Makes the camera "look ahead" depending on the direction the character is moving

look_ahead_SMBX2.lua

 local lookAheadCam = {}

local handycam = require("handycam")
local ahead_offset_state = {}

function lookAheadCam.onCameraUpdate(idx)
    
    local hcam = handycam[idx]
    local plr = Player(idx)
    local plr_X = plr.x + plr.width * 0.5
    local lookaheaddistance = 96    -- Alter this value to increase/decrease lookahead distance
    local dragSpeed = 0.2
    local targetOffset = 0
    
    if not ahead_offset_state[idx] then
        ahead_offset_state[idx] = {
            offset_ahead = 0
        }
    end

    local state = ahead_offset_state[idx]    

    if plr.speedX ~= 0 then -- Check if the player is moving
        if plr.direction == -1 then
            targetOffset = -lookaheaddistance -- Look ahead to the left
        else
            targetOffset = lookaheaddistance -- Look ahead to the right
        end
    end

    state.offset_ahead = state.offset_ahead + (targetOffset - state.offset_ahead) * dragSpeed
    local targetX = plr_X + state.offset_ahead
    hcam.x = hcam.x + (targetX- hcam.x) * dragSpeed
end

function lookAheadCam.onCameraDraw()
    local centerX = camera.width / 2
    local centerY = camera.height / 2
    
    Graphics.drawBox{ x = centerX - 2, y = 0, w = 4, h = camera.height, color = Color.red .. 0.5 }
    
end

-- Delete this block above in order to remove the Red Rectangle

function lookAheadCam.onInitAPI()
    registerEvent(lookAheadCam, "onCameraDraw")
    registerEvent(lookAheadCam, "onCameraUpdate")
end

return lookAheadCam

-- This is released on the MIT LICENSE (https://opensource.org/license/mit)
-- TL-DR:
-- You are free to use and modify this code in any way you like, 
-- as long as you include the original license and copyright notice.