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Balloon Held Child

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-04

Overview​

balloon_held_child is a networked prefab component used to represent a held balloon attached to an entity (e.g., a child character or proxy). It synchronizes balloon appearance (color, symbol overrides) and runtime state (e.g., deflation event) from the master simulation to clients. It spawns a balloon_held_child_client instance for animation and visual rendering on the client, and handles updates via net variables and events.

The component is tied to fueled components via event listening to trigger deflation behavior. It does not contain gameplay logic itself but serves as a view/proxy layer for balloon state.

Usage example​

-- Server-side setup (e.g., when equipping a balloon item):
inst:AddComponent("balloon_held_child")
inst.components.balloon_held_child:SetupFromBaseItem(baseitem, owner, false, colour_idx)

-- The component automatically creates a client-side counterpart and begins syncing.

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: fueled (only via event listening; not added or required directly), network, transform, animstate, soundemitter
Tags: Adds DECOR on the master prefab, FX on the client prefab.

Properties​

No public properties. State is managed via internal net variables (_colour_idx, _swap_build, _swap_sym, _deflate_event) and _isrunning.

Main functions​

SetupFromBaseItem(baseitem, owner, picked_up_from_ground, colour_idx)​

  • Description: Configures this instance to match a source balloon item. Sets parent entity, synchronizes color and symbol overrides via net variables, and registers a listener to update overrides and trigger deflation when the base item’s fuel section changes.
  • Parameters:
    baseitem (Entity) – the original balloon item prefab instance.
    owner (Entity) – the entity that will hold this balloon.
    picked_up_from_ground (boolean) – unused in implementation.
    colour_idx (number?, optional) – color index override (defaults to 0).
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: None identified.

SpawnClientObject(inst)​

  • Description: Internal constructor helper that spawns the balloon_held_child_client prefab, attaches it as a child of the owner, and configures animation overrides and sync tasks. Called automatically on non-dedicated clients during prefab initialization.
  • Parameters: inst (Entity) – the master instance.
  • Returns: Nothing. Assigns inst.client_obj.
  • Error states: No-op if owner is nil.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to:
    • onfueldsectionchanged (on baseitem when fueled is present) – triggers deflation on client and updates override symbols.
    • onremove (on inst) – destroys the client object.
    • ballon_held_child.deflateevent (on client only) – triggers "deflate" state in the state graph.
  • Pushes:
    • sg_update_running_state – fired when the running state of the owner changes (detected via moving state tag or tag).
    • ballon_held_child.deflateevent (networked via _deflate_event) – signals client to deflate.