How to Climb in 3D with Godot

Short video explaining how I implement climbing in my current 3D project. Feel free to ask questions down below, I'm always happy to help!
How to Swim in Godot: • First Person 3D Swimmi...
Music courtesy of Simon Swerwer: / simonswerwer
Tracks:
The King is Dead
Spelunker
Dagger Dance
The Balanced Dunes

[@user-ef3tc2ty8m]

The start of the video is fantastic, thank you very much!

[@MagmaSloth64]

Oh my goodness this is just what I've needed thank you, I'm so happy to see something posted just a few hours ago that is a subject I've been obessively studying for months now. To be fair I'm studying all different methods that a character can climb a surface and I gotta say this is extremely helpful, thank you! ^^

[@off-griddev6597]

Hey no problem! Glad I could help. Hit me up if you have any trouble.

[@Boildroid]

Man, thank you. Your tutorial pure gold.

[@off-griddev6597]

No problem mate.

[@chrisxdeboy]

Another option would to run a test move_and_collide() or two to make sure it's possible to climb that before running the climbing part. That's basically how I implemented auto-stepping, move_and_collide() up by the maximum step value, move_and_slide_with_snap() forward with the normal movement velocity, and finally a move_and_collide() down by the max step value.

[@off-griddev6597]

Yeah, this is a viable solution. I may update this video at some point, since my climbing is somewhat more advanced with several months of development since this video.

[@CarpathianWasteGroup]

these visual explanations help A LOT. I just got into game developing just for myself and my gf and these really helping out thanks

[@off-griddev6597]

That's awesome! Glad I could help!

[@DavidM_GA]

I did this with an even simpler system: I put a small raycast where the players hands are. I put a Box collider on 3d assets where ever a "ledge" is. When the player presses "climb" if the ray is hitting a "ledge" collider the climb happens.

[@off-griddev6597]

That definitely works, but the thought of having to manually place the box colliders everywhere I want to let the player climb would add a lot of work. Could be alleviated by using prefab scenes with that already set up, but you wouldn't be able to use those everywhere. Though for certain games where the entire environment is procgen prefabs stitched together I could totally see that working. For the game I'm making the possibility of me just missing a spot and having the player jumping uselessly trying to climb a spot that I forgot to add a collider to is something I'd rather avoid. I know some big games have done it similarly to what you're describing though, it's definitely a more controlled approach.

[@DavidM_GA]

@@off-griddev6597 Yeah, i try to re-use as many assets as I can as I have no other people creating them :)

[@Ceisriel]

My system works better and it also works with stairs no need to add any manual box collision or anything: func _physics_process(delta): #Raycast to detect obstacles in front of the character var ray_length = 2 # Adjust this value based on the desired length of the ray var ray_direction = direction.normalized() # Use the same direction as the character's movement var ray_start = translation + Vector3(0,0.01, 0) # Adjust the starting position of the ray based on your character's position var ray_end = ray_start + ray_direction * ray_length var climb_speed = 1.5 var is_climbing = false var ray_cast = get_world().direct_space_state.intersect_ray(ray_start, ray_end, [self]) if ray_cast: #If the ray hits something, enable vertical movement when pressing the "forward" button if Input.is_action_pressed("forward"): vertical_velocity = Vector3.UP * climb_speed is_climbing = true else: is_climbing = false

[@kirillmenshikov8344]

Thanks a lot for the tutorial it was really inforamtive. I tried this and it worked well but becouse the upward movement always stays the same it may feel weird in some cases. For example if the player activates climb just when the raycast starts hitting the ledge it will move him to far up in the air and then the player will fall slightly. Maybe you know a solution for dynamically changing the Vector3 value so it won't move the player further than the object it tries to climb?

[@AdredenGaming]

Ill have to look at what you have for videos. I like that water shader you have there at the end hopefully I can find a video on that. trying to find a much better water shader atm

[@off-griddev6597]

Yeah water can be tricky to get right stylistically, in my game I’ve gone through several iterations beyond the one in this video.

[@AdredenGaming]

@@off-griddev6597 I have done 2 iterations at this point but there are a number of things I have to figure out more. like the lensing at the surface and better images for the waves.

