forgot i stored player and ball scenes inside their spawn markers :p

classes/level/level.gd

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ class_name Level extends Node2D
 
 
 @export var director: StateMachine
-@export var camera: Camera2D
+@export var camera: LevelCamera
 @export var player_1_spawn: PlayerSpawnPoint
 @export var player_2_spawn: PlayerSpawnPoint
 @export var ball_spawn: BallSpawnPoint
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ class_name Level extends Node2D
 @export var block_layer: BlockTileLayer
 #@export var goal_layer: GoalTileLayer
 
-@onready var player_scene: PackedScene = preload("res://scenes/player/player.tscn")
-
 var player_1: Player
 var player_2: Player
 var ball: Ball
@@ -21,6 +19,7 @@ var scoreboard: Vector2i
 var current_round: int
 var restarted: bool
 
+
 func _ready() -> void:
 	# :sheesh:
 	assert(director != null, "no director set")

scenes/level_camera/level_camera_2d.gd

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-extends Camera2D
+class_name LevelCamera extends Camera2D
 
 @export_range(0, 1, 0.01) var ball_weight: float = 0.6
 @export_range(0, 1, 0.01) var player_weight: float = 0.2

scenes/level_camera/level_camera_2d.tscn

@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@
 [ext_resource type="Script" uid="uid://bsvjinfmr1pek" path="res://scenes/level_camera/level_camera_2d.gd" id="1_rls2d"]
 
 [node name="LevelCamera2D" type="Camera2D"]
+process_mode = 3
 script = ExtResource("1_rls2d")

scenes/level_director/level_director.tscn

@@ -3,5 +3,6 @@
 [ext_resource type="Script" uid="uid://bio2cjqps6kg1" path="res://scenes/level_director/level_director.gd" id="1_4q8ux"]
 
 [node name="LevelDirector" type="Node"]
+process_mode = 3
 script = ExtResource("1_4q8ux")
 metadata/_custom_type_script = "uid://dqjaxgmyxq3rx"

scenes/levels/states/level_starting.gd

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ extends LevelState
 
 
 func _enter(_previous_state_path: String, _data: Dictionary = {"round": 0, "restart": false}) -> void:
+	get_tree().paused = true
 	assert((_data["round"] as int) in range(3), "round number is invalid")
 	assert(
 		(_data["restart"] as bool) == true or
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ func _enter(_previous_state_path: String, _data: Dictionary = {"round": 0, "rest
 	)
 	level.current_round = _data["round"]
 	level.restarted = _data["restart"]
+	
 	if level.restarted:
 		level.current_round = 0
 		level.scoreboard = Vector2i(0,0)
@@ -17,6 +19,7 @@ func _enter(_previous_state_path: String, _data: Dictionary = {"round": 0, "rest
 	
 	if level.current_round + 1 == 4:
 		finished.emit(FINISHING)
+		return
 	
 	assert(
 		(level.player_1 != null and level.player_2 != null) or
@@ -32,12 +35,13 @@ func _enter(_previous_state_path: String, _data: Dictionary = {"round": 0, "rest
 	
 	level.player_1 = _instantiate_player(1)
 	level.player_2 = _instantiate_player(2)
+	level.ball = _instantiate_ball()
+
 
 func _instantiate_player(id: int) -> Player:
-	var p: Player = level.player_1 if id == 1 else level.player_2
 	var s: PlayerSpawnPoint = level.player_1_spawn if id == 1 else level.player_2_spawn
+	var p: Player = s.player_scene.instantiate()
 	
-	p = level.player_scene.instantiate()
 	p.id = id
 	p.name = "Player"+str(id)
 	
@@ -47,3 +51,14 @@ func _instantiate_player(id: int) -> Player:
 	p.global_position = s.global_position
 	
 	return p
+
+
+func _instantiate_ball() -> Ball:
+	var s: BallSpawnPoint = level.ball_spawn
+	var b: Ball = s.ball_scene.instantiate()
+	
+	level.add_child(b)
+	
+	b.global_position = s.global_position
+	
+	return b