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

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📦 Day 9: Chest Inventory System, Signal Timing Fixes, and C# Property Insight – May 28, 2025

Progress Made

Finalized and implemented a chest inventory system, allowing item transfer between player and chest inventories.
Added a proximity check to restrict item transfers to the chest unless the player is near it in the home base—preparing the system for future item-based remote transfers.
Registered the chest globally via GameManager.ActiveChest, allowing UI to check proximity cleanly without hard dependencies.
Refactored InventorySlot to use the global chest reference and safely verify PlayerInRange before triggering transfers.
Deep-dived into signal timing and CallDeferred(), resolving a crash caused by UI updating during active signal chains.
Gained hands-on experience with C# auto-properties, learning how { get; set; } automates encapsulation and private field management.

Challenges

Debugged a persistent crash involving signal emissions and UI rebuilding, caused by accessing freed nodes mid-frame.
Investigated the lifecycle of deferred methods and signal-safe scene tree manipulation.
Balanced architectural cleanliness with practical constraints, e.g. ensuring a single chest works across the whole game.

Next Steps

Begin implementing the Crafting Workbench scene and logic, starting with a simple recipe (e.g., 3 Wood → 1 Plank).
Finalize stacking mechanics to support a max of 64 per item type, and unique item caps.
Design and integrate a basic crafting UI for the workbench interaction flow.
Continue polishing inventory interactions, tooltip handling, and quality-of-life improvements.

Reflection

Today was a humbling reminder that what seems like a simple feature on paper—chest inventory—can unravel into a web of interconnected systems, timing issues, and architectural decisions. I started the day expecting to breeze through chest functionality, but a series of frustrating crashes quickly forced me to slow down and look under the hood of Godot’s signal system. What started as a UI task became a deep dive into CallDeferred(), scene tree stability, and understanding exactly when it’s safe to manipulate the game world. Debugging that issue took hours of poking, reading, testing, and trusting that the solution was there if I just stayed persistent.

And I’m glad I did. Solving that crash didn’t just fix a bug—it taught me how Godot thinks, how to cooperate with its frame lifecycle, and how to protect my systems from issues I hadn’t even considered before. Then, diving into C# auto-properties felt like discovering a secret cheat code for writing cleaner, smarter code. It was one of those rare moments where syntax, understanding, and confidence all clicked into place.

By the end of it all, I felt exhausted—but proud. I didn’t just build a chest inventory system. I built something modular, intuitive, and technically sound. The kind of system I can build upon later, not patchwork my way through. And most importantly, I walked away with a better understanding of how to future-proof my code. Tomorrow, crafting begins. But today? Today, I leveled up.