Article posted Wed Mar 22 2023

Godot 4: Creating Droppable Items

In this tutorial, we'll cover the basics of creating a 'Pick Up Item' in Godot 4. This assumes you have basic knowledge of setting up collision area. Items a player can pick up are important in many games, allowing players to interact with and collect objects. We'll go through the steps needed to set up a simple PickUpItem node, discussing its features and how to customize it for your specific project. This is a beginner-friendly introduction, suitable for those new to Godot or looking to expand their knowledge of the engine's capabilities. First, create a separate scene for the pickup item and then instance it when the enemy dies. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Create A Scene

Create a new scene for the pickup item:

• a. Add an Area2D node as the root node (named "PickupItem").
• b. Add a Sprite node as a child of PickupItem to represent the item's appearance. Assign the item texture to the Sprite node.
• c. Add a CollisionShape2D node as a child of PickupItem and set its shape to cover the item's appearance.
• d. Attach a script to the PickupItem node to handle the pickup logic.

In the PickupItem script, add a function to handle when the player enters the item's collision area:

extends Area2D

func _ready():
  connect("body_entered", Callable(self, "_on_body_entered"))

func _on_body_entered(body: Node):
if body.has_method("pick_up_item"):
  body.pick_up_item(self)
  queue_free()

This script assumes that the player node has a method called pick_up_item(), which will be invoked when the player walks over the item.

Update Enemy

In the enemy node script, add a function to spawn the pickup item when the enemy dies:

# Assuming you have a "is_dead" flag
onready var pickup_item_scene = load("res://path/to/PickupItem.tscn").instantiate()

func die():
  # Other death logic here
  spawn_pickup_item()

func spawn_pickup_item():
  var pickup_item = pickup_item_scene.instance()
  get_parent().add_child(pickup_item)
  pickup_item.global_position = global_position

This code snippet assumes that the enemy script already has a die() function, which is called when the enemy dies. The spawn_pickup_item() function instances the pickup item scene and places it at the enemy's position.

Player Interaction

Finally, add the pick_up_item() method to the player node script to handle the pickup logic:

func pick_up_item(item: Node):
  # Your pickup logic here
  # For example, increase the player's score or update the inventory
  pass

Now, when the enemy dies, it will spawn a pickup item that the player can pick up by walking over it.