Sculptures

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-07

Overview

sculptures.lua defines reusable factory logic for creating statues (sculptures) that serve as interactive environmental prefabs in DST. Each sculpture exists in multiple states: covered, uncovered, broken, fixed, and morphed (during moon events). Sculptures interact with the moonphase state, support mining work via the workable component, can be repaired when broken, and transform into shadow chess creatures under specific conditions (e.g., new/full moon). The file exports six prefabs: rook (two variants), knight (two variants), and bishop (two variants).

Usage example

-- Example usage in a mod or vanilla context:
local rook_sculpture = require "prefabs/sculptures"

-- Note: This file returns prefabs, not components. To spawn one:
local inst = SpawnPrefab("sculpture_rookbody")
if inst and inst.components.workable then
    inst.components.workable:SetWorkLeft(5)
end

Dependencies & tags

Components used: lootdropper, inspectable, workable, repairable, pointofinterest (non-dedicated servers only), combat, talker, inventoryitem, burnable, fueled, heavyobstaclephysics.
Tags added: statue, sculpture, chess_moonevent, antlion_sinkhole_blocker.
Tags checked: player, debuffed, burnt, pocketdimension_container.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
inst._task	task handle or nil	nil	Holds a repeating task used during "struggle" animation when morphing is imminent.
inst._reanimatetask	task handle or nil	nil	Holds a delayed task that erodes the sculpture when it transforms.
inst.persists	boolean	false (during morph)	Controls whether the entity saves to disk. Set to false during morph.

Main functions

onworked(inst, worker, workleft)

• Description: Callback fired during mining work. If the sculpture is currently struggling (preparing to morph), stops the struggle and reanimates the entity. If work left drops to or below TUNING.SCULPTURE_COVERED_WORK, completes work immediately.
• Parameters: inst (entity), worker (entity performing work), workleft (number, remaining work units).
• Returns: Nothing.

MakeFixed(inst)

• Description: Transitions the sculpture to its "fixed" state. Updates minimap icon, resets the workable callback, removes repairable if present, plays animations and sound, clears loot table, and calls CheckMorph.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

MakeBroken(inst)

• Description: Transitions the sculpture to its "broken" state. Plays "med" animation, clears the workable callback, and adds the repairable component if not present (configured to expect sculpture pieces as repair material).
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

Reanimate(inst, forceshadow)

• Description: Transforms the sculpture into a shadow chess creature. Cancels struggle task, plays transformation animation, removes physics colliders, spawns chess piece sketch and gears (if shadow), spawns shadow/normal creature, sets it aggroed on nearest player if nearby, and erodes away the old entity after 2 seconds.
• Parameters: inst (entity), forceshadow (boolean, optional; forces creation of shadow variant even in non-moon phases).
• Returns: Nothing.

CheckMorph(inst)

• Description: Evaluates whether the sculpture should begin the morphing struggle animation. Triggers if not repaired, work left exceeds covered threshold, it's full/new moon, entity is not asleep, and no reanimation is in progress.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

StartStruggle(inst)

• Description: Initiates a repeating struggle animation and sound loop (jiggle) on the sculpture. Schedules a task to continue the struggle for a random number of repetitions.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

StopStruggle(inst)

• Description: Cancels the struggle task and clears _task.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  • shadowchessroar (world-level event) — triggers onshadowchessroar to morph uncovered sculptures.
  • isfullmoon, isnewmoon — watched via WatchWorldState, triggers CheckMorph on change.
• Pushes:
  • ms_unlockchesspiece — fired during morph to signal a chess piece has been unlocked.
  • entity_droploot — pushed by lootdropper:DropLoot.
  • loot_prefab_spawned — pushed by lootdropper:SpawnLootPrefab.