[@CreatingRiot]

could be possible to do the same with a moving platform, either horizontally or vertically?

[@off-griddev6597]

Yes. Though you would have to account for the movement of the platform and make sure the player is tracked to that movement during the climb. Otherwise it’s not going to work for obvious reasons.

[@mohamedmoh5789]

yout tutorials are great thank you ver much , i would love if you could make how to walk up stairs tutorial so the player dont slide

[@off-griddev6597]

Good to know, I might do that. There are a few tutorials online that explain it but it can be a bit fiddly.

[@tiaoraitbg2347]

Thanks for the video! Makes me wonder though, if it might be worth adding 3 more raycasts to the head that are the exact same but just smaller, sort of to gauge if the player could climb if they went into a crouching position, thanks!

[@off-griddev6597]

Yeah, I haven’t yet figured out how I want to handle climbing while crouching, since jumping while crouching has always felt a bit weird to me in games. I know in some games trying to do that just makes you stand up, but I’m not totally happy with that either. Something to think about a bit more.

[@AdredenGaming]

Maybe its like a burpee, one could be pretty much prone then jump up as high as they can. But really its more how you want your game to feel eh

[@TheToradoralove]

Τhanks for this tutorial, it has very clear explanation.However, I i have still a problem with my working game and i would like to ask you. I put the two rays as you mention to grab ledges and for better experience i have done my platform collisions one way (the player collides only as moves up to down). When the condition of the 2 rays is true and i pressed G button, he grabs. But if i press the button when jumps up through a platform and through collision it grabs in the middle of the platform and also he slides across the edge of collision.

[@off-griddev6597]

Not sure if I understand your issue correctly, but I think what you’re saying is it doesn’t work right when you’re midway through a platform, as in inside it? If that’s the case, then trying to use this method while inside a collider is probably going to have weird behaviour. I’m not sure exactly how your project works, but maybe you could use an Area node to detect if your player is inside a collider like that, and then decide what you want to happen with climbing based on that?

[@TheToradoralove]

@@off-griddev6597 Yes,it doesn’t work right when you’re ascending midway through a platform and you press the grab button because he grabs midway the platform. I want the player to grab only at the corners of platform. I put a third ray if it collides not let player to grab, above his head facing up, and is better but not quite fixed. I will try your suggestion to add an area2d. I am relatively new to godot. I am trying to make a nice realistic 2d platformer with story and dialogues and it is quite difficult for a single person. It would be better if i had some help in case someone finds my project interesting. Thanks very much for your answer.

[@RadJordy]

I know this is a bit of an older video buuuuut... Could you go over using raycasts to step up onto small ledges? Like a sidewalk or stairs for example? Otherwise, I'd have to put invisible ramps everywhere and that could end up presenting more issues.

[@Arisilde]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f325hpaVrrtlask

[@alexlokanin3312]

hey bro this is a really interesting project you're working on, just by the headbob I can tell what it's inspired by. I hope you continue working on it and make your dream come true

[@uselessheartinbox1711]

alot of games have headbob, real life has headbob, you cant tell what its inspired by

[@Ceisriel]

My system works better and it also works with stairs: func _physics_process(delta): #Raycast to detect obstacles in front of the character var ray_length = 2 # Adjust this value based on the desired length of the ray var ray_direction = direction.normalized() # Use the same direction as the character's movement var ray_start = translation + Vector3(0,0.01, 0) # Adjust the starting position of the ray based on your character's position var ray_end = ray_start + ray_direction * ray_length var climb_speed = 1.5 var is_climbing = false var ray_cast = get_world().direct_space_state.intersect_ray(ray_start, ray_end, [self]) if ray_cast: #If the ray hits something, enable vertical movement when pressing the "forward" button if Input.is_action_pressed("forward"): vertical_velocity = Vector3.UP * climb_speed is_climbing = true else: is_climbing = false

[@Ceisriel]

@@pdaw101 the variable translation is the position of ray, where it starts from. Full code on my GitHub if you need it.

[@Sp1cyP3pp3r]

WTF IS TWEEEN????