I'm delving into how games are created and can't help but ask about the history of entity systems, which include players and enemies. Here's how I perceive the timeline: It all began with the procedural style in the 80s, where entities were structured with enemy type, position, and state—and everything was looped through to manage behaviors. Then, the object-oriented approach took over in the 90s, introducing an abstract Entity class with numerous subclasses which allowed for more modular designs but led to problems like 'inheritance hell.' Moving into the 2000s, we saw the rise of the Entity Component System (ECS) that improved composition and separated data from logic. Is this historical perspective accurate? I'd love to hear insights or corrections from those knowledgeable about entity systems!
4 Answers
You might want to reconsider your take on the 80s procedural style. While you said entities were just structs, assembly and BASIC didn't truly support data structures in the modern sense. Implementing similar concepts was possible, but it wasn't as straightforward as today’s languages.
You mentioned that ECS started with "Thief: The Dark Project" in 1998, which is right! Just keep in mind that before that, many weren't really framing their designs around the concept of 'entities' as we know it today, making it tricky to create a precise timeline.
Not quite! Different games have always employed various systems to manage their components. For example, early assembly language games like Star Raiders had classes of opponents, each with unique traits, without explicitly using modern entity frameworks.
Definitely true! The system you choose to manage entities often comes down to what's easiest and most efficient for your game's specific needs. It's all about simplicity and making it work!
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