Godot craft

Build the way a Godot developer working in the editor builds: scene-first. Every visible thing is a node in a scene, every reusable thing is its own scene, events travel on signals, and motion is owned by the node that moves. Reach for the native primitive — the one the engine ships for the job — and code only what no primitive covers.

Check the version before trusting any advice: most Godot material online is Godot 3. The reference is the Godot 4 best practices; read the project's pinned version from

project.godot

and use that version's docs.

Steps

Sketch the scene tree. Before writing code for anything visible, write its node tree: which nodes, which are their own
```
.tscn
```
, which script owns which job, which signals go up and which calls go down, which
```
Resource
```
s hold data. Done when every element of the spec or mock maps to a node in the sketch. At design time, the sketch is the ticket's Godot structure section — template in references/ticket-section.md.
Pick each primitive from the table below. Where a row points at a reference, read it before building that part.
Build in scenes. Author node trees in
```
.tscn
```
files; scripts instance scenes and set state on them. Styles, fonts and colours live in the project
```
Theme
```
.
Verify by looking. Run
```
scripts/smell_check.py
```
over the game code (it reads
```
.gd
```
and
```
.tscn
```
) and clear every finding, either by switching to the native primitive or by tagging a deliberate exception
```
# godot-ok: <reason>
```
(
```
; godot-ok: <reason>
```
in a
```
.tscn
```
) on or above the line. Wire it into validation so a non-zero exit fails the build. Then capture frames of every state and a motion clip of every transition (
```
--write-movie out.png --fixed-fps 30 --quit-after N
```
), open the frames, and compare each against the spec or mock. Attach them wherever the work is reported. Done when the check fails the build on a finding and is green, and you have looked at a frame of every state and transition and each one matches. A report that the game "boots" or "runs" is not verification; a frame you have looked at is.

Primitives

Job	Native primitive	Red flag
A game object (field, unit, pickup, card)	Its own scene, instanced; state set through a typed method	One `_draw()` painting every object
Clicking or hovering a world object	`Area2D` + `CollisionShape2D` , `input_pickable` , `mouse_entered` / `input_event`	`Rect2(...).has_point(mouse)` with literal sizes
Text	`Label` / `RichTextLabel` , styled by the theme	`draw_string` , `ThemeDB.fallback_font`
Panels, badges, button looks	`StyleBox` in the `Theme` , or a theme type variation	`StyleBoxFlat.new()` in script
Static UI layout	Containers and anchors in a `.tscn`	`Label.new()` / `add_child` building UI in `_ready`
Overlays on a container (badge, border, pip)	A plain `Control` root holding the container and the overlays as siblings	Children placed by offsets inside a container, which stretches them to fill it
Art on a card or panel	`StyleBoxTexture` in the theme, `NinePatchRect` for frames, `TextureRect` for pictures — references/art.md	`Sprite2D` inside the UI tree
Art in the world	`Sprite2D` , `AnimatedSprite2D` , `TileMapLayer` — references/art.md	`Polygon2D` placeholders standing in for finished art
A layout whose children animate (card hand, radial menu)	A custom `Control` computing target transforms; children ease toward them — references/motion.md	Animated children inside a `BoxContainer`
Reacting to game events	Signals from the model, connected by the view	Polling every frame and diffing arrays to guess what changed
A list that changes (hand, inventory)	One persistent view per item, keyed by the item; add and remove singly	Freeing every child and re-instancing on each change
One-shot motion (pop, shake, fly-to)	`Tween` from `create_tween()` on the moving node	Countdown floats passed down through refresh calls
Authored, multi-track motion	`AnimationPlayer`	Hand-sequenced timers
World objects that move	Move in `_physics_process` with physics interpolation on	Transforms set in `_process` on interpolated nodes
UI easing and view refresh	`_process`	Visual work in `_physics_process`
Framing the world	`Camera2D`	World laid out against literal viewport sizes
Tooltips	`_make_custom_tooltip()` returning a scene	Default `tooltip_text` for game content
Tunable data, card and item definitions	`Resource` subclasses saved as `.tres`	Dictionaries of constants in scripts
Per-object state	Typed `var` s	`set_meta` / `get_meta`
Node references	`@onready var x: Type = %Name` ; `class_name` on scripts others reference	Untyped `@onready var x = $Path`

Custom

_draw()

is the native primitive for three jobs only: many simple repeated shapes (a grid, a board), shapes no node provides (trails, arcs, procedural polygons), and the non-text face of a custom control. Everything else is a node.

Communication

Call down, signal up. A parent calls methods on its children; a child emits signals and never reaches for its parent. A scene receives what it needs through a setter or

bind()

from the scene that owns it, and runs on its own when opened alone.

References

references/ticket-section.md — the Godot structure section every Godot ticket carries.
references/motion.md — target-easing layouts, tweens, drag and snap-back.
references/ui.md — themes, containers, input routing between UI and world.
references/art.md — where art goes in UI versus world, and pixel-art settings.

godot

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Godot craft

Steps

Primitives

Communication

References