add final flappybird godot devlog entry

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       <link>https://blog.luevano.xyz</link>
     </image>
     <item>
+      <title>Final improvements to the FlappyBird clone and Android support devlog 3</title>
+      <link>https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/flappybird_godot_devlog_3.html</link>
+      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/flappybird_godot_devlog_3.html</guid>
+      <pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2024 10:00:57 GMT</pubDate>
+      <category>English</category>
+      <category>Gamedev</category>
+      <category>Gdscript</category>
+      <category>Godot</category>
+      <description>Notes on the final improvements to my FlappyBird clone made in Godot 4.x. Also details on the support for Android.</description>
+      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Decided to conclude my FlappyBird journey with one last set of improvements, following up on devlogs <a href="https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/flappybird_godot_devlog_1.html">1</a> and <a href="https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/flappybird_godot_devlog_2.html">2</a>. Focusing on <strong>refactoring</strong>, <strong>better UI</strong>, <strong>sprite selection</strong> and Android support.</p>
+<p>I missed some features that I really wanted to get in but I&rsquo;m already tired of working on this toy project and already eager to move to another one. Most of the features I wanted to add are just <em>QoL</em> UI enhancements and extra buttons basically.</p>
+<p>The source code can be found at <a href="https://github.com/luevano/flappybirdgodot">luevano/flappybirdgodot</a>. Playable at <a href="https://lorentzeus.itch.io/flappybirdgodot">itch.io</a>:</p>
+<p style="text-align:center"><iframe src="https://itch.io/embed/1551015?dark=true" width="208" height="167" frameborder="0"><a href="https://lorentzeus.itch.io/flappybirdgodot">FlappyBirdGodot by Lorentzeus</a></iframe></p>
+
+<h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of contents<a class="headerlink" href="#table-of-contents" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>
+<div class="toc">
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#table-of-contents">Table of contents</a></li>
+<li><a href="#refactoring">Refactoring</a></li>
+<li><a href="#improvements">Improvements</a><ul>
+<li><a href="#background-parallax">Background parallax</a></li>
+<li><a href="#sprite-switcher">Sprite switcher</a></li>
+<li><a href="#save-data">Save data</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li><a href="#android">Android</a></li>
+<li><a href="#misc">Misc</a></li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<h2 id="refactoring">Refactoring<a class="headerlink" href="#refactoring" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>
+<p>The first part for my refactor was to move everything out of the <code>src/</code> directory into the root directory of the git repository, organizing it a tiny bit better, personal preference from what I&rsquo;ve learned so far. I also decided to place all the raw aseprite assets next to the imported one, this way its easier to make modifications and then save directly in the same directory. Also, a list of other refactoring done:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>The way I handled the gameplay means that I needed to make the camera, background and the (ceiling and tiles) &ldquo;detectors&rdquo; move along with the player, while restricting their movement in the <code>x</code> axis, really hacky. Instead, I did what I should&rsquo;ve done from the beginning&hellip; just let the tiles move backwards and keep everything static with the player only moving up an down (as how I stated at the beginning of <a href="https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/flappybird_godot_devlog_1.html">FlappyBirdgodot devlog 1</a> but didn&rsquo;t actually follow).</li>
+<li>Moved the <code>set_process</code> methodology to their own scripts, instead of handling everything in <code>main.gd</code> while also taking advantage of how signals work now. Instead of doing:</li>
+</ul>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">func _ready():
+    Event.game_pause.connect(_on_game_pause)
+
+func _on_game_pause(pause: bool):
+    set_process(pause)
+</code></pre>
+<p>Just connecting to <code>set_process</code> is enough:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">func _ready():
+    Event.game_pause.connect(set_process)
+    # and when the signal doesn't send anything:
+    Event.game_start.connect(set_process.bind(true))
+    Event.game_over.connect(set_process.bind(false))
+</code></pre>
+<h2 id="improvements">Improvements<a class="headerlink" href="#improvements" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>
+<h3 id="background-parallax">Background parallax<a class="headerlink" href="#background-parallax" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h3>
+<p>First thing was to add a moving background functionality, by adding 2 of the same <code>Sprite2D</code>&lsquo;s one after another and everytime the first sprite moves out of the screen, position it right after the second sprite. Some sample code to accomplish this:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">func _ready():
+   # Sprite2D and CompressedTexture2D nodes
+   background_orig.texture = background_texture
+   texture_size = background_orig.texture.get_size()
+
+   backgrounds.append(background_orig.duplicate())
+   backgrounds.append(background_orig.duplicate())
+   backgrounds[1].position = background_orig.position + Vector2(texture_size.x, 0.0)
+
+   add_child(backgrounds[0])
+   add_child(backgrounds[1])
+   background_orig.visible = false
+
+# ifirst (index first) it's a boolean value starting with false and
+#   its a hacky way of tracking the first sprites
+#   (the one closest to the left of the screen) in the array
