Swift - update the scene to run the gameloop after making a segue

See more:

game

Xcode

Swift

Hey there.

I'm a newbie to Swift and I'm looking for some help. Please forgive any rookie mistakes.

I'm currently running an app that uses the following update method to move a piece on the board that starts moving from the beginning of the game:

 override func update(_ currentTime: TimeInterval) {
    if (currTime == nil) { currTime = Date() }
    if (NSDate().timeIntervalSince(currTime) > 0.5) {
        shuffle()
        currTime = Date()
    }
}

As a note the func update(_ currentTime: TimeInterval)is called automatically as long as the scene has not been paused and has been presented.

After a player triggers a "GameOver" they are moved by segue to a GameOverViewController. Here, a popUp is shown with a restart game button. I use a global variable to reference back to the original GameViewController from GameOverViewController:

var gameViewController: GameViewController = GameViewController()
When refreshing the game I call the following method:

func setUpLevel() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    // Configure the view.
    print("Going to sul")
    let skView = self.view as! SKView

    // Create and configure the scene.
    scene = GameScene(size: skView.bounds.size)
    scene.scaleMode = .aspectFill

    scene.gameViewController = self

    // Load the level.
    level = Level(filename: "Level_1", scene: scene)
    scene.level = level
    level.viewController = self

    scene.addTiles()

    //Sync the starting score with the game.
    updateLabels()

    // Present the scene.
    skView.presentScene(scene)

    // Start the game.
    beginGame()
}

The problem is, when I transition back to the GameViewController my update method is no longer running, though I am able to control my piece.

What could I do to "restart" my update method so that it is running when the game is refreshed?

Does it have something to do with how I created a new viewController object?

Here is my gameOver() method that causes a transition to the GameOverViewController popUp.

 func gameOver() {
    let gameOverVC = UIStoryboard(name: "Main", bundle: nil).instantiateViewController(withIdentifier: "gameOverID") as! GameOverViewController
    self.addChildViewController(gameOverVC)
    gameOverVC.view.frame = self.view.frame
    self.view.addSubview(gameOverVC.view)
    gameOverVC.didMove(toParentViewController: self)
}

Here is my viewDidLoad in GameViewController for reference:

override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()

    //set global variable to proper object
   gameViewController = self

    // Configure the view.
    print("Going to vdl")
    let skView = self.view as! SKView
    skView.isMultipleTouchEnabled = false

    // Create and configure the scene.
    scene = GameScene(size: skView.bounds.size)
    scene.scaleMode = .aspectFill

    scene.gameViewController = self

    // Load the level.
    level = Level(filename: "Level_1", scene: scene)
    scene.level = level
    level.viewController = self

    scene.addTiles()

    //Sync the starting score with the game.
    updateLabels()

    // Present the scene.
    skView.presentScene(scene)

    // Start the game.
    beginGame()
}

In all, I am looking for a way to update the scene so that the when the segue is made back to the game, it is running.

Thank you for your time.

What I have tried:

Using the viewWillAppear method, moving reference, checking progression to make sure nothing is nil