Tentacle

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

Overview

The tentacle prefab represents a hostile in-game entity that behaves as a boss or semi-persistent predator. It uses a custom retargeting strategy and engagement logic to pursue and attack players or other entities, while dynamically switching targets when damaged by another source. It is built using the Entity Component System and relies heavily on the combat, health, and sanityaura components to manage combat, health, and player sanity effects.

Usage example

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("health")
inst.components.health:SetMaxHealth(200)
inst:AddComponent("combat")
inst.components.combat:SetRange(5)
inst.components.combat:SetDefaultDamage(20)
inst:AddTag("hostile")
inst:AddTag("monster")
inst:SetStateGraph("SGtentacle")

Dependencies & tags

Components used: health, combat, sanityaura, inspectable, lootdropper, acidinfusible, transform, physics, animstate, soundemitter, network
Tags added: monster, hostile, wet, WORM_DANGER, tentacle, NPCcanaggro

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
_last_attacker	entity or nil	nil	Tracks the most recent entity that attacked this instance.
_last_attacked_time	number or nil	nil	Timestamp of the last attack received.
sanityaura.aura	number	-TUNING.SANITYAURA_MED	Negative sanity aura that affects nearby players.
components.acidinfusible.fxlevel	number	1	Controls visual FX intensity for acid infusion.

Main functions

retargetfn(inst)

• Description: Custom retargeting function used by the combat component to select a new target. It searches for valid entities within attack range that meet specific tag and state criteria.
• Parameters: inst (entity) — the tentacle instance invoking the function.
• Returns: entity or nil — the chosen target, or nil if none found.
• Error states: Returns nil if no entity satisfies the visibility, tag, and health conditions.

shouldKeepTarget(inst, target)

• Description: Function passed to combat:SetKeepTargetFunction. Determines whether the tentacle should continue pursuing its current target.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — the tentacle instance.
  • target (entity or nil) — the current target.
• Returns: boolean — true if the target remains valid and within range; false otherwise.
• Error states: Returns false if target is nil, invalid, invisible, dead, or too far away.

OnAttacked(inst, data)

• Description: Event handler that triggers when the tentacle is hit. It can force a target switch to the attacker if the current target was not attacked recently, enforcing aggressive threat-based targeting.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) — the tentacle instance.
  • data (table) — contains attacker (entity), damage, and other attack metadata.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Returns early without action if data.attacker is nil, or if no current target is set, or if the current target attacked recently (within TUNING.TENTACLE_ATTACK_AGGRO_TIMEOUT seconds).

Events & listeners

• Listens to: attacked — fires OnAttacked handler to potentially switch targets when damaged.
• Pushes: None identified.