unity3d - Traversing a game reel matrix column by column from left to right

Question

I have a 3x5 matrix that acts as a game reel. First, I search through the game symbols that I am interested in (let's call them wild clones) and then I search through their children (to locate the game object that has the animation) and then I activate those animations.

private IEnumerator EnableWilds(float delayBetweenWildsAppear)
{            
    WildSymbol[] wilds = FindObjectsOfType<WildSymbol>();
    GameObject[] symbols = new GameObject[wilds.Length];
    for (int i = 0; i < wilds.Length; i++)
    {
        symbols[i] = wilds[i].gameObject;
    }

    for (int i = 0; i < symbols.Length; i++)
    {
        if ( symbols[i].name.Contains("(Clone)") )
        {
            int reelIndex   = symbols[i].GetComponentInParent<GameReel>().ReelIndex;
            int indexOnReel = symbols[i].GetComponent<WildSymbol>().IndexOnReel;

            // ??

            for (int j = 0; j < symbols[i].transform.childCount; j++)
            {
                if ( symbols[i].transform.GetChild(j).gameObject.name.Contains("MM_wild") )
                {
                    symbols[i].transform.GetChild(j).gameObject.SetActive(true);
                    yield return new WaitForSeconds(delayBetweenWildsAppear);
                }
            }
        }                
    }
}

I started thinking about how I can activate those wilds starting from the top left corner, and coming down the reel and moving on to the next reel and animating the wilds from top to bottom, etc...

So, I realized I need to get each symbol's reel index (i.e. column number) and index on reel (i.e. position on the reel) so I go Reel1 and then wild clone 1 and 2 and 3, and then Reel2 followed by wild clone 1 and 2 and 3, and so on...

I am trying to do this where I have put a // ?? but at this point, I am a bit lost, conceptually. I cannot figure out how to perform tghis traversal.

Could someone please help me with this?

Answer 1

Here is how I solved it myself, and then simplified it:

private IEnumerator DisableWilds(float delayBetweenWildsDisappear)
{            
    WildSymbol[] wilds = FindObjectsOfType<WildSymbol>();

    wilds = wilds.Where( (item, index) => item.name.Contains("(Clone)")      )
                 .OrderBy( x => x.GetComponent<WildSymbol>().IndexOnReel     )
                 .OrderBy( x => x.GetComponentInParent<GameReel>().ReelIndex )
                 .ToArray();

    for (int i = 0; i < wilds.Length; i++)
    {
        for (int j = 0; j < wilds[i].transform.childCount; j++)
        {
            if (wilds[i].transform.GetChild(j).gameObject.name.Contains("MM_wild"))
            {
                wilds[i].transform.GetChild(j).gameObject.SetActive(false);

                yield return new WaitForSeconds(delayBetweenWildsDisappear);
            }
        }
    }
}