Game System

The system that make up the Stuff in the world. Every codebase should have a Stuff class

The Entity

The game system is the part of the game that keep track of the entities in the game. A entity can be a tank, a player, a weapon or anything else. Entity is the name I use but there are a number of other names. They are called Game Object in Unity, Actor in Unreal and Entity by CryEngine and Source. The basic things a game system need to do with entity's is to create, update, communicate, render and destroy.

The Life

The life of a entity is marked by the following major stages.

Create / Construction

Memory is allocated for the entity, default values are set and pointers are cleared.

Init

Configuration data is used to specify how the entity should setup itself. Position, physical properties and what visual assets to use. Often loaded from the level.

Resolve

This setp is done when all entities has been initalized. It allows for the setup of inter-entity relationships. For examaple trigger regions might link to the doors they open.

Update

Render / Draw

Deinit

Release any used assets.

Destroy / Destruction

Return the memory the entity used.

The Form

Struct

A simple struct that is the same for all entity's and that contain all the data needed. The struct need a data field to tell you what it is and then the Update(entity*) function can check what it is and do what is needed. It will be one big switch case.

Inheritance

In a Inheritance game system there is some form of base entity that everything is based. Then one derives new entity types from that one and add the code and data needed. It all turns into a tree of entity types that depend on each other. A bit hard to change when one started to get a big tree and someone would like to move one branch from one side to the next.

• • Why composition is often better than inheritance - 2014

  • The Guerrilla Guide to Game Code - 2005

Component - 2002

In a component system the basic entity does not do much besides existing. To make it do more one add components to it where each component do something specific. One component can make it render a model and another can make it try to shoot at the player.

Links

• • Overwatch Gameplay Architecture and Netcode - 2019

  • Writing High Performance C# Scripts - 2017

  • Comparison of Doom 1, Quake, and Doom 3 entity references system - 2015

Game Engine Entity/Object Models

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jjEsB611kxs&feature=youtu.be

Why isn't Godot an ECS-based game engine?

https://godotengine.org/article/why-isnt-godot-ecs-based-game-engine

ECS and Data Structures

http://www.randygaul.net/2021/04/06/ecs-and-data-structures/

Components & code design

https://anteru.net/blog/2021/components-code-design/