SimpleBoards Godot 4 Leaderboard Example - Lane Dodge Game

This repository contains a minimal, complete Godot 4 leaderboard example demonstrating how to integrate SimpleBoards into a real gameplay loop.

The game is intentionally simple.
The focus is leaderboards, score submission, and UI flow, not game complexity.

This project can be used as a Godot leaderboard example, starter template, or reference implementation for indie developers.

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🎮 Game Overview

Lane Dodge is a top-down survival game:

• The player can move between three lanes
• Obstacles fall from the top
• Survive as long as possible
• Your survival time and score are submitted to a leaderboard

This project demonstrates a full, real-world leaderboard flow in a small, readable codebase.

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✨ Features

• Godot 4 compatible
• Lane-based gameplay
• SimpleBoards leaderboard integration
• Score submission without user accounts
• Async submission with success and error handling
• Game Over leaderboard preview
• Full leaderboard page with ranking

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👤 Who This Is For

This example is intended for:

• Godot 4 developers
• Indie game developers
• Developers looking for a simple leaderboard solution
• Anyone searching for a Godot leaderboard example or template

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🧩 Requirements

• Godot Engine 4.x
• A SimpleBoards account (free tier is enough)

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Create a SimpleBoards Account

Go to: https://simpleboards.dev

Register and open the Dashboard.

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2. Get Your API Key and Leaderboard ID

After creating your leaderboard in the SimpleBoards dashboard, you need two values:

• API Key – used to authenticate requests
• Leaderboard ID – identifies which leaderboard to submit scores to

You can copy both directly from the dashboard.

Once created, copy the values using the Copy buttons:

• Use Copy under API keys to get your API key
• Use Copy ID under Active leaderboards to get your Leaderboard ID

You will paste these values into the project in the next step.

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3. Configure the Project

Open the project in Godot.

Locate the Leaderboard node (or leaderboard.gd script) and the GameOver node (or game_over.gd).

Replace the placeholders:

# Get your Leaderboard ID and API key from https://simpleboards.dev/dashboard
@export var leaderboard_id := "REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_LEADERBOARD_ID"
@export var api_key := "REPLACE_WITH_YOUR_API_KEY"

You can set these values directly in the Inspector.

If you forget this step, the leaderboard will not load.

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🏗 Project Structure

Scenes/
├── Menu.tscn
├── Game.tscn
├── GameOver.tscn
├── HUD.tscn
├── Leaderboard.tscn
├── LeaderboardPage.tscn
├── Obstacle.tscn
├── Player.tscn
├── Spawner.tscn

Scripts/
├── game.gd
├── menu.gd
├── hud.gd
├── game_over.gd
├── leaderboard.gd
├── leaderboard_page.gd
├── player.gd
├── obstacle.gd
├── spawner.gd

addons/
└── simpleboards_plugin/

Assets/
└── kenney_shape-characters/

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🧠 Core Concepts

Score and Time

• Time = how long the player survives
• Score = how many obstacles were avoided
• Time is also stored as metadata on the leaderboard entry

Example metadata:

00:26:14

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Game Flow

1. Player starts the game
2. Timer and score update live
3. Player hits an obstacle
4. Game Over screen appears
5. Player enters a name
6. Score is submitted to SimpleBoards
7. Leaderboard refreshes
8. Player can replay or return to menu

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📡 SimpleBoards Integration

Submitting a Score

Scores are submitted without user accounts, using:

• Leaderboard ID
• Player name
• Score
• Metadata (time)

The UI handles:

• Submitting state
• Success feedback
• Failure recovery

This mirrors how SimpleBoards is intended to be used in real indie games.

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Leaderboard Display

The leaderboard shows:

Rank | Name | Score | Time

• Rankings are calculated from the returned order
• Empty leaderboards show a friendly message
• Errors are handled gracefully

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🛠 Customization Ideas

You can easily extend this example:

• Add daily or weekly leaderboards
• Highlight the player’s own entry
• Add pagination
• Store structured metadata (JSON)
• Replace dynamic rows with reusable prefabs

The code is intentionally simple and readable to encourage experimentation.

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🔒 Security Notes

This example uses client-side score submission.

This is suitable for:

• Prototypes
• Indie games
• Non-competitive leaderboards

For authoritative or anti-cheat-sensitive games, server-side validation is recommended.

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🤏 Why This Example Is Simple

This project is intentionally minimal.

The goal is to answer:

“How do I add leaderboards to my Godot 4 game in 10 minutes?”

Not to build a full game.

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🧾 License

You are free to:

• Use this project
• Modify it
• Ship it
• Learn from it

No attribution required.

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🎨 Assets & Credits

This project uses visual assets from Kenney:

• Shape Characters Pack
  https://kenney.nl/assets/shape-characters

Kenney assets are licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows free use in both personal and commercial projects, with no attribution required.

That said, crediting Kenney is highly encouraged and appreciated.

Learn more at:
https://kenney.nl

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🌐 Learn More

• SimpleBoards website: https://simpleboards.dev
• SimpleBoards documentation: https://simpleboards.dev/docs
• Dashboard: https://simpleboards.dev/dashboard
• SimpleBoards Godot asset: https://github.com/isetr/simpleboards_godot

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✅ Final Notes

If you are:

• An indie developer
• Using Godot
• Shipping a small game
• Or just need leaderboards fast

This project shows the intended SimpleBoards workflow from start to finish.