FINALLY fix that stupid bug. The cause was two-fold: I was giving every 'enemy' a sprite, but that automatically included the player in the list of enemies, which meant that I was rendering the player's sprite while moving. Then in the sprite casting loop I was rendering things at 0.

camera.cpp

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #include <numbers>
 #include <cmath>
 
-void CameraLOL::plan_move(Raycaster &rayview, int dir, bool strafe) {
+Point CameraLOL::plan_move(Raycaster &rayview, int dir, bool strafe) {
   t = 0.0;
   if(strafe) {
     targetX = rayview.$posX + int(-rayview.$dirY * 1.5 * dir);
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ void CameraLOL::plan_move(Raycaster &rayview, int dir, bool strafe) {
     targetX = rayview.$posX + int(rayview.$dirX * 1.5 * dir);
     targetY = rayview.$posY + int(rayview.$dirY * 1.5 * dir);
   }
+
+  return {size_t(targetX), size_t(targetY)};
 }
 
 void CameraLOL::plan_rotate(Raycaster &rayview, int dir) {

camera.hpp

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ struct CameraLOL {
   double targetPlaneX = 0.0;
   double targetPlaneY = 0.0;
 
-  void plan_move(Raycaster &rayview, int dir, bool strafe);
+  Point plan_move(Raycaster &rayview, int dir, bool strafe);
   void plan_rotate(Raycaster &rayview, int dir);
 
   bool play_rotate(Raycaster &rayview);

gui.cpp

@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+#define FSM_DEBUG 1
 #include "gui.hpp"
 #include <iostream>
 #include <chrono>
@@ -96,9 +97,7 @@ namespace gui {
 
   void FSM::try_move(int dir, bool strafe) {
     // prevent moving into occupied space
-    $camera.plan_move($rayview, dir, strafe);
+    Point move_to = $camera.plan_move($rayview, dir, strafe);
-
-    Point move_to{size_t($camera.targetX), size_t($camera.targetY)};
 
     if($level.map->can_move(move_to) && !$level.collision->occupied(move_to)) {
       state(State::MOVING);
@@ -221,8 +220,8 @@ namespace gui {
   }
 
   void FSM::run_systems() {
-    System::motion($level);
     System::enemy_pathing($level);
+    System::motion($level);
     System::collision($level);
     System::death($level);
   }

raycaster.cpp

@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ void Raycaster::sprite_casting(sf::RenderTarget &target) {
 
   // sort sprites from far to close
   auto sprite_order = $level.collision->distance_sorted({(size_t)$posX, (size_t)$posY});
+
   // after sorting the sprites, do the projection
   for(auto& rec : sprite_order) {
     if(!$sprites.contains(rec.second)) continue;
@@ -332,9 +333,13 @@ void Raycaster::set_level(GameLevel level) {
   $level = level;
   auto& tiles = $level.map->tiles();
   auto world = $level.world;
+  auto& player = world->get_the<components::Player>();
   $map = $textures.convert_char_to_texture(tiles.$tile_ids);
 
   world->query<components::Position>([&](const auto ent, auto &pos) {
+      // player doesn't need a sprite
+      if(player.entity == ent) return;
+
       if(world->has<components::Combat>(ent)) {
         fmt::println("enemy: {}, pos={},{}", ent, pos.location.x, pos.location.y);
         auto sprite_txt = $textures.sprite_textures.at("evil_eye");