yes, they canjj st!

systems/bullets/behaviors/bullet_behavior.gd

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+@abstract
+class_name BulletBehavior
+extends Resource
+
+
+## Called when a bullet is spawned with this behavior in order to set up
+## behavior-specific state.
+@warning_ignore("unused_parameter")
+func init_bullet(bullet: Bullet) -> void: pass
+
+## Called to process a tick of a bullet's movement.
+@abstract func process_bullet(bullet: Bullet, delta: float) -> void

systems/bullets/behaviors/bullet_behavior.gd.uid

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+uid://djcajenyac4sd

systems/bullets/behaviors/simple_linear_behavior.gd

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+class_name SimpleLinearBehavior
+extends BulletBehavior
+## Makes bullets move in [member Bullet.direction], potentially accelerating.
+
+
+## Initial speed of the bullet when it is spawned.
+@export_custom(0, "suffix:px/s") var initial_speed: float = 0.0
+
+## Rate at which the bullet will speed up.
+@export_custom(0, "suffix:px/s²") var acceleration: float = 0.0
+
+
+func process_bullet(bullet: Bullet, delta: float) -> void:
+	var speed = initial_speed + acceleration * bullet.time_elapsed
+	bullet.position += bullet.direction * speed * delta

systems/bullets/behaviors/simple_linear_behavior.gd.uid

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+uid://dntp60my5f65m

systems/bullets/bullet.gd

@@ -1,17 +1,22 @@
 @tool
+@icon("bullet.svg")
 class_name Bullet
 extends Area2D
 
 
-static  var _hitbox_shapes: Dictionary[Vector2i, RectangleShape2D] = {}
+## The number of bullets to allocate at startup.
+const INITIAL_ALLOCATED_BULLETS: int = 2000
 
 
-@export var texture: Texture2D:
+## Texture to draw for the bullet.
+@export var texture: Texture2D = null:
 	set(value):
 		texture = value
 		queue_redraw()
+		_update_visibility_notifier()
 
-@export var hitbox_size: Vector2i:
+## Size of the bullet's collision box.
+@export var hitbox_size: Vector2i = Vector2i.ZERO:
 	set(value):
 		hitbox_size = value
 		if not _hitbox_shapes.has(hitbox_size):
@@ -20,18 +25,100 @@ static  var _hitbox_shapes: Dictionary[Vector2i, RectangleShape2D] = {}
 			_hitbox_shapes[hitbox_size] = new_shape
 		_hitbox.shape = _hitbox_shapes[hitbox_size]
 
+## The direction that the bullet is travelling.
+@export_custom(0, "direction") var direction: Vector2 = Vector2.RIGHT
+
+## If [code]true[/code], the bullet will always rotate to face toward [member direction].
+@export var face_direction: bool = false
+
+
+## The amount of time in seconds that the bullet has existed.
+var time_elapsed: float = 0.0
+
+
+static var _cached_bullets: Array[Bullet] = []
+static var _hitbox_shapes: Dictionary[Vector2i, RectangleShape2D] = {}
+
 
 var _hitbox: CollisionShape2D = CollisionShape2D.new()
 
 
+## Returns a new [Bullet], which may be sourced from the cached bullets.
+@warning_ignore("shadowed_variable")
+static func create(
+	texture: Texture2D = null,
+	hitbox_size: Vector2i = Vector2i.ZERO,
+	direction: Vector2 = Vector2.RIGHT,
+	face_direction: bool = false,
+) -> Bullet:
+	var bullet: Bullet = _cached_bullets.pop_back()
+	if not bullet:
+		bullet = Bullet.new()
+	
+	bullet.texture = texture
+	bullet.hitbox_size = hitbox_size
+	bullet.direction = direction
+	bullet.face_direction = face_direction
+	bullet.time_elapsed = 0.0
+	
+	return bullet
+
+
+## Removes the bullet from the scene tree and returns it to the bullet cache to be
+## re-used later.
+func recycle() -> void:
+	get_parent().remove_child(self)
+	_cached_bullets.append(self)
+
+
+static func _static_init() -> void:
+	for _i in INITIAL_ALLOCATED_BULLETS:
+		_cached_bullets.append(Bullet.new())
+
+
 func _init() -> void:
+	monitoring = false
+	add_to_group(&"bullets")
 	_hitbox.debug_color.a = 0.0
 	add_child(_hitbox)
 
