosition = 9 // zPosition to change in which layer the barra appears.

self.addChild(barra)

Comments

[0x141E]

let barra = SKSpriteNode(color:SKColor.whiteColor(),size:CGSize(300,100)‌​)

[Simon]

SKShapeNodes have very bad performance and they have memory issues. Just using the constructor with size, color is fine in this case.

[Tiago Marinho]

@Simon you're right. You can and should use SKSpriteNode instead of SKShapeNode when you are able to, due to performance, but by using SKShapeNode you are stating what you want to do more clearly (which is create a shape), and at first code clarity should be your biggest concern.