Food Catch Main Script

Overview

The Food Catch main script (main.gd) manages gameplay for a minigame where players catch falling food items while avoiding trash. It features a lives system, dynamic difficulty scaling, touch controls, and visual effects. Script Path: minigames/food_catch/main.gd Extends: Node2D

Exported Variables

Item Scenes

food_scene

PackedScene

Scene resource for edible food items that increase score when caught.

trash_scene

PackedScene

Scene resource for trash items that decrease lives when caught.

bonus_scene

PackedScene

Scene resource for special bonus items that award extra points.

floating_text_scene

PackedScene

Scene resource for floating text effects displayed when items are caught.

Spawn Configuration

spawn_every

float

default:"0.8"

Base time interval between spawns in seconds. Decreases as difficulty increases.

bonus_probability

float

default:"0.05"

Probability (0-1) of spawning a bonus item instead of regular food/trash.

trash_probability

float

default:"0.35"

Probability (0-1) of spawning trash when not spawning bonus.

Difficulty Scaling

difficulty_interval

float

default:"30.0"

Time in seconds between difficulty increases.

speed_multiplier

float

default:"1.2"

Factor by which falling speed increases with each difficulty stage.

spawn_multiplier

float

default:"0.85"

Factor by which spawn interval decreases with each difficulty stage (makes spawning faster).

Node References

UI Nodes

@onready var score_label: Label = $CanvasLayer/ScoreLabel
@onready var lives_label: Label = $CanvasLayer/LivesLabel
@onready var difficulty_label: Label = $CanvasLayer/DifficultyLabel
@onready var damage_border: ColorRect = $CanvasLayer/DamageBorder
@onready var panel: Panel = $CanvasLayer/GameOverPanel
@onready var backButton: Button = $CanvasLayer/backButton
@onready var intro_panel: Control = $intro_panel

Touch Controls

@onready var touch_left = $CanvasLayer/TouchLeft
@onready var touch_right = $CanvasLayer/TouchRight

Game Objects

@onready var player = $Player
@onready var bg: Node2D = $Background

Audio

@onready var sfx_eat: AudioStreamPlayer = $SFX_Eat
@onready var sfx_bad: AudioStreamPlayer = $SFX_Bad
@onready var sfx_bonus: AudioStreamPlayer = $SFX_Bonus

Particle Effects

@onready var pescao1der: CPUParticles2D = $pescao1der
@onready var pescao1izq: CPUParticles2D = $pescao1izq
@onready var pescao2der: CPUParticles2D = $pescao2der
@onready var bubbles: CPUParticles2D = $bubbles

State Variables

score

int

default:"0"

Current player score. Increases by 10 for food, varies for bonuses.

lives

int

default:"3"

Remaining lives. Game ends when reaches 0.

difficulty_stage

int

default:"0"

Current difficulty level. Increments periodically to increase challenge.

is_paused

bool

default:"false"

Whether the game is currently paused.

last_coins_gained

int

default:"0"

Coins earned in current game session for display on game over.

Core Functions

Initialization

_ready

void

Sets up the game environment.Key Actions:

Connects touch input handlers
Configures UI follow viewport
Sets up button connections
Initializes spawn timer (wait_time = spawn_every)
Resets global speed multiplier for FallingItem class
Shows intro panel and disables player until game starts

Spawning System

_on_spawn_timer_timeout

void

Spawns a random falling item based on probability distribution.Spawn Logic:

Roll random number (0-1)
If < bonus_probability: spawn bonus
Else if < (bonus_probability + trash_probability): spawn trash
Else: spawn food

Spawn Position: Random X between 40 and (screen_width - 40), Y = -40Item Setup:

Sets z_index to 20
Connects “resolved” or “resolved_bonus” signal
Adds to scene tree

Item Resolution

_on_item_resolved

void

Called when food or trash item is caught or missed.Parameters:

is_trash (bool): True if item was trash, false if food

Trash Effect:

Decreases lives by 1
Plays bad sound with pitch variation (0.9-1.0)
Flashes lives label red
Flashes damage overlay
Triggers player damage animation

Food Effect:

Increases score by 10
Plays eat sound with pitch variation (1.0-1.15)
Flashes score label green
Shows “+10” floating text
Triggers player catch animation

Post-Action:

Updates HUD
Checks for game over (if lives <= 0)

_on_bonus_resolved

void

Called when bonus item is caught.Parameters:

points (int): Points awarded by the bonus

Effect:

Increases score by points
Plays bonus sound with pitch variation (1.05-1.2)
Shows floating text with point value
Triggers player catch animation

HUD Management

_update_hud

void

Updates score and lives display labels.Format:

Score: “Puntos: ”
Lives: “Vidas: ”

_hud_damage_flash

void

Flashes the lives label red to indicate damage taken.Animation: 0.06s fade to red, 0.22s fade back to original color

_hud_pop_flash

void

Flashes the score label green to indicate points gained.Animation: 0.06s fade to green (#60e55a), 0.22s fade back

Visual Effects

_flash_damage_overlay

void

Flashes a red damage overlay using shader material.Animation:

0.08s: intensity 0.0 → 0.5
0.25s: intensity 0.5 → 0.0

_spawn_floating_text

void

Creates floating text near the player position.Parameters:

text (String): Text to display (e.g., “+10”, “+50”)
color (Color): Text color

Position: Player position + Vector2(20 + random(-10,10), -30)

