Godot GDScript Patterns
Production patterns for Godot 4.x game development with GDScript, covering architecture, signals, scenes, and optimization.
When to Use This Skill
- Building games with Godot 4
- Implementing game systems in GDScript
- Designing scene architecture
- Managing game state
- Optimizing GDScript performance
- Learning Godot best practices
Core Concepts
1. Godot Architecture
Node: Base building block
├── Scene: Reusable node tree (saved as .tscn)
├── Resource: Data container (saved as .tres)
├── Signal: Event communication
└── Group: Node categorization
2. GDScript Basics
class_name Player
extends CharacterBody2D
# Signals
signal health_changed(new_health: int)
signal died
# Exports (Inspector-editable)
@export var speed: float = 200.0
@export var max_health: int = 100
@export_range(0, 1) var damage_reduction: float = 0.0
@export_group("Combat")
@export var attack_damage: int = 10
@export var attack_cooldown: float = 0.5
# Onready (initialized when ready)
@onready var sprite: Sprite2D = $Sprite2D
@onready var animation: AnimationPlayer = $AnimationPlayer
@onready var hitbox: Area2D = $Hitbox
# Private variables (convention: underscore prefix)
var _health: int
var _can_attack: bool = true
func _ready() -> void:
_health = max_health
func _physics_process(delta: float) -> void:
var direction := Input.get_vector("left", "right", "up", "down")
velocity = direction * speed
move_and_slide()
func take_damage(amount: int) -> void:
var actual_damage := int(amount * (1.0 - damage_reduction))
_health = max(_health - actual_damage, 0)
health_changed.emit(_health)
if _health <= 0:
died.emit()
Detailed patterns and worked examples
Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.