How to prevent top down sprite snapping during diagonal movement upon keyboard release

Question

I have a sprite that faces 4 directions depending on input. This is all working well except for my keyboard input..

If I am pressing down-right at the same time on the keyboard and release both keys there is a moment where I am pressing only the right key. This creates a snapping of my sprite upon key release where now im suddenly facing right instead of down.

basically i would like to release both the x and y buttons at the same time but i dont have a good way of detecting this. its TOO sensitive.

    pressed_vector.x = int(directions.right) - int(directions.left)
    pressed_vector.y = int(directions.down) - int(directions.up)

    dpad_vector = pressed_vector.normalized()
    owner.direction_changed(dpad_vector)

its the standard input code you see everywhere.

I have the player mapped to a virtual joystick, dpad etc and i dont have this issue because on release you're going to be releasing your x and y keys at the same time. not sure how to handle this with the keyboard.

Answer 1

I can see two ways to avoid this problem:

• Base the player animation decision on the sprite's effective velocity (speed and direction), rather than pressed input keys. This can be a good idea if using movement with relatively low friction and acceleration.
• Add a Timer node set to Oneshot that will act as a debounce timer. Its wait time should be very low (0.05 seconds or less) and should be reset every time a movement key is pressed or released. Only apply movement animation changes when the timer node times out by connecting its timeout signal to a function in your player script.