How to not use editable children

drepetto

Hello,

I have a character node that runs around a level scene, following a path defined by four Marker2D nodes that are part of the character node. In a given level I want to place those nodes in different spots, depending on the layout of the level. I can do this by adding the character node, then making its children editable, then placing the Maker2D nodes where I want them. That works fine.

I would rather use @tool + export variable to do this, but I can't figure out how to get it to work. I would love to be able to place the character, then just drag each of the Marker2D points to a new spot (like I do with editable children). It works if I make it a @tool and export Vector2Ds with getter/setter functions for each Marker2D position, but then to change it I have to manually type in the Vector2D positions I want for x and y, which is a pain. Is there a way to set position via dragging if using @tool/export?

Thanks,
Douglas

drepetto

To partially answer my own question, maybe a good approach would be to instead export an empty array to hold Marker2Ds. When I add my character to the level scene I then create however many Marker2D nodes I want, add them to the character's exported array, and when the scene loads, the character harvests their locations for the movement procedure. Seems a bit weird to have the movement location markers not be part of the character, but I guess since they're different for each level scene, it makes some sense.

I'd love to hear any other approaches.

Douglas

DaveTheCoder

drepetto they're different for each level scene

What about putting the Marker2Ds in the level scenes?

drepetto

DaveTheCoder

Thanks. Yeah, that's what I meant by my 2nd message. I have that working fine, but it does require me to add the character to the scene, then to add a bunch of markers to the scene, then add those markers to the exported array in the character. Seems like it would be cleaner if the character added to the scene brought along its own markers. But maybe it's fine doing it this way. Seems better than making editable children, which seems to be asking for problems down the line as I develop the character scene more.

drepetto

I should add that not all levels have this character -- it's just something that is used once in a while in a level. So that's why I don't want to have the markers be a standard part of my base level scene.

Rainfollower

drepetto you know, you can try collect your markers with get_children() and a check that each child is Marker2D. And then pass this information to the character. Something like this:

#put this into scene and call it from character that enters scene
func get_marker_children():
    var a : Array
    for this_child in get_children:
        if child is Marker2D: a.append(this_child)
    return a

(I wrote this as an example, from memory, to explain the idea, I didn't try to run it)

drepetto

Rainfollower

Oh, that's a really nice idea! I'd need to make a Marker2D sub class so that I don't hand other kinds of markers to the character. But this should work very well and saves the step of having to manually drag the markers into the exported array in the character. If I want a new marker I just drop it into the scene and the character will pick it up at runtime.

I do see one problem though, which is that the character is meant to follow the markers in order. So I'll have to pay attention to the order in which the markers are added to the parent scene, since they'll be collected in that same order, and that will actually determine the character's path.

Thank you!

Rainfollower

drepetto just sort them after you collect them. Add some parameter that defines sorting order and run sorting on the array before you start using it as a source for movement (or whatever it is). If you can define something, you can write it down and let the code execute it. The only case where you should not, is where writing code takes longer than doing it manually (for example, sometimes @export variables are easier than finding the right node in the tree).

drepetto

Rainfollower

All great advice, thank you.