WhileIterating's game – Devlog

A daily devlog documenting my journey building a turn-based RPG, with many other elements mixed in for fun, in Godot

Project maintained by Brhando Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

Day 4: Scene Transitions, Spawn Points, and Chest Interaction – May 21, 2025

Progress Made

Split the base into two scenes: a Base Exterior and a House Interior, laying the groundwork for exploration and rest zones.
Implemented a scene transition system using Area2D and player input. The player can now move between exterior and interior scenes.
Created a global singleton SceneData.cs to persist game state between scenes, currently tracking the active spawn point.
Set up a dynamic spawn system: when entering a new scene, the player is repositioned at a Node2D marker whose name is stored in SceneData.
Finalized chest interaction logic using Area2D and prompt labels. The UI now shows a contextual message when the player is in range.
Built the foundation for expandable interactions, using flags like PlayerInRange and smart message prompts.
Updated and expanded the project’s internal task list, clearly separating immediate goals from post-slice polish.

Challenges

Faced a Node not found issue while referencing the HUD label for prompts; solved it by restructuring the node path and verifying the scene tree hierarchy.
Initially tried to access SceneData as if it were a static class, resulting in a “cannot access non-static field” error. Resolved this by referencing the autoload instance directly via /root/SceneData.
Encountered confusion while trying to animate tiles using Godot 4’s TileSet editor. The interface wasn’t intuitive, and attempts to use larger multi-cell tiles as frames failed.

Next Steps

Create a Workbench scene and interaction logic using the same Area2D framework.
Start laying out the initial town area, including a few placeholder buildings and NPC spawn locations.
Prototype a day/night system, potentially using a CanvasLayer + ColorRect to simulate lighting changes.
Begin work on a persistent inventory system using SceneData or a new autoload singleton.
Implement bed interaction to restore energy and possibly advance time.

Reflection

This was my most productive day so far. Getting scenes to transition smoothly and setting up spawn logic made the world feel interconnected. The autoload system is proving invaluable—I can already see how it will support more advanced features like inventory and persistent health. Even though the tile animation didn’t work out, I know exactly what to revisit when polish time comes around. The framework is really taking shape, and it feels awesome to see progress stack so tangibly.