effective way to let puzzle elements identify and interact with eachother?

[thin portal]

i am making a puzzle platformer where i need to match switches and doors (etc) to interact with each other, but not necessarily on a 1-to-1 basis (some switches may affect multiple other devices for example)
with what little i know of the engine all i can think to do is give each set an id as a group and let them identify each other that way, but i feel like there could be a more effective and efficient way to do this.

[tight flicker]

Depends how tightly coupled you're okay with the door and switches being. You could export direct references between the door and multiple switches. When a switch is flicked, it tells the door. The door then checks if all its switches in the proper position and if they are, unlock/open. A fine solution for hand tailored puzzle games.
You could decouple them using signals if you wanted switches to interact with things other than doors.

[thin portal]

You could export direct references between the door and multiple switches
how would i go about doing this?

[tight flicker]

@export var switch_list: Array[Switch]

And then set the references in the editor

[thin portal]

so for the Array**[Switch]** part, how do i get the switches i want to reference in the list for the door?

specifically how do i make instanced switches the thing that goes in the list

[tight flicker]

Are you familiar with how exports work? Once you create a switch in your scene, click on the door node. In the inspector you'll see the switch_list array you made. Add an element to that array, and then select the switch from the list that pops up

[thin portal]

i don't know if i was literally supposed to put "switch" as the identifier bc i get this

the scene is called "switch" btw

[tight flicker]

Ah, you'll need to create an actual Switch class first. Look up a video on class_name

[thin portal]

works!

thank you very much!