Le_Dieu_du_fond_du_Jardin/docs/items.md

Items

Items are objects that have several attributes specifically designed to make the player character interact with them, using actions defined in their attached .esc script. There are a few different ways to design an item in the editor, but an item saved as a separate scene an instanced into the room typically has the following anatomy:

• [item] - a Node2D which an item.gd script attached to, and to which the properties you want to use for this item. This can be an Area2D or a Sprite, in most cases.
  • "area" - an Area2D, in case your item root is Sprite.
    • "CollisionShape2D" or "CollisionPolygon2D" - The name of this does not matter, it's simply what Area2D expects to find.
  • "iteract_pos" - a Position2D which determines the position the player character will walk to before interacting with the item
  • "animation" - an AnimationPlayer used to change properties of the item by using the set_state .esc command.
  • "_focus_in" - a Sprite to show when the item has focus
  • "_focus_out" - a Sprite to show when the item does not have focus
  • "_pressed" - a Sprite to show when the item is clicked

Often you will find that you don't need to add all of these child nodes.

Interaction

The item.gd script exports the action variable. This is the default action for this object. If you wish, you may also configure a global default action in escoria/platform/default_object_action. Now you can leave this empty in the editor and have the player always perform this action by default.

It may be that you want these default actions to require double-clicks. This is configured in escoria/platform/default_object_action_requires_doubleclick. It applies to both the global and local default actions.

An item-local default action overrides a global default action, as you'd expect.

Interact angle

Items have an interact_angle variable. This defines the angle to which the player turns to when interacting.

The unit is counter-clockwise degrees: 0 faces the camera, 90 the right, etc.

You can leave it at -1 to have Escoria resolve the interaction angle for you. This is usually the easiest way, but sometimes item positions can be in slightly unintuitive coordinates, so if your game doesn't feel right, you can always set a value here.

Z-index

By default every room in the game is considered to have faux "depth". This is done by setting the z-index based on the y-coordinate.

If you want things to be flat or manually controlled, you can use Godot's z-indexes by unchecking the Dynamic Z Index checkbox. At least for certain inventory configurations, this is something you must do. If your items don't show up on the HUD, uncheck!

The system isn't perfect, so sometimes you may have to use an AnimationPlayer to tweak the z-index given by Godot. Likewise if your item consists of many nodes, they will have different positions, so some of them may need manual tweaking.

Background items

There are also times when you want to enable the player to interact with items which are not separate scenes, but drawn directly on the background. For such use cases, you will typically use an Area2D to frame the item, with an optional click mask, and no "area" child node.

• [item] - an Area2D with an item.gd script attached and the properties you want to use for this item
  • CollisionPolygon2D which defines the shape of the item
  • ...

Parallax items

Items can also be added to a parallax layer, but this comes with a caveat. You can't interact with them at the moment. This is because we can't mix Control (UI) and Node2D (game) elements anymore. Godot 3.1 will bring a stricter type system. The rules for how priorities are dealt with when mixing UI elements with game elemnts are complex. There are probably more reasons, at least from a design-philosophy point of view.

This is what the text used to say. It's left as a guide in case it would be helpful in reimplementing the interactability with parallax-background objects without the use of Control nodes.

First of all, you need to use an item with the shape defined by a Control node, since the mouse cursor cannot interact with an Area2D through the foreground layer. Secondly, since these items will be visible to the cursor through the foreground, any items meant to be obstructed by foreground elements will need to be masked by a Control node. These masks don't need to be items, but can be TextureRects with click masks for more fine grained control of their shape. Do take care not to cover any items in the foreground with these masks though, as that will make them impossible to interact with.

Because parallax layers are offset from the background, interacting with them might lead to surprising results. It is therefore recommended that you add Position2D node in the foreground layer where you want the player character to stand when interacting with parallax items. This can be achieved by setting the Interact Position property on the item and assigning the correct Position2D node in the scene.