Delta is crucial for creating smooth and consistent behavior in your games that are independent of the player's hardware capabilities. By using it correctly, you ensure that all players have the same experience, regardless of performance differences.
delta is used for making movement and time-based operations consistent across different frame rates.
Without using delta, an object would move faster on a system with a higher FPS (frames per second) compared to a system with lower FPS.
When you are dealing with physics calculations, such as applying forces or velocities to RigidBody nodes, you should use _physics_process(delta) which is called at a fixed frequency. This ensures consistent physics simulation.
For smooth animations or timers, delta helps ensure that your animations or countdowns take the same amount of real-world time to complete, irrespective of the game's frame rate.
Sometimes, game logic must happen every frame but might need to be adjusted based on how long the frame takes. For example, decay effects or cooldown timers can use delta to decrease accurately over time.
There are occasions where you don't want to use delta, especially when working with UI elements or when you need something to happen in exact step increments that aren't supposed to be frame-dependent.
