Why are my target-following objects rotated the wrong way?

Question

I writing a script that would make my players reach a target destination. It looks like this so far:

private void MoveTowardsGoal() {
    if (Vector3.Distance (reachGoalTarget.transform.position, transform.position) > 2.0f) {
        rDirection = (reachGoalTarget.transform.position - transform.position).normalized;
        if (rAcceleration < rMaxSpeed) {
            rAcceleration += 0.5f;       
        }
        rVelocity = rDirection * Time.deltaTime * rAcceleration;
        transform.Translate (rVelocity,Space.World);
    }
}

It works fine: The objects move towards the destination point. However, I want them to move looking at the target in the forward direction (forward z axis). Currently they move with their x axis facing front.

I tried a simple rotation inside Start() like transform.LookAt(reachGoalTarget.transform). With this, they look in the forward direction but then they completely move off their initial positions by rotating themselves to reach the goal.

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

The function Start is executed only once, when the script is first activated. It doesn't get called over and over again like Update(), that's why the LookAt doesn't work. Try putting a transform.LookAt inside the MoveTowardsGoal function and check for the objects position, if it reaches its goal revert the rotation back to its original.