Layer for pause menu

Question

I'm trying to make a pause menu (like this), but if I use the same layer, I can't interact with the scene when it's paused (I guess?!). Everywhere I looked for "pause menu", people said to use another layer. I tried to do it a million times, but it doesn't work (or maybe I'm the one who doesn't know) =(

Thats what I've done so far:

**Declaring**

var gameLayer = SKNode()
var pauseLayer = SKNode()

var gameStarted = Bool()

var Ground = SKSpriteNode()
var Character = SKSpriteNode()

var pauseButton = SKSpriteNode()
var playButton = SKSpriteNode()


**Setup functions**

func setupGround(){

    //Ground
    Ground = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "Ground")
    Ground.setScale(0.5)
    Ground.position = CGPoint(x: self.frame.width / 2, y: 0)
    Ground.zPosition = 1

    Ground.physicsBody = SKPhysicsBody(rectangleOfSize: Ground.size)
    Ground.physicsBody?.categoryBitMask = PhysicsCategory.Ground
    Ground.physicsBody?.collisionBitMask = PhysicsCategory.Character
    Ground.physicsBody?.contactTestBitMask = PhysicsCategory.Character
    Ground.physicsBody?.affectedByGravity = false
    Ground.physicsBody?.dynamic = false
}
func setupCharacter(){

    //Character
    Character = SKSpriteNode(imageNamed: "Character")
    Character.size = CGSize (width: 60, height: 40)
    Character.position = CGPoint(x: self.frame.width / 2 - Character.frame.width - 100, y: self.frame.height / 2)
    Character.zPosition = 2

    Character.physicsBody = SKPhysicsBody(circleOfRadius: Character.frame.height / 2.5)
    Character.physicsBody?.categoryBitMask = PhysicsCategory.Character
    Character.physicsBody?.collisionBitMask = PhysicsCategory.Ground
    Character.physicsBody?.contactTestBitMask = PhysicsCategory.Ground
    Character.physicsBody?.affectedByGravity = false
    Character.physicsBody?.dynamic = true
    Character.physicsBody?.allowsRotation = false
}

func setupPauseButton (){

    //Pause
    pauseButton = SKSpriteNode (imageNamed: "pause")
    pauseButton.setScale(0.25)
    pauseButton.position = CGPoint(x: self.frame.width / 10, y: self.frame.height / 1.5)
    //pauseButton.zPosition = 3
}
func setupPlayButton(){

    //Play
    playButton = SKSpriteNode (imageNamed: "play")
    playButton.setScale(0.15)
    playButton.position = CGPoint(x: self.frame.width / 10, y: self.frame.height / 1.5)
    //playButton.zPosition = 3
}


**Creating scene**

func createScene(){

    self.physicsWorld.contactDelegate = self

    setupGround()
    gameLayer.addChild(Ground)

    setupCharacter()
    gameLayer.addChild(Character)

    setupPauseButton()
    gameLayer.addChild(pauseButton) //add pauseButton to gameLayer
}

func createPauseLayer(){

    setupPlayButton()
    pauseLayer.addChild(playButton) //add playButton to pauseLayer
}

override func didMoveToView(view: SKView) {
    /* Setup your scene here */

    self.addChild(gameLayer)

    createScene()
    createPauseLayer()
}


**Touches began**

override func touchesBegan(touches: Set<UITouch>, withEvent event: UIEvent?) {
    /* Called when a touch begins */

    //when touch buttons/screen
    for touch in touches {

        let location = touch.locationInNode(self)
        let node = nodeAtPoint(location)

        if node == pauseButton{
            pauseState()
        }

        else if node == playButton{
            playState()
        }

        else {

            if gameStarted == false{  //game didn't start yet

                gameStarted = true

                Character.physicsBody?.affectedByGravity = true //start falling when touch the screen

                //first jump
                Character.physicsBody?.velocity = CGVectorMake(0, 0)
                Character.physicsBody?.applyImpulse(CGVectorMake(0, 15))

                //first sound effect
                //self.runAction(SKAction.playSoundFileNamed("fly.mp3", waitForCompletion: false))
            }
            else{

                //jump
                Character.physicsBody?.velocity = CGVectorMake(0, 0)
                Character.physicsBody?.applyImpulse(CGVectorMake(0, 15))

                //sound effect
                //self.runAction(SKAction.playSoundFileNamed("fly.mp3", waitForCompletion: false))
            }
        }
    }
}

//states
func pauseState(){

    pauseButton.hidden = true //hide pauseButton
    gameLayer.paused = true //pause gameLayer
    self.addChild(pauseLayer) //add pauseLayer
}
func playState(){

    pauseButton.hidden = false //show pauseButton
    pauseLayer.removeFromParent() //remove pauseLayer
    gameLayer.paused = false //unpause gameLayer
}

Answer 1

I would not pause the scene, You should create your game setup like this

SKScene
--GameNode
----All other game related nodes
--OverlayNode
----Your Pause nodes

All the nodes you have besides the pause layer goes into the GameNode All the pause nodes go into the Overlay node

When you are ready to pause your scene, you actually pause your GameNode.

This keeps your scene alive, while your game is paused, so you can use the pause buttons.

When you are playing sounds, play them against nodes inside of the GameNode, not the scene, this way when you pause GameNode, the sounds automatically pause

class GameScene
{
  let pauseLayer = SKNode()
  let gameLayer = SKNode()
  func didMoveToView(view:SKView)
  {
    self.addChild(gameLayer)
  }

  func pauseButton()
  {
    gameLayer.paused = true
    self.physicsWorld.speed = 0;
    self.addChild(pauseLayer)
  }

  func unpauseButton()
  {
    pauseLayer.removeFromParent()
    self.physicsWorld.speed = 1;
    gameLayer.paused = false
  }
}

Answer 2

I think the best way to do it is to follow this stackoverflow answer (in other words to use SKTAudio class) where you can declare a sharedInstance audio library to easily manage all audio actions ..

With this class you can do for example about your question:

var audioManager : SKTAudio = SKTAudio.sharedInstance()

self.audioManager.pauseBackgroundMusic()

Answer 3

I would use AVAudioPlayer, you can start and stop sounds easily. I've never used SKAction.playSoundFileNamed so I'm not sure if it's possible to stop.