How do I spawn loot items from the center of the treasure chest so it looks like they came out of it?

How do I...?
1

How do I…

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a treasure chest loot system in GDevelop where the chest spawns one item when opened—either a heart, a big coin pile, or a bomb trap—based on the player’s health.

The logic is working, but there’s a visual issue: the loot doesn’t look like it’s coming from inside the chest, and it’s not centered properly when it spawns.

What is the expected result

  • When the chest is opened, the loot should spawn from its center and appear like it came out of the chest.
  • This should work correctly even if I have multiple chests in the scene.
  • The spawn should look smooth and natural, ideally enhanced with a little scaling or smoke effect.

What is the actual result

  • The loot sometimes spawns to the left or right of the chest, or too high above it.
  • It doesn’t visually feel like the item is coming from inside the chest.
  • This happens with all loot types.

Related screenshots

Screenshot 2025-05-10 222005
Screenshot 2025-05-10 2220051619×281 33.3 KB

Any tips on how to align loot spawn position to the chest’s center, and how to make it feel more “animated” or physical, would be a big help.

Thanks in advance!
Byeol

2

1 - each of your loot objects i assume bomb coin and heart
You should double click go to points and then move origin point to center point

2 - this your chest should be 2 objects
Bottom part and top part both separate objects
Now for example z order of bottom part should be 3
Top part z order 1
Created loot under action to create it should have change z order to 2

3

My chest is a single sprite object and it has a “chest open” animation that shows that the chest opens. And I am unfamiliar with the role of z-order because I am a beginner. I don’t think this will solve the issue that i am facing.

4

If you are unfamiliar with Z order then how you know it will not solve your problem?

Z order is like this
Imagine you have cards like 3 of them
You put them together so they form a deck

So one of them is 1st other is 2nd and last is 3rd
So bottom middle top

And z order would be 0 for one which is on bottom and for on in middle 1 while on on top would have z order of 2

NOW you understand you just ordered them from bottom to top
NOW imagine you can change which card is 1st or last by changing their Z order

That is whole concept of Z order
You change what is in front and what is in back

So if your chest would be 2 objects and not 1
You could put top part behind bottom part but in front of top part
And now it would look like loot is coming out of your chest

6

Thanks for explaining. My chest is not 2 separate objects i.e 2 separate parts. It is a sprite that has open and close animation. That’s why the z-order approach will not work.

7

And that is why i told you if you would make it 2 objects each being its own part you would get what you want with z order

BTW i am talking about it assuming your chest literally having opening animation

8

Yeah, if they were 2 objects then probably your approach would have worked. Fortunately, I solved both of the problems that I was facing after some trial and error.

I still appreciate your help. Thank you so much.