November 26, 2025 — [Game] AI pathfinding and Godot signals

Notes

Godot Signals

• Signals are Godot’s implementation of the observer pattern
• Use signal signal_name(param1, param2) to declare
• Emit with emit_signal("signal_name", arg1, arg2)
• Connect with object.connect("signal_name", self, "_on_signal_received")
• Super useful for decoupling game systems (e.g., player health changes triggering UI updates)

AI Pathfinding

• Started implementing AI for enemy AI
• Key insight: the heuristic function matters a lot for performance
• Using Manhattan distance for grid-based movement (no diagonals)
• Need to cache paths and only recalculate when player moves significantly
• Found a great visualization tool: pathfinding.js

Go Interfaces

• Interfaces in Go are implicit - no need to declare implementation
• Any type that implements all methods automatically satisfies the interface
• Keep interfaces small (often just 1-2 methods)
• “Accept interfaces, return structs” is a common pattern
• The empty interface interface{} accepts any type (like any in newer Go versions)

Random

• Discovered itch.io’s devlog feature - might cross-post there
• Need to set up a better note-taking workflow (currently using Obsidian + manual conversion)
• Read an interesting article about roguelike design patterns

Tomorrow

• Implement basic AI pathfinding for enemies
• Refactor player movement to use signals
• Write up a proper blog post about system design