 
+func _enter_tree() -> void:
+	_update_visibility_notifier()
+
+
+func _physics_process(delta: float) -> void:
+	if not Engine.is_editor_hint():
+		time_elapsed += delta
+		
+		if face_direction:
+			rotation = direction.angle()
+
+
 func _draw() -> void:
-	draw_texture(texture, -texture.get_size() * 0.5)
+	if texture:
+		draw_texture(texture, -texture.get_size() * 0.5)
 
 
 func _get_configuration_warnings() -> PackedStringArray:
 	return []
+
+
+# sets the canvas item up to notify when it leaves the screen
+# this essentially mimics `VisibleOnScreenNotifier` without an additional node
+func _update_visibility_notifier() -> void:
+	if not texture or not is_inside_tree() or Engine.is_editor_hint():
+		return
+	
+	# the visibility rect is set to twice the size of the texture to add a little margin
+	# (func(): pass) is the cleanest way i could think of to have a callback that does nothing
+	RenderingServer.canvas_item_set_visibility_notifier(
+		get_canvas_item(), true,
+		Rect2(-texture.get_size(), texture.get_size() * 2.0),
+		(func(): pass), _on_screen_exited
+	)
+
+
+# called when the bullet leaves the screen.
+func _on_screen_exited() -> void:
+	recycle()

systems/bullets/bullet.svg

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
+<svg
+   width="16"
+   height="16"
+   version="1.1"
+   id="svg1"
+   sodipodi:docname="bullet.svg"
+   inkscape:version="1.4.2 (ebf0e940d0, 2025-05-08)"
+   xmlns:inkscape="http://www.inkscape.org/namespaces/inkscape"
+   xmlns:sodipodi="http://sodipodi.sourceforge.net/DTD/sodipodi-0.dtd"
+   xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
+   xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
+  <defs
+     id="defs1">
+    <linearGradient
+       id="a"
+       x2="0"
+       y1="2"
+       y2="14"
+       gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"
+       gradientTransform="translate(4)">
+      <stop
+         offset="0"
+         stop-color="#ff8dbc"
+         id="stop1" />
+      <stop
+         offset=".4"
+         stop-color="#7260ff"
+         id="stop2" />
+      <stop
+         offset=".6"
+         stop-color="#7260ff"
+         id="stop3" />
+      <stop
+         offset="1"
+         stop-color="#74c9ff"
+         id="stop4" />
+    </linearGradient>
+  </defs>
+  <sodipodi:namedview
+     id="namedview1"
+     pagecolor="#505050"
+     bordercolor="#ffffff"
+     borderopacity="1"
+     inkscape:showpageshadow="0"
+     inkscape:pageopacity="0"
+     inkscape:pagecheckerboard="1"
+     inkscape:deskcolor="#505050"
+     inkscape:zoom="10.995366"
+     inkscape:cx="8.7309506"
+     inkscape:cy="10.049688"
+     inkscape:window-width="1358"
+     inkscape:window-height="742"
+     inkscape:window-x="0"
+     inkscape:window-y="0"
+     inkscape:window-maximized="0"
+     inkscape:current-layer="svg1" />
+  <path
+     style="fill:#8da5f3;fill-opacity:1;stroke-width:3.78"
+     d="M 1.3983532,8.3266862 6.414829,13.926473 7.737001,12.526527 2.7594126,7.160064 Z"
+     id="path2"
+     sodipodi:nodetypes="ccccc" />
+  <path
+     style="fill:#8da5f3;fill-opacity:1;stroke-width:3.78"
+     d="M 3.4711505,6.74088 8.3320767,11.951793 13.465215,7.2075289 C 14.904049,5.69092 16.498433,3.3965627 14.554063,1.5299671 13.270778,-0.10330412 11.326407,0.36334478 9.1098249,2.0743908 Z"
+     id="path3"
+     sodipodi:nodetypes="cccccc" />
+  <path
+     style="fill:#8da5f3;fill-opacity:1;stroke-width:3.78"
+     d="M 3.2131098,11.837773 1.056944,14.71266 4.1432206,12.810161 Z"
+     id="path5"
+     sodipodi:nodetypes="cccc" />
+  <path
+     style="fill:#8da5f3;fill-opacity:1;stroke-width:3.78"
+     d="M 4.8196647,13.40205 2.5789434,15.219994 5.4538311,14.247606 Z"
+     id="path6" />
+  <path
+     style="fill:#8da5f3;fill-opacity:1;stroke-width:3.78"
+     d="M 1.4797216,10.019829 0.42277761,12.979273 2.3252768,10.992217 Z"
+     id="path7"
+     sodipodi:nodetypes="cccc" />
+</svg>

