Create a new scene with Sprite2D as the root

Rename it to Explosion

Add an AnimationPlayer as a child

Save the scene as explosion.tscn

For the Explosion texture

Use the explosion.png file

Notice that this is a sprite sheet

With 64 frames!

In the Sprite2D nodes Animation section

Set Hframes and Vframes both to 8

You can cycle through individual frames by changing the Frame value

Select the AnimationPlayer node

Notice the Animation Panel open at the bottom

Click on the Animation button

Click on New

Name the animation explosion

Set length to 0.64

Set Snapping to 0.01

Select the Explosion Node

Find the Frame property

Click on the Key

Deselect Create RESET track

Click Create

We now have an animation timeline

At time = 0 frame = 0

Scrub to the last frame at 0.64

Set Frame to 63 and press the key

Now we have the first and last frame

To add every frame in between

Select Mode - Continuous

Now hit play to see a preview of the animation

Return to the Rock Scene

Add an instance of the explosion scene

Close the eye so it is hidden by default

Add a line to the start function

This dynamically resizes the explosion animation to visually match the size of the asteroid being destroyed.

Add a custom signal at the top of the script

Which passes on the size, radius, position and velocity

Of the rock

Add the explode function

To disable collisions

Hide the rock

Stop the rock right there

Show the explosion node

Play the explosion animation

Emit the exploded signal

Wait until the animation is finished

Delete the rock from memory

Run the game (Main Scene) test that rocks explode when hit with lasers.

Spawning smaller rocks

In the main script at the bottom of the spawn_rock function

Add a line to connect a rocks' explode signal to a new function we will create next

Create the rock exploded function

When a rock is shot, it sends its final stats—its tier (size), hitbox size (radius), exact location (pos), and flight speed (vel)—straight to this function so the Main scene can decide what to spawn in its place.

Code discussion

If rock size is less than 1, we don't spawn any more rocks

The for loop runs the spawning code inside the loop twice, once with offset set to -1, and once with offset set to 1.

Why it's clever: In 2D math, multiplying a direction vector by -1 flips it 180 degrees to point the exact opposite way. Looping over [-1, 1] lets us spawn two fragments flying in opposite directions using the exact same formula.

Direction is calculated as follows:
$Player.position.direction_to(pos): Draws an invisible straight line pointing from the player's ship to the exploding rock.

.orthogonal(): Rotates that line by 90 degrees (perpendicular). This ensures the new rocks split sideways relative to your line of fire rather than flying straight back into your ship's face.

* offset: Sends the first rock left (* -1) and the second rock right (* 1) along that perpendicular line.

Position is calculated as follows:
Pushes each new fragment's starting position out to the opposite edges of the parent rock.

Why it matters: If both new rocks spawned at the exact center (pos), their collision shapes would overlap on frame 1, causing the physics engine to violently fling them apart. Multiplying dir * radius places them cleanly side-by-side without touching.

Velocity is calculated as follows:

vel.length() extracts the raw speed (a single number) of the parent rock before it died.

Multiplying by 1.1 gives the fragments a 10% speed boost, making smaller debris move slightly faster than large asteroids to ramp up the arcade tension.

Multiplying by dir applies that boosted speed along the new sideways trajectory.

Rocks

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