When are bombs dangerous?

Should a bomb hurt you if you hold it too long?

Should it clip the back of your head if you throw it while jumping?

These are the kinds of design questions I’ve been revisiting while trying to make bomb throwing smoother and more fun.

Right now, bombs in this project have three states: UNARMED, ARMED, and EXPLODING.

• UNARMED: bombs placed in the level, waiting to be picked up.

• ARMED: a bomb that’s been picked up or thrown—its fuse is burning.

• EXPLODING: well… boom.

The player’s character uses a capsule collider. Bombs spawn at a marker just above and slightly offset from the character’s head, then arc forward when thrown.

Here’s the issue: if you throw a bomb while jumping upward, it can collide with your own capsule, stop dead, and blow up in your face. Technically correct, but not fun.

To fix this, I’m adding a new state: THROWN_SAFE. This is a short window after the throw where the bomb ignores the thrower’s collision. Once that timer ends, the bomb transitions to ARMED, and later to EXPLODING if the fuse runs out or it collides with someone.

It’s not quite working yet, but this change should prevent accidental self-hits while still keeping bombs dangerous when they should be.