Creating Animated Transitions in Godot using Polygon Tweens.
by Vicente C.
Published |
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Indie developer GoodBugGames made a new hole loading transition for their game Super Auto Golf, and shared a bit of the process behind how the effect was built in Godot.
Indie developer GoodBugGames experimented with a new hole loading transition for their upcoming game Super Auto Golf, using polygon tweens and convex hull generation in Godot.
The effect starts with a few points on screen that are then passed through Godot’s Geometry2D.convex_hull() function to generate the polygon shape during the transition.
While the polygon redraws, a tween moves the points outward from a small ring near the center of the screen.

According to GoodBugGames, the easing and transition settings ended up making a significant difference in how the effect feels. Different tween combinations can make the animation look softer, or much more explosive.
The effect started looking much more dynamic once the points stopped moving in straight lines.

The technique used here makes the points expand into a larger circle before settling into place. Some points overshoot while others undershoot, creating a squash-and-stretch effect during the transition.
# This is an excerpt from the full code

func polygon_animate(duration : float, final_points : PackedVector2Array, large_circle : PackedVector2Array)->void:
	var tween : Tween = create_tween()

	tween.tween_method(
		func(t: float) -> void:
			var current_points: PackedVector2Array = PackedVector2Array()

			for i: int in range(final_points.size()):
				current_points.append(large_circle[i].lerp(final_points[i],t))

			_set_lake_polygon_state(current_points),0.0,1.0, duration).set_trans(Tween.TRANS_SINE).set_ease(Tween.EASE_OUT)

...
The tween uses Tween.TRANS_SINE together with Tween.EASE_OUT, while every point interpolates from the larger circle into the final polygon using lerp().

As GoodBugGames explained, adding shaders and point lights on top of the transition helped give each terrain type its own visual style.
If you want to see more from GoodBugGames or follow the development of Super Auto Golf, the links will be right below. 

Interested in learning more?
If you are interested in learning more about shaders, procedural graphics, or technical art, The Shaders Bible Collection includes six books covering Unity, Godot, game development math, and visual effects.

This bundle is a good fit for developers and artists who want to spend more time understanding how graphics systems and shader-based effects are made inside real projects.
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