systems/bullets/bullet.svg.import

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+[remap]
+
+importer="texture"
+type="CompressedTexture2D"
+uid="uid://73kflfycjlft"
+path="res://.godot/imported/bullet.svg-bd5de27a67ea13ec7922f62f013cca2b.ctex"
+metadata={
+"vram_texture": false
+}
+
+[deps]
+
+source_file="res://systems/bullets/bullet.svg"
+dest_files=["res://.godot/imported/bullet.svg-bd5de27a67ea13ec7922f62f013cca2b.ctex"]
+
+[params]
+
+compress/mode=0
+compress/high_quality=false
+compress/lossy_quality=0.7
+compress/uastc_level=0
+compress/rdo_quality_loss=0.0
+compress/hdr_compression=1
+compress/normal_map=0
+compress/channel_pack=0
+mipmaps/generate=false
+mipmaps/limit=-1
+roughness/mode=0
+roughness/src_normal=""
+process/channel_remap/red=0
+process/channel_remap/green=1
+process/channel_remap/blue=2
+process/channel_remap/alpha=3
+process/fix_alpha_border=true
+process/premult_alpha=false
+process/normal_map_invert_y=false
+process/hdr_as_srgb=false
+process/hdr_clamp_exposure=false
+process/size_limit=0
+detect_3d/compress_to=1
+svg/scale=1.0
+editor/scale_with_editor_scale=false
+editor/convert_colors_with_editor_theme=false

systems/bullets/bullet_preset.gd

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+class_name BulletPreset
+extends Resource
+
+@export var behavior: BulletBehavior = null
+
+@export var pattern: BulletSpawnPattern = null
+
+@export var textures: Array[Texture2D] = []
+
+@export var hitbox_size: Vector2i = Vector2i.ZERO
+
+@export var face_direction: bool = false
+
+@export var rounds: int = 1
+
+@export var round_delay: float = 0.0

systems/bullets/bullet_preset.gd.uid

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+uid://vus1a0flwtnm

systems/bullets/bullet_set.gd

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+class_name BulletSet
+extends Node2D
+
+
+@export var preset: BulletPreset
+
+
+func _ready() -> void:
+	for _n in preset.rounds:
+		preset.pattern.spawn_bullets(self, preset)
+		await get_tree().create_timer(preset.round_delay, false, true).timeout
+
+
+func _physics_process(delta: float) -> void:
+	for bullet in get_children():
+		if bullet is Bullet:
+			preset.behavior.process_bullet(bullet, delta)
+		else:
+			push_error("BulletSet does not support having non-bullet children. Removing child: ", bullet)
+			bullet.queue_free()
+
+
+func add_bullet(bullet: Bullet) -> void:
+	preset.behavior.init_bullet(bullet)
+	add_child(bullet)
+
+
+func add_bullets(new_bullets: Array[Bullet]) -> void:
+	for bullet in new_bullets:
+		preset.behavior.init_bullet(bullet)
+		add_child(bullet)

systems/bullets/bullet_set.gd.uid

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+uid://cj2fj7snls8aa

systems/bullets/spawn_patterns/bullet_spawn_pattern.gd

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+@abstract
+class_name BulletSpawnPattern
+extends Resource
+
+
+@abstract func spawn_bullets(bullet_set: BulletSet, preset: BulletPreset) -> void

systems/bullets/spawn_patterns/bullet_spawn_pattern.gd.uid

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+uid://bhy0mkwfsi5j8

systems/bullets/spawn_patterns/ring_pattern.gd

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+class_name RingPattern
+extends BulletSpawnPattern
+
+
+@export var bullet_count: int
+@export var distance_offset: float
+@export_custom(0, "radians_as_degrees") var angle_offset: float
+@export_custom(0, "radians_as_degrees") var direction_rotation: float
+
+
+func spawn_bullets(bullet_set: BulletSet, preset: BulletPreset) -> void:
+	for i in bullet_count:
+		var angle = (float(i) / float(bullet_count)) * TAU + angle_offset
+		var bullet = Bullet.create(
+			preset.textures.pick_random(),
+			preset.hitbox_size,
+			Vector2.from_angle(angle + direction_rotation),
+			preset.face_direction
+		)
+		bullet.position = Vector2.from_angle(angle) * distance_offset
+		bullet_set.add_bullet(bullet)

systems/bullets/spawn_patterns/ring_pattern.gd.uid

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+uid://dtuc6qerbfset