Advice needed on best practise in bigger projects

hello,

I was wondering for a best practise for the following example:

Player (sprite) has animation Idle and Running.

Example:

if sees enemy: play animation running

if does not see enemy: play animation idle

If player is running: play animation running

if player is not running: play animation idle

Now I think: I also want a hit animation.

The only way I know to edit the code (and insert the hit animation) is to use global or instance variables to make a clear seperation of what a player is doing and when an animation to play.

I would add:

if player overlaps SomeSprite: play animation hitting.

My example from above would change to:

if sees enemy, and does not overlap SomeSprite: play animation running

if does not see enemy: play animation idle

If player is runningand does not overlap SomeSprite: play animation running

if player is not running: play animation idle

By adding something new in the same "area", I have to edit all existing events that have to do with this. (because it effects eachother)

Can this be done easier/more efficient?

Use a Global Variable to determine what animation is being played as a trigger/

Global Variable: Player.Action

Add that as a condition to your event:

if sees enemy: play animation running

if does not see enemy: play animation idle

Set Player.Action to 1

If player is running: play animation running

if player is not running: play animation idle

Set Player.Action to 2

Now you can define which action is happening for other events.

Thank you, I will look into that.