Moonpulse

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-06

Overview

The moonpulse component orchestrates the cinematic moon pulse effect triggered during Grotto events. It controls a multi-stage wave progression system that modulates a post-processing effect (MoonPulse and MoonPulseGrading), manages camera shake, screen flashes, sound playback, and wisp particle effects that radiate from the Moon Altar. The effect fades in, cycles through three distinct stages with increasing intensity, then fades out and self-removes. This is a client-side only component that does not persist or synchronize over the network.

Usage example

-- The moonpulse effect is typically spawned automatically during Grotto events
local pulse = SpawnPrefab("moonpulse")
-- Or via spawner for automatic instantiation:
local spawner = SpawnPrefab("moonpulse_spawner")

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None identified
Tags: Adds NOCLICK and NOBLOCK to both prefab instances.
External dependencies: ThePlayer, TheWorld, TheFocalPoint, PostProcessor, VecUtil_GetAngleInRads, VecUtil_Length, math.clamp

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
wave_progress	number	0	Normalized progress (0 to 1) of the current wave cycle within a stage.
glow_intensity	number	0	Current intensity of the post-processing glow, clamped between 0 and 1.
stage	number	1 (initialized in StartPostFX)	Current stage index (1 to #STAGES).
hold_time	number | nil	nil	Remaining time (in frames) to hold at wave peak before advancing stage.
fading_out	boolean | nil	nil	Set to true when effect enters fade-out phase.
num_spawn_wisps	number | nil	nil	Count of remaining wisps to spawn in the current wave.

Main functions

StartPostFX(inst)

• Description: Initializes and starts the post-processing effect, begins the periodic update loop, and triggers the first stage.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — the entity instance the effect is attached to.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Only runs on non-dedicated clients; does nothing if TheNet:IsDedicated() is true.

Update(inst)

• Description: Periodically called to advance the wave progression, adjust glow intensity, and update PostProcessor parameters based on player position.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Effectively no-ops if ThePlayer is invalid or nil.

incrementStage(inst)

• Description: Advances to the next stage of the pulse effect and resets wave progress.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: If stage exceeds #STAGES, sets fading_out = true instead of entering a new stage.

SpawnWisp(inst)

• Description: Spawns a moon altar link effect (wisp) at a random angular offset around the player and recursively schedules more.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Exits early if ThePlayer is invalid or nil; only spawns wisps while num_spawn_wisps > 0.

SmallWaveFX(inst)

• Description: Triggers a small wave effect: camera shake, wisp spawning, a moon pulse FX, and sound playback.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

BigWaveFX(inst)

• Description: Triggers a large wave effect: multi-stage camera shake, wisp spawning, a moonpulse2 FX, and sound playback.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: onremove — triggers onremove(inst) to disable MoonPulse and MoonPulseGrading post effects when the entity is removed.
• Pushes: TheWorld:PushEvent("screenflash", .5) — fired by PlayScreenFlash at regular intervals to trigger screen flash visuals.
• Pushes via TheFocalPoint.SoundEmitter: Plays "grotto/common/moon_alter/link/wave1" or "grotto/common/moon_alter/link/wave2" sounds.