+func _process(delta: float):
+    for background in backgrounds:
+        background.move_local_x(- SPEED * delta)
+
+    # moves the sprite that just exited the screen to the right of the upcoming sprite
+    if backgrounds[int(ifirst)].position.x &lt;= - background_orig.position.x:
+        backgrounds[int(ifirst)].position.x = backgrounds[int(!ifirst)].position.x + texture_size.x
+        ifirst = !ifirst
+</code></pre>
+<p>Then I added background parallax by separating the background sprites in two: background and &ldquo;foreground&rdquo; (the buildings in the original sprites). And to move them separately just applied the same logic described above with 2 different speeds.</p>
+<h3 id="sprite-switcher">Sprite switcher<a class="headerlink" href="#sprite-switcher" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h3>
+<p>Also added a way to select between the bird sprites and the backgrounds, currently pretty primitive but functional. Accomplished this by holding textures in an exported array, then added a bit of logic to cycle between them (example for the background):</p>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">func _get_new_sprite_index(index: int) -&gt; int:
+    return clampi(index, 0, background_textures.size() - 1)
+
+
+func _set_sprites_index(index: int) -&gt; int:
+    var new_index: int = _get_new_sprite_index(index)
+    if new_index == itexture:
+        return new_index
+    for bg in backgrounds:
+        bg.texture = background_textures[new_index]
+    for fg in foregrounds:
+        fg.texture = foreground_textures[new_index]
+    itexture = new_index
+    return new_index
+</code></pre>
+<p>Then, in custom signals I just call <code>_set_sprites_index</code> with a <code>texture_index +/- 1</code>.</p>
+<h3 id="save-data">Save data<a class="headerlink" href="#save-data" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h3>
+<p>Moved from manual <code>ConfigFile</code> (which is an <code>.ini</code> file basically) to <code>Resource</code> which is easier to work with and faster to implement.</p>
+<p>Accomplished by defining a new <code>data_resource.gd</code>:</p>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">class_name DataResource
+extends Resource
+
+@export var high_score: int
+@export var volume: float
+@export var mute: bool
+@export var bird: int
+@export var background: int
+
+func _init():
+    high_score = 0
+    volume = 0.5
+    mute = false
+    bird = 0
+    background = 0
+</code></pre>
+<p>Where the <code>@export</code>s are not needed unless you need to manage the <code>.tres</code> resource files for testing in-editor.</p>
+<p>Then, the <code>data.gd</code> script needs to be changed accordingly, most notably:</p>
+<ul>
+<li>The file extension is <code>.tres</code> instead of <code>.cfg</code>.</li>
+<li>No need for &ldquo;config sections&rdquo;.</li>
+<li>Saving changes to:</li>
+</ul>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">func save():
+    var err: int = ResourceSaver.save(_data, DATA_PATH)
+    if err != OK:
+        print(&quot;[ERROR] Couldn't save data.&quot;)
+</code></pre>
+<ul>
+<li>The loader gets simplified (mostly because the default values are set in the <code>_init()</code> function of the <code>data_resource.gd</code>) to:</li>
+</ul>
+<pre><code class="language-gdscript">func _load_data():
+    if ResourceLoader.exists(DATA_PATH):
+        _data = load(DATA_PATH)
+    else:
+        _data = DataResource.new()
+        save()
+</code></pre>
+<ul>
+<li>The attributes/config/saved data can be retrieved directly by the <code>data_resource.gd</code> variable name, for example: instead of <code>_data.get_value(SCORE_SECTION, "high_score")</code> it&rsquo;s now simply <code>_data.high_score</code>. And similar for setting the values.</li>
+</ul>
+<p>Compared to the <a href="https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/flappybird_godot_devlog_1.html#saved-data">3.x version</a> it is a lot more simple. Though I still have setters and getters for each attribute/config (I&rsquo;ll se how to change this in the future).</p>
+<h2 id="android">Android<a class="headerlink" href="#android" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>
+<p>I did add android support but it&rsquo;s been so long since I did it that I actually don&rsquo;t remember (this entry has been sitting in a draft for months). In general I followed the official guide for <a href="https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/export/exporting_for_android.html">Exporting for Android</a>, setting up Android studio and remotely debugging with my personal phone; it does take a while to setup but after that it&rsquo;s as simple as doing <em>&ldquo;one click deploys&rdquo;</em>.</p>
+<p>Most notably, I had to enable touch screen support and make the buttons clickable either by an actual mouse click or touch input. Some of the <em>Project Settings</em> that I remember that needs changes are:</p>
+<ul>
+<li><em>display/window/handheld/orientation</em> set to <code>Portrait</code>.</li>
+<li><em>input_devices/pointing/emulate_touch_from_mouse</em> and <em>input_devices/pointing/emulate_mouse_from_touch</em> both set to <code>on</code>.</li>
+</ul>
+<h2 id="misc">Misc<a class="headerlink" href="#misc" title="Permanent link">&para;</a></h2>
+<p>Found a bug on the <code>ScoreDetector</code> where it would collide with the <code>Ceiling</code>. While this is really not a problem outside of me doing tests I fixed it by <a href="https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/godot_layers_and_masks_notes.html">applying the correct layer/mask</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
+    </item>
+    <item>
       <title>Godot layers and masks notes</title>
       <link>https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/godot_layers_and_masks_notes.html</link>
       <guid isPermaLink="true">https://blog.luevano.xyz/g/godot_layers_and_masks_notes.html</guid>