Named it

🛠️ Devlog – Breakout System Debugging (July 9)

This week’s focus has been on squashing bugs in the probe-based brick-breaking core loop. While major systems like collision, stat management, and visual effects are in place, several critical issues have been slowing down gameplay polish. Here's a breakdown of current bugs and what I'm doing to fix them:

🧱 Brick Collision Woes

The ProbeBall isn't bouncing off bricks consistently. It moves through them without triggering collisions, damage, or bounces. I’ve confirmed that the collision layers and masks are set up, and signals are now properly wired — but the _on_area_entered() callback still needs to be verified in runtime. Debug prints are helping trace whether the probe is even detecting the bricks at all.

🧨 Paddle Boost Not Applying

When the ProbeBall hits the top of the PaddleShip, it's supposed to get a velocity boost based on the player's strength stat. Right now, that boost either isn’t applying or isn’t visible. This may be due to a logic misfire in the bounce_off_surface() logic or the boost being too small to notice.

📊 StatManager Disconnect

Several objects like bricks, balls, and walls pull size, HP, and damage data from a global StatManager. But some bricks may not be initializing with the correct HP or attributes. I’m adding debug logs to verify exactly which values are being applied at runtime and flagging fallback/defaults.

🌈 Missing Screen Flash

Finally, the screen flash effect isn't being triggered when the ball hits the bottom wall. The signal from WallManager to _on_ball_hit_floor() isn’t firing, even though the wall setup and connection code appear valid. I’ve added debug prints to ensure the bottom Area2D is set up, and will next check the collision_layer and collision_mask assignments to ensure the ball and detector can actually interact.

🔍 Next Steps

• Verify collision callbacks with better debug output

• Add temp UI or log overlay to show live HP and velocity

• Confirm StatManager feeds correct data to bricks and paddle

• Refactor bounce angles for smoother paddle interaction

• Make sure the flash singleton is properly autoloaded