Scene templates

[theraot]

Currently Godot have code templates built-in (e.g. when you add a script to a node you get _ready and _process generated for you, or when creating a new shader you get vertex, fragment and light).

I suggest something similar for scenes.

Yes, we are already asked if we are doing a 2D scene, 3D scene, UI, or other... but we can get more specific.

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In particular there might be options for physic bodies that might come prepopulated with a mesh and a collision shape, Addendum: Consider also including an occluder. This would: 1. make people aware of these nodes, 2. teach how to compose them, 3. save some time in their setup.

This feature would also ease tension about the lack of an Scene/Prefab distinction in Godot for user arriving from Unity. As most prefabs would be some physics object, showing these options when creating an scene would communicate that it is OK to use scenes to make what they called prefabs.

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We might also need a way to integrate tutorials as part of the Godot editor, and without add-ons. Because, in similar fashion to the code templates having comments, it would be useful to tell the user what each part of the template does and how they can customize it (e.g. tell them that they can change the collision shape, or the mesh).

I do not know how this part might look like.

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This idea is based on this post on the social network formerly known as Twitter: https://twitter.com/reduzio/status/1713263313801380055

[theraot]

I mentioned in a post on the social network previously known as twtitier that I organize the scenes by categories. I have "the main scene, which I never change. It has a world and ui. The world will have stages, and the stages have props." -- https://twitter.com/theraot/status/1752620760584302974

So, I have created script nodes for these kinds of scenes, and I have - thanks to Godot 4.3 having resource icons - given them icons that make it easier to identify them for the designers. I hope this gets fixed: godotengine/godot#89937

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Why? Because the designers are used to Unity and Unreal, where you have a Map that has Prefabs. Without the distinction they tell me that they donot know where to put things.

So I have been making a "project template" (some folders I copy from project to project because we do not have a way to deploy assets locally and going via the asset library is a hassle) where I have a "stages" folder, and I have a "props" folder, I also have a "characters" folder and so on. And these are intended to be specific scene type (root custom node script type).

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Futhermore, I am using a property I call _saved which has property usage PROPERTY_USAGE_STORAGE to know if a Node entered the scene in the editor because it was just created (so _saved is the default value, i.e. false) or because the scene was opened. And if the node was just created I have it spawn some children nodes, and set _saved to true. This is how I mimic scene templates.

[theraot]

For the purpose of making the experience of first time users better - I still believe Godot should Put templates on the forefront: #4996 - and these templates could provide better lighting defaults and so on...

Perhaps scene templates can help. In particular we can have a world template that sets a sun light, a world environment, a camera, some voxel GI, and perhaps some some ground.

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I also remember GDQuest 3D Manequin: https://github.com/gdquest-demos/godot-3d-mannequin - although I do not agree with the way the character controller is setup - if we have some default "Manequin" with a good skeleton, and a fully working animation retarget solution, the gap to the default templates of Unreal could be narrowed. We could start seeing animation assets created for the default "Manequin", and we could see either people creating their characters using it, or retargetting animation from those assets to their own.

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If we were able to create addons and set these templates on a "local asset library" we could do them just right for our style and goals within the organization. Even including some third party terrain addon, for example.