List of QoL ideas from a ~9 years user (student)

[GersonFeDutra]

Below I will list some QoL proposal ideas for the engine I randomly collected within the last 2 years of using Godot. I could probably post a blog about it, but I found this place convenient to discuss them with the community. I didn't found any notice about a multi-featured discussion, so if it isn't allowed, please let me know. In the future I pretend to open a discussion or issue about each individually, add some more; and maybe implement them myself, since I'm polishing my studies in C++

General

Core

• debug + editor nodes (option to allow nodes on scene to be instantiated only on debug and editor builds)

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Editor

• play selected scene persistent [Ctrl+F6] -> pin a scene to always run with <C-F6>, without having to set as the first in the project settings, or to have it focused on the scene editor.
• play specific scene smart (consider only opened scenes) -> ask one of the opened scenes before run

Search

• filters and tag-colors on search box
• Option to hide addons from search matchs

Settings Window

• pin settings from project and editor settings
• auto pin changed and list by last
• custom settings filters + tags

Scene Tree

• warnings accept bbcode

Bottom Panels:

Debugger:

• gdscript interpreter (evaluator) from editor: [added on 4.4]
  • access in editor - tool mode - to current opened scene tree
  • allow selecting nodes using $, current selected node = $.

Animations:

• allow to key frame multiple selected nodes
• copy and paste animation tracks and keyframes (animation library management directly from the timeline)
• animation method call on editor (in tool mode) for custom previews.

Remote:

• Select multiple remote nodes [planned for 4.5]

Inspector

Exports

• exported variables suffix: [added on 4.x]
• export arrays: [added on 4.x]
• export dictionaries: [added on 4.4]
• export button: [added on 4.4]
  • pass a class name from a script as string type hint to to use its custom icon¹
  • allow for export button to use custom icon¹
• union type hint -> export a Variant that is restricted to some types in the inspector.
• allow export range to array of numbers
• percentage export hint -> use export hint "%" to display a floating variable in a range of 0-100 with % suffix, but access it in code as a 0-1 ranged value.
• export variable as @required -> Add a warning in the inspector/ scene tree as a node configuration warning to enforce that a variable should not be null. Useful tip for uses that forget to set exported nodes and node paths.
• float fraction display option -> allow for a floating variable input displayed as a fraction of two numbers. Ex.: a/b or in the form: c*a/b, to improve readability
• export expressions -> allow for variables to be export-assigned as a dynamic expressions. The editor already supports expressions, but they are processed in the editor once - only the value is saved.

Code Editor

• allow to add a line after a folded block of code with Ctrl+Enter or similar, instead of the next line after the selected one
• Auto generate docs for all scripts: [added on 3.x]
• Allow user generated docs to appear on the inspector: [added on 4.x]

Script List:

• pin script to script list
• script list on the right
• script list as tabs on top/bottom [plugin]
• script member list [plugin]
  • filter and group members
• group scripts by parent directory/ filter on script tab

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Gdscript

• unnamed script as type hint: use const Type = preload("..."): [added on 4.x]
• export unnamed script as type hint: [added on 4.x]
• allow reference Self as the unnamed-script or class static type. to use for example in signal typing: workaround using const Self = preload("...")
• dictionary type hints: [added on 4.4]
• type hint for Callables -> Callable[(ArgType, ...)-> ReturnType]
• tuples: [alternative for dictionary type hints]
  • type hint: {TypeA, TypeB, ...}
  • multiple return using return a, b, ...
  • multiple assignment using a, b, ... = alpha, beta, ...
  • multiple initialization and type coercion var {a, b, ...} := alpha, beta, ...

Nodes

• AnimatedTextureRect -> since animated texture is deprecated, a similar responsive alternative to AnimatedSprite2D. ¹

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Physics

• Physics Attractors -> Apply attraction force to touching bodies towards a given point/ direction. Make it a node or a method from physics nodes.

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Extensions (plugin ideas)

Editor

• preview autoload scenes on editor (could be built-in?) -> add an alternative scene tree view with the autoload nodes, useful for editor (tool mode) singletons.

OS

• WSL mode -> Use RPC to integrate Godot with WSL terminals: [Workaround: WSL2 supports running .exe as commands from bash]
  • Option "Open with WSL terminal" in the scene tree.
  • Install Godot in WSL to use it on Windows: may be useful for some automation work that is not convenient in PowerShell.

Note

I left some previously implemented features as a personal remark that some desired features already where treated by the community.

edit: fix markdown syntax
add ¹ [05/04]

[Meorge]

Quite a nice list! I think the convention is to open a discussion or issue for each individual proposal, so that there is a cleaner discussion history for each of them instead of being interwoven with each other 🙂

[GersonFeDutra]

I pretend to do that soon. If you have a particular interest I can open a discussion/ issue in advance.

[AThousandShips]

type hint for Callables -> Callable[(ArgType, ...)-> ReturnType]

• Add support for statically typed Callable #10807

Select multiple remote nodes [planned for 4.5]

• Already implemented in 4.5

export variable as @required -> Add a warning in the inspector/ scene tree as a node configuration warning to enforce that a variable should not be null. Useful tip for uses that forget to set exported nodes and node paths.

• Create an annotation (e.g. @required) that checks an @export var is not null at compile time #11832

percentage export hint -> use export hint "%" to display a floating variable in a range of 0-100 with % suffix, but access it in code as a 0-1 ranged value.

• Add a percent (or similar) argument to @export_range #8213

Please try to not suggest things that are already tracked elsewhere, it splits the topics

[GersonFeDutra]

Should I delete them or would keeping a reference to the issues may suffice?

[AThousandShips]

I'd say this should be split into individual discussions that aren't already tracked elsewhere and this should be closed, but please search for the other topics first

[GersonFeDutra]

Ok