EasyChat

EasyChat is a modular, reusable in-game chat and command console addon for Godot 4. Drop a single custom node into your UI, tune appearance and behaviour with resources, and optionally sync chat over the network when you pair it with LinkUx (LAN / online backends with the same game-side flow).

Whether you are building a single-player HUD, a co-op lobby, or a competitive session, EasyChat gives you history, autocomplete for / commands, notifications while the panel is closed, and a small global API so gameplay code can post system messages without juggling node references.

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📑 Table of contents

• Features
• What’s new in 2.0.0
• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick start
• Documentation
• Project layout
• Credits

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✨ Features

Custom node	Registered editor type EasyChat (Control) with its own icon and live editor preview.
Global API	Autoload EasyChat for enable(), disable(), add_message(), add_system_message(), and more.
Robust customization	EasyChatConfig now centralizes a simpler but more powerful setup: colors, fonts, layout, animations, sounds, limits, and command list—share one .tres across scenes.
StyleBox per element	Assign custom StyleBox resources to history, input, send button, autocomplete, suggestion rows, and notifications while preserving built-in default styles.
Interactive preview tools	New Preview section in EasyChatConfig with editor buttons to rebuild, toggle sections, spawn sample messages/notifications, and preview show/hide animations instantly.
Expanded animations	All chat elements support NONE, FADE, FADE_UP, FADE_DOWN, FADE_LEFT, FADE_RIGHT, SLIDE_*, and SCALE, plus per-group Slide Distance controls in Animations.
Commands	ChatCommand resources with executed(args); autocomplete and keyboard navigation.
Offline & online	Works out of the box offline; enable multiplayer_enabled and LinkUx for real-time RPC chat.
Player-friendly	Open/close keys, optional “close on send”, floating notifications, and input that does not eat gameplay when the chat is closed.

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🚀 What’s new in 2.0.0

• Simplified and redesigned the customization workflow so setup is faster while still allowing deep visual control.
• Added StyleBox support across chat elements, enabling fine-grained skinning without losing the default fallback theme.
• Added the new Preview tools in EasyChatConfig for direct editor-side testing of states, sample content, and animations.
• Expanded animation options with directional fade variants (FADE_UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT) and per-subgroup slide distance values.

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📋 Requirements

Item	Required?	Notes
Godot 4.3	Yes	Uses Godot 4 APIs (@export, typed signals, Tween, etc.).
LinkUx addon	Optional	Only if you turn on multiplayer_enabled on the EasyChat node and want networked chat. Expects autoload /root/LinkUx.

Expected install path in your project:

res://addons/easychat/

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📦 Installation

1. Copy this repository’s addons/easychat folder (or the packaged addon folder) into your Godot project under res://addons/easychat/.
2. Open Project → Project Settings → Plugins.
3. Enable EasyChat.
4. (Optional) Install LinkUx and register it as an autoload if you plan to use multiplayer chat.
5. Add an EasyChat node to a scene (for example under a CanvasLayer that covers the viewport).

That’s it—the plugin registers the EasyChat autoload and the custom node type automatically.

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🚀 Quick start

1️⃣ Add the node

In your main UI or gameplay scene, add EasyChat from the Add Node dialog. The node fills the screen and anchors the chat bar to the bottom of the viewport.

2️⃣ Try it in-game

• Default open chat key: T (configurable on the node).
• Default close key: Escape.
• Type plain text and press Enter to send; lines starting with / run commands.

3️⃣ Use the singleton from code

func _ready() -> void:
    EasyChat.set_player_name("Ada") # Only if you want it to display a custom name (in multiplayer mode, it does this automatically)
    EasyChat.enable() # You need to activate it to use it (you can deactivate it with disable())

func _on_match_started() -> void:
    EasyChat.add_system_message("Match started — good luck!")

4️⃣ Optional: shared look

Create an EasyChatConfig resource (.tres), tweak styles, animations, and limits, assign it to the node’s config field, and reuse the same resource in other scenes.

5️⃣ Preview in the editor

In EasyChatConfig, use the Preview section buttons to:

• Rebuild and refresh the preview UI.
• Toggle History/Input/Autocomplete/Notifications visibility.
• Trigger show/hide animations for History Panel and Input Row.
• Spawn local/remote/system messages and notification samples.
• Quickly inspect command autocomplete visuals.

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📚 Documentation

The official documentation is a website:

Then open EasyChat Official Documentation in your browser for the full interactive docs (navigation, EN / ES language toggle, and quick search).

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🗂 Project layout

addons/easychat/
├── plugin.cfg          # Plugin metadata
├── plugin.gd           # EditorPlugin: autoload + custom type registration
├── easychat.gd         # Global EasyChat singleton (facade)
├── easychat_node.gd    # EasyChat Control node (UI, Input, Sync, etc.)
├── easychat_config.gd  # EasyChatConfig resource
├── chat_command.gd     # ChatCommand resource
├── icon.svg
└── icon.png

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🙏 Credits

• EasyChat — IUX Games, Isaackiux · version 2.0.0 (see plugin.cfg).
• Designed to work alongside LinkUx for swappable multiplayer backends, but it can work without any problems offline (just uncheck the Multiplayer checkbox in EasyChatConfig).