Audio

_play_varied

void

Plays audio with random pitch variation for variety.Parameters:

player (AudioStreamPlayer): The audio player to use
pmin (float): Minimum pitch scale (default: 0.95)
pmax (float): Maximum pitch scale (default: 1.05)

Behavior: Stops current playback if playing, sets random pitch, then plays

Difficulty System

_on_DifficultyTimer_timeout

void

Increases game difficulty periodically.Changes:

Increments difficulty_stage by 1
Multiplies falling speed: FallingItem.global_speed_multiplier = pow(speed_multiplier, difficulty_stage)
Reduces spawn interval: spawn_timer.wait_time *= spawn_multiplier
Shows “¡Más rápido!” message

_show_difficulty_message

void

Displays an animated difficulty message.Parameters:

text (String): Message to display

Animation:

Fade in + scale down (1.4 → 1.0) over 0.2s
Hold for 1.0s
Fade out over 0.4s

Game Over

_check_game_over

void

Checks if lives have reached 0 and triggers game over sequence.Flow:

Stop spawn timer
Play player hide/damage animation
Wait 0.8 seconds
Save high score to ScoreManager (“food_catch” key)
Calculate and award coins (score * 0.1)
Show game over panel

_show_game_over

void

Displays the game over panel with results.Actions:

Sets panel title to “¡Fin del Juego!”
Shows final score and coins earned
Hides touch controls and back button

Pause System

pause_game

void

Pauses all game activity.Pauses:

Spawn timer and difficulty timer
Player processing and animation
All falling items and their animations
All particle systems

Shows: Pause panel with current score

resume_game

void

Resumes game from paused state.Resumes:

All timers
Player processing and animation
All falling items
All particles (with custom speed scales for fish particles: 0.4)

Hides: Pause panel

pause_all_particles

void

Pauses or resumes all particle effects.Parameters:

pause (bool): True to pause, false to resume

Effect: Sets emitting state and speed_scale for all CPUParticles2D nodes

pause_all_falling_items

void

Pauses or resumes all falling items in the scene.Parameters:

pause (bool): True to pause, false to resume

Detection: Checks for “FallingItem” in node name or classEffect: Sets process_mode and animation speed_scale

Touch Controls

_on_touch_input

void

Handles touch/mouse input for player movement.Parameters:

event (InputEvent): Input event
dir (float): Direction (-1 for left, 1 for right)

Behavior:

On press: Sets player.touch_dir to dir
On release: Sets player.touch_dir to 0.0

_on_back_pressed

void

Returns to main menu, resetting screen orientation to portrait.

_on_retry_pressed

void

Reloads the current scene to restart the game.

_on_backButton_pressed

void

Toggles pause state.

ScoreManager Integration

var score_manager = get_node("/root/ScoreManager")
if score_manager:
    score_manager.save_high_score("food_catch", score)
    score_manager.add_coins(coins_earned)

Game Key: "food_catch" Coin Conversion: Final score × 0.1

Common Patterns

Global Speed Control

Falling items use a class-level static multiplier:

# On ready
FallingItem.global_speed_multiplier = 1.0

# On difficulty increase
FallingItem.global_speed_multiplier = pow(speed_multiplier, difficulty_stage)

Probability-Based Spawning

var roll := randf()
if roll < bonus_probability:
    scene = bonus_scene
elif roll < bonus_probability + trash_probability:
    scene = trash_scene
else:
    scene = food_scene

HUD Flash Animation

Label flashes provide immediate visual feedback:

var t := create_tween()
t.tween_property(label, "modulate", flash_color, 0.06)
t.tween_property(label, "modulate", base_color, 0.22)

The game uses landscape orientation during play but switches to portrait when returning to menu.

The FallingItem class must be accessible globally and support the global_speed_multiplier static variable.

Core Scripts

Minigame Scripts

Food Catch Main Script

Overview

Exported Variables

Item Scenes

Spawn Configuration

Difficulty Scaling

Node References

UI Nodes

Touch Controls

Game Objects

Audio

Particle Effects

State Variables

Core Functions

Initialization

Spawning System

Item Resolution

HUD Management

Visual Effects

Audio

Difficulty System

Game Over

Pause System

Touch Controls

Navigation

ScoreManager Integration

Common Patterns

Global Speed Control

Probability-Based Spawning

HUD Flash Animation

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Core Scripts

Minigame Scripts

​Overview

​Exported Variables

​Item Scenes

​Spawn Configuration

​Difficulty Scaling

​Node References

​UI Nodes

​Touch Controls

​Game Objects

​Audio

​Particle Effects

​State Variables

​Core Functions

​Initialization

​Spawning System

​Item Resolution

​HUD Management

​Visual Effects

​Audio

​Difficulty System

​Game Over

​Pause System

​Touch Controls

​Navigation

​ScoreManager Integration

​Common Patterns

​Global Speed Control

​Probability-Based Spawning

​HUD Flash Animation

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Exported Variables

Item Scenes

Spawn Configuration

Difficulty Scaling

Node References

UI Nodes

Touch Controls

Game Objects

Audio

Particle Effects

State Variables

Core Functions

Initialization

Spawning System

Item Resolution

HUD Management

Visual Effects

Audio

Difficulty System

Game Over

Pause System

Touch Controls

Navigation

ScoreManager Integration

Common Patterns

Global Speed Control

Probability-Based Spawning

HUD Flash Animation