Set boundaries within 2D topdown scene

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I try to answer each of these questions adequately:

So I thought maybe I’m supposed to make the tilemap layer just the ‘walkable’ area and that’s it but I can’t seem to find an easy way to do that?

There are two scenarios (I didn’t understand which one you have from your post):

  1. The game environment is limited:
    Therefore, you always have coordinates where the generation stops.
    You also need to remember that only those on-screen should be active, otherwise it will be very slow.
  2. The environment is unlimited:
    In this case, you only need to keep those that are far away from the screen inactive.

Just number of creating boundaries around that tilemap layer, which I think I found a few tutorials for, but how does that work exactly?

I have no idea about this, I have never tried it.

How does the game know to not load anything beyond the collisions that I’ve created around the player and not load infinitely into the gray areas?

This is usually done with VisibleOnScreenNotifier; if your ground is limited, it is simply enough to keep the player away, nothing else will be generated in that area (I will provide some tutorials below).

Also is there no built-in function within Godot 4 to make it so the tilemap layer is the only walkable area?

This node is mainly used for generating limited screens, which is why limitations are done manually, but I will introduce a tool in the links section.

One note: The forum is not primarily a good place for learning; it’s more of a Q&A place for when there is a problem doing something. Try to look through tutorials, and if you have a question somewhere, then ask it. Of course, Tutorials and Resources are still good resources.

Useful Links:

Using Tilemaps:

YouTube Videos:

Helpful Examples:

Automatic Tool for Construction