Debugging Tools and Game Physics

Today was less about new features and more about making the game actually playable and debuggable. I added critical developer tools and fixed fundamental physics issues that were making testing a nightmare.

The Street Scene

First, I added the street scene — the exterior of the convenience store where Jordi can finally step outside after completing the store puzzles. Barcelona awaits.

This required:

• New background art (Barcelona street in pixel art style)
• Navigation polygon for the walkable sidewalk area
• Hotspots for the store entrance and street end
• Entry points for room transitions
• Perspective scaling (characters get smaller as they walk “into” the scene)

The Cheat Code: Press C to Skip

Testing adventure games is tedious. You solve the same puzzles hundreds of times while debugging other things. So I added a debug cheat:

Press C in the convenience store to instantly complete all puzzles:

• Sets all required flags (intro played, items collected, payment done)
• Activates all three LED signals from the other characters
• Adds items to inventory
• Updates all visual states

Now I can test room transitions and character switching without replaying the store puzzles every single time. The cheat only works in debug builds.

The WalkToPoint System

I discovered a fundamental physics problem. Hotspots used hardcoded walk_to_point Vector2 offsets to define where the player should stand when interacting. This was:

1. Error-prone — Had to manually calculate pixel offsets
2. Brittle — Moving a hotspot in the editor broke the walk-to position
3. Invisible — Couldn’t see where the player would walk

Jordi was walking backwards across the screen to reach hotspots. Not good.

The fix: WalkToPoint Marker2D nodes.

Now each hotspot can have a child Marker2D named “WalkToPoint” that you simply drag in the Godot editor:

Hotspot (Area2D)
├── CollisionShape2D
├── WalkToPoint (Marker2D)  ← just drag this
└── Sprite

The system checks for this node first, falls back to legacy offset, then defaults to 20px below the hotspot. This is now a mandatory pattern for all rooms going forward.

Character Room Tracking Fix

Found a bug where switching characters always returned you to the convenience store, even if you’d moved to the street.

The issue: change_room() updated the current room but never told the game which room each character was actually in.

One-line fix:

func change_room(room_name: String, entry_point: String = "default") -> void:
    current_room = room_name
    set_character_room(current_character, room_name)  # ← this was missing
    room_changed.emit(room_name)

Now each character remembers their room and position correctly when you switch between them.

Teleport State Clearing

Another physics bug: when transitioning between rooms, the player would sometimes continue walking in the new room like a ghost.

The teleport_to() function only set the position but didn’t clear the walking state. Fixed:

func teleport_to(pos: Vector2) -> void:
    is_walking = false
    callback_on_arrival = Callable()
    velocity = Vector2.ZERO
    global_position = pos
    _set_animation("idle")

No more haunted walking.

What’s Next

With these foundational fixes in place, the game engine is finally solid enough to build content on. The boring infrastructure work is done.

Next up: populating the street with more hotspots and maybe starting on the apartment building exterior.

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Building Pulp Friction one debug session at a time.