📋 Today's Summary

Today was a major bug-fixing and feature enhancement session! We tackled several critical issues with enemy death mechanics, implemented a complete boss health system, added player invincibility frames, and created smooth UI animations. The game now feels much more polished and responsive.

Enemies Falling Through the Floor

Problem: When enemies died, they would disappear through the floor instead of staying visible.

Root Cause: The death code was disabling physics processing and collision shapes, but the defeat animation was still moving the character downward, causing them to fall through the floor.

Solution:

• Kept collision shapes enabled to prevent falling through the floor
• Maintained physics processing for gravity and collision detection
• Changed collision layer to 0 so players can walk through dead enemies
• Added defeated state handling in physics process

Boss Not Taking Damage

Problem: The boss wasn't taking damage from player attacks.

Root Cause: The attack system was only checking for the Enemy class, but the boss is defined as class_name Boss.

Solution: Updated both attack systems to recognize the Boss class.

Signal Connection Errors

Problem: "Signal 'velocity_computed' is already connected" errors when spawning enemies.

Solution: Added checks to prevent duplicate signal connections.

Player Invincibility Frames (I-Frames)

Added a classic action game mechanic where players become temporarily invincible during dashing.

• Duration: 0.2 seconds of invincibility during dash
• Implementation: Added invincibility timer to dash system
• Health Component: Modified to check invincibility state before taking damage
• Debug System: Added comprehensive debug statements to track invincibility

Complete Boss Health System

Implemented a comprehensive boss health bar system with smooth animations.

• Dynamic Health Bar: Appears when boss detects player, fades out when player leaves range
• Real-time Updates: Health bar updates in real-time as boss takes damage
• Smooth Animations: Fade in/out effects for professional feel
• Automatic Cleanup: Health bar disappears when boss dies

Boss Defeated Celebration

Added a victory celebration system when the boss is defeated.

• Victory Message: "Boss Defeated - Aren't you awesome?"
• Timing: 1 second fade in, 3 seconds display, 1 second fade out
• Integrated Animation: Seamless transition from health bar fade out to victory message

Boss Health Bar Animations

Created smooth fade animations for the boss health system:

• BossFadeIn: 0.5 second fade in when boss detects player
• BossFadeOut: 0.5 second fade out when player leaves range
• BossDefeatComplete: 5.5 second complete sequence (health fade + victory message)

Animation System Fixes

Resolved animation track resolution issues by restructuring the UI hierarchy:

• Made BossHealth container visible by default but transparent
• Fixed animation path resolution warnings
• Ensured smooth animation playback without conflicts

Boss Movement & Animation

Enhanced boss movement system with proportional animation scaling:

• Proportional Animation: Run weight scales with movement speed (0.0 speed = idle, 5.0 speed = full run)
• Smooth Transitions: Animation blends smoothly between idle and running states
• Speed Customization: Boss speed reduced to 2.0 for more manageable combat

Signal Management

Improved signal handling throughout the codebase:

• Added duplicate connection prevention
• Proper signal disconnection on boss death
• Memory leak prevention through proper cleanup

Enhanced Combat Experience

• More Responsive: Invincibility frames make dashing feel more tactical
• Better Feedback: Boss health bar provides clear combat information
• Satisfying Victory: Celebration message adds reward for defeating boss
• Cleaner Environment: Dead enemies stay visible but don't block movement

Potential Enhancements

• Add sound effects for invincibility activation
• Implement visual effects during invincibility (flashing, transparency)
• Add different victory messages based on performance
• Consider adding boss health percentage display
• Implement boss phase transitions with different health thresholds

🎉 What's Next?

Today's session significantly improved the game's polish and playability. The combat system now feels more responsive with invincibility frames, the boss encounter is much more engaging with the health system, and the overall user experience is smoother with proper animations and feedback.

The foundation is now solid for adding more complex boss mechanics, additional enemy types, and expanding the combat system further!