Camera Manager

System Summary

The Camera System controls how the game camera behaves in both Editor Mode (EDIT) and Play Mode (PLAY) using a single Camera2D node.

It supports:

• Free camera movement in editor mode (WASD + panning)
• Smooth player-follow camera in play mode
• Zoom in/out using mouse wheel or + and - key
• Level boundary clamping based on world size
• State switching through a global game state system

This system replaces multiple camera controllers with a single unified state-based camera.

Connected Systems

• Master Manager
• Player Controller

Related Controls

Editor State

• WASD or arrow keys: Move Camera
• Scroll wheel or + and -: Zoom in and out
• Middle Mouse Button: Move Camera

Play State

• Camera will follow the player's position automatically.
• Settings to adjust deadzone, follow speed, zoom level, and if it clamps to the level's bounds.

Feature List

• Minimum Zoom depends on the level size, allowing it to fully display levels regardless of how big they are.
• Scrolling in the editor state has a limit of 4 cells beyond the edge of the level.

Important Variables

Name the most important variables, their type, and what their purpose is

• roamCellCount: float = A variable that determines how far a user can pan away from the level scene before being clamped.

• moveSpeed: float = A variable that determines how fast a user can move around the level scene when using WASD.

• isPanning: bool = Whether the user is in the middle of panning the camera.

• panSpeed: float = How fast the user can pan the screen via middle mouse button click.

• zoomSpeed: float = A variable that determines how fast a user can zoom in or out the camera.

• maxZoomOut: float = A variable that determines how far a user can zoom out.

• maxZoomIn: float = A variable that determines how close a user can zoom in.

• playZoom: float = A variable that determines how zoomed a camera is on the player. Set in level settings.

• followSpeed: float = A variable that determines how quickly the camera follows the player as a percentage. Set in level settings.

• deadzone: float = A variable that determines how far the player can move outside the centre of the screen before the camera follows. Set in level settings.

• cameraPlayClamp: bool = A variable that determines if the camera is clamped into the level bounds during play or not. Set in level settings.

• gridLines: TileMapLayer = An exported variable for the grid lines tile map.

• levelBounds: Rect2 = The absolute level bounds so that the camera cannot zoom out too much.

• roamBounds: float = The absolute roam bounds so that the camera cannot drag too far out.

• playerReference: CharacterBody2D = The retrieved reference to the player.

• maxPlayerSearchAttempts: int = The max amount of times the player will be searched for.

Important Functions

Name of the most important functions, their parameters, and what they do.

• func reset_camera() -> void: Resets the camera, and the player reference so that it has to be searched for again.

• func refresh_bounds() -> void: Adjusts camera bounds to current grid size.

• func try_find_player(delta: float) -> void: Searches for the first node in the "Player" group, which will be our player reference. Will only search up to maxPlayerSearchAttempts.

• func _input() -> void: Handles middle mouse button inputs, and camera "sprinting" (panning faster while holding shift).

• func process_build_camera(delta: float) -> void: Processes editor camera movement based on delta time.

• func process_edge_scrolling(delta: time) -> void: Processes edge scrolling movement with the editor camera based on delta time.

• func process_zoom(zoomAmount: float) -> void: Processes zooming based on the mouse position, and zooms in or out by the zoomAmount.

• func process_zoom_input() -> void: Processes the zoom input, and calls the process_zoom function based on the input given by the user.

• func process_player_camera() -> void: Follows the player, so long as there is a reference to it.

• func get_camera_bounds() -> Rect2: Converts the roam cell count to workable pixels, and returns it to the roamBounds.

• func clamp_camera_to_level() -> void: Prevents the camera from leaving the level outside of the roam/level bounds.

• func camera_encloses_roam(roamingBounds: Rect2) -> bool: Returns if the camera fully encloses the level bounds as a rect.

• func get_camera_rect() -> Rect2: Returns the camera rect

• func get_min_zoom_to_fit_roam() -> float: Returns the minimum zoom to fit the roaming area.

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Future Work / Risks (Global)

List and description of upcoming work/risks.

Future Work:

1. None

Risks:

• No known risks.

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Miscellaneous Notes

• System is single-node for simplicity
• State switching is handled externally by MasterManager
• Code follows modular function separation for readability
• Edge scrolling has been removed