Component based game engine design

user_106762 0
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I have been looking at game engine design (specifically focused on 2d game engines, but also applicable to 3d games), and am interested in some information on how to go about it. I have heard that many engines are moving to a component based design nowadays rather than the traditional deep-object hierarchy.

Do you know of any good links with information on how these sorts of designs are often implemented? I have seen evolve your hierarchy, but I can't really find many more with detailed information (most of them just seem to say "use components rather than a hierarchy" but I have found that it takes a bit of effort to switch my thinking between the two models).

Any good links or information on this would be appreciated, and even books, although links and detailed answers here would be preferred.

entity-system entity-component-system game-engine architecture
8 Answers

There does seem to be a lack of information on the subject. I recently implemented this system, and I found a really good GDC Powerpoint that explained the details that are often left behind quite well. That document is here: Theory and Practice of Game Object Component Architecture

In addition to that Powerpoint, there are some good resources and various blogs. PurplePwny has a good discussion and links to some other resources. Ugly Baby Studios has a bit of a discussion around the idea of how components interact with each other. Good luck!

user_980820

In this context components to me sound like isolated runtime portions of an engine that may execute concurrently with other components. If this is the motivation then you might want to look at the actor model and systems that make use of it.

user_1538650

Interesting artcle...

I've had a quick hunt around on google and found nothing, but you might want to check some of the comments - plenty of people seem to have had a go at implementing a simple component demo, you might want to take a look at some of theirs for inspiration:

http://www.unseen-academy.de/componentSystem.html
http://www.mcshaffry.com/GameCode/thread.php?threadid=732
http://www.codeplex.com/Wikipage?ProjectName=elephant

Also, the comments themselves seem to have a fairly in-depth discussion on how you might code up such a system.

user_1131410
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