Is there way to make a parallax backround move all the time

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1

Godot Version

4.0

Question

I made a parallax backround that moves when the player moves. However after i made it i realised i would much rather the movement of the layers to always play like an animation regardless of the player moving or not. Ideally i would like it to move slower when the player is standing still and a lot faster when the player is actually moving, i think that will happen anyway tho if i can get the parallax layers to always be moving without the camera moving.

Is there a way to do this ?

2

Yeah there is. Currently in my game I have a parallax layer that is constantly scrolling. All you would have to do is add or minus by a certain amount. Using a global variable you can make it so when a person is standing still it minus the amount of scrolling but when a person is moving it increases. Let me show you. Here is my player code.

extends CharacterBody2D


const SPEED = 300.0
const JUMP_VELOCITY = -400.0

var coyotetime = 0
var coyote = 0.25
var holdtojump = 0

# Get the gravity from the project settings to be synced with RigidBody nodes.
var gravity = ProjectSettings.get_setting("physics/2d/default_gravity")
@onready var anim = get_node("AnimationPlayer")

func ready():
	get_node("AnimatedSprite2D").play("Idle")

func _physics_process(delta):

	# Add the gravity.
	if not is_on_floor():
		velocity.y += gravity * delta
		coyotetime -= delta
	
	if is_on_floor():
		coyotetime = coyote
	 
	# Handle jump.
	if Input.is_action_just_pressed("up") and Global.Jupiter == false:
		if is_on_floor() or coyotetime >= 0:
			coyotetime = 0
			holdtojump = 0
			velocity.y = JUMP_VELOCITY
			anim.play("Jump")
	if Global.settingholdtojump == true:
		if Input.is_action_just_released("up") and holdtojump == 0 and velocity.y:
			velocity.y = 1
			holdtojump = 1
	# Get the input direction and handle the movement/deceleration.
	# As good practice, you should replace UI actions with custom gameplay actions.
	var direction = Input.get_axis("left", "right")
	if direction == -1:
		get_node("AnimatedSprite2D").flip_h = true
	elif direction == 1:
		get_node("AnimatedSprite2D").flip_h = false
	if direction:
		velocity.x = direction * SPEED
		if velocity.y == 0:
			anim.play("Run")
	else:
		velocity.x = move_toward(velocity.x, 0, SPEED)
		if velocity.y == 0:
			anim.play("Idle")
	if velocity.y > 0:
		anim.play("Fall")
	move_and_slide()

Next add the global variables. This can be done in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc-tEPdLZhk&list=PLVtzemUFo9_gmOXtgXdRSJLuHxzc813EO&index=7&t=14s

Name it something like Scrolling speed. Then use this code instead.

extends CharacterBody2D


const SPEED = 300.0
const JUMP_VELOCITY = -400.0

var coyotetime = 0
var coyote = 0.25
var holdtojump = 0

# Get the gravity from the project settings to be synced with RigidBody nodes.
var gravity = ProjectSettings.get_setting("physics/2d/default_gravity")
@onready var anim = get_node("AnimationPlayer")

func ready():
	get_node("AnimatedSprite2D").play("Idle")

func _physics_process(delta):

	# Add the gravity.
	if not is_on_floor():
		velocity.y += gravity * delta
		coyotetime -= delta
	
	if is_on_floor():
		coyotetime = coyote
	 
	# Handle jump.
	if Input.is_action_just_pressed("up") and Global.Jupiter == false:
		Global.ScrollingSpeed = 100
		if is_on_floor() or coyotetime >= 0:
			coyotetime = 0
			holdtojump = 0
			velocity.y = JUMP_VELOCITY
			anim.play("Jump")
	if Global.settingholdtojump == true:
		if Input.is_action_just_released("up") and holdtojump == 0 and velocity.y:
			velocity.y = 1
			holdtojump = 1
	# Get the input direction and handle the movement/deceleration.
	# As good practice, you should replace UI actions with custom gameplay actions.
	var direction = Input.get_axis("left", "right")
	if direction == -1:
		get_node("AnimatedSprite2D").flip_h = true
	elif direction == 1:
		get_node("AnimatedSprite2D").flip_h = false
	if direction:
		velocity.x = direction * SPEED
		if velocity.y == 0:
			Global.ScrollingSpeed = 100
			anim.play("Run")
	else:
		velocity.x = move_toward(velocity.x, 0, SPEED)
		if velocity.y == 0:
		Global.ScrollingSpeed = 60
			anim.play("Idle")
	if velocity.y > 0:
		Global.ScrollingSpeed = 100
		anim.play("Fall")
	move_and_slide()

Basically if you are moving just set the scrolling speed higher and if your not make it lower. Next go to your parallax background, add a script, and then type the following

func _process(delta):
	scroll_offset.x -= Global.ScrollingSpeed * delta
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3

This in theory should work but I haven’t tested it out my self

1 Like
4

You might be able to pick out useful bits from an old tutorial I wrote:

Vertical Scrolling Parallax Backgrounds in Godot

It was written for Godot 3, but it might still be useful. There’s a link to the GitHub there with the code as well.

1 Like