For Godot 4.2+

This template has a main menu, options menus, pause menu, credits, scene loader, extra tools, and an example game scene.

Example on itch.io

All videos

All screenshots

Setup menus and accessibility features in about 15 minutes.

The core components can support a larger project, but the template was originally built to support smaller projects and game jams.

The base/ folder holds the core components of the menus application.

• Main Menu
• Options Menus
• Pause Menu
• Credits
• Loading Screen
• Opening Scene
• Persistent Settings
• Simple Config Interface
• Extensible Overlay Menus
• Keyboard/Mouse Support
• Gamepad Support
• UI Sound Controller
• Background Music Controller

The extras/ folder holds components that extend the core application.

• Win & Lose Menus
• Level Loaders
• Level Progress Manager
• Logging Scripts
• Script for Releasing on itch.io with butler

The examples/ folder contains an example project using inherited scenes from the base/ and extras/.

• Example Game Scene
• Base Level Class
• Example Levels
• End Credits
• Additional Inherited Scenes:
  • Game Options Menu w/ Reset button
  • Master Options Menu w/ Game Options tab
  • Main Menu w/ Animations
  • Opening w/ Godot Logo
  • Level Loading Screen
  • Loading Screen w/ Shader Pre-caching

• app_config.tscn is set as the first autoload. It calls app_settings.gd to load all the configuration settings from the config file (if it exists) through config.gd.
• scene_loader.tscn is set as the second autoload. It can load scenes in the background or with a loading screen (loading_screen.tscn by default).
• opening.tscn is a simple scene for fading in/out a few images at the start of the game. It then loads the next scene (main_menu.tscn).
• main_menu.tscn is where a player can start the game, change settings, watch credits, or quit. It can link to the path of a game scene to play, and the packed scene of an options menu to use.
• option_control.tscn and its inherited scenes are used for most configurable options in the menus. They work with config.gd to keep settings persistent between runs.
• credits.tscn reads from ATTRIBUTION.md to automatically generate the content for it's scrolling text label.
• The UISoundController node automatically attaches sounds to buttons, tab bars, sliders, and line edits in the scene. project_ui_sound_controller.tscn is an autload used to apply UI sounds project-wide.
• project_music_controller.tscn is an autoload that keeps music playing between scenes. It detects music stream players as they are added to the scene tree, reparents them to itself, and blends the tracks.
• The PauseMenuController node loads the pause_menu.tscn when triggering ui-cancel.
• game_ui.tscn is a demo game scene that displays recognized action inputs, and features the PauseMenuController node, the LevelLoader node to load levels from a directory, and LevelListManager to manage level progress and show menus in case of a win or loss.

This package is available as both a template and a plugin, meaning it can be used to start a new project, or added to an existing project.

When starting a new project:

1. Go to the Asset Library Projects tab.
2. Search for "Maaack's Game Template".
3. Click on the result to open the template details.
4. Click to Download.
5. Give the project a new name and destination.
6. Click to Install & Edit.
7. Continue with the New Project Instructions

When editing an existing project:

1. Go to the AssetLib tab.
2. Search for "Maaack's Game Template Plugin".
3. Click on the result to open the plugin details.
4. Click to Download.
5. Check that contents are getting installed to addons/ and there are no conflicts.
6. Click to Install.
7. Reload the project (you may see errors before you do this).
8. Enable the plugin from the Project Settings > Plugins tab.
   If it's enabled for the first time,
   1. A dialogue window will appear asking to copy the example scenes out of addons/.
   2. Another dialogue window will ask to update the project's main scene.
9. Continue with the Existing Project Instructions

1. Download the latest release version from GitHub.
2. Extract the contents of the archive.
3. Move the addons/maaacks_game_template folder into your project's addons/ folder.
4. Open/Reload the project.
5. Enable the plugin from the Project Settings > Plugins tab.
   If it's enabled for the first time,
   1. A dialogue window will appear asking to copy the example scenes out of addons/.
   2. Another dialogue window will ask to update the project's main scene.
6. Continue with the Existing Project Instructions

Users that want a minimal set of features can try Maaack's Menus Template or other options from the plugin suite.

Changes can be made directly to scenes and scripts outside of addons/.

A copy of the examples/ directory is made outside of addons/ when the plugin is enabled for the first time. However, if this is skipped, it is recommended developers inherit from scenes they want to use, and save the inherited scene outside of addons/. This avoids changes getting lost either from the package updating, or because of a .gitignore.

These instructions assume starting with the entire contents of the project folder. This will be the case when cloning the repo, or starting from the template version in the Godot Asset Library.

New Project Instructions

These instructions assume starting with just the contents of addons/. This will be the case when installing the plugin version in the Godot Asset Library.

Existing Project Instructions

Game Scene Setup

Attribution
License
Godot Asset Library - Template
Godot Asset Library - Plugin