en:toolworks:docs:apparatus:ecs-glossary

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ECS to Apparatus (Glossary)

Apparatus provides all of the basic ECS idioms and even more. To be unambiguous (and self-sustained, actually) our framework uses a different naming scheme as compared to the classic ECS. Here is the list of analogous terms:

ECS Term Apparatus Term Description
Entity Subject & Subjective (Entities) The Trait/Detail container.
Component Detail & Trait (Components) The composing data blocks.
System Mechanic The details processor.
A group of Systems Mechanism A larger group of detail processors.
Archetype Fingerprint The subject’s current state.
Chunk Belt & Chunk The details & trait storage.

Why did we chose the non-conventional naming scheme in the first place? Well, we obviously consider ours to be a better choice 8-).

Look for yourself. “Entity” is a much broader term, that’s usually reserved in the engine’s ecosystem to some general-purpose objects and is useful for general documentation. “Subject” is in turn better associated with something that operates on them (i.e. Mechanics). The word “system” is also so much broader and could denote almost anything, e.g. particle system, save/load system, system library, etc. “Mechanic” is clearly something very deeply related to ticking and game design as a whole. As of “component” – it’s basically already reserved by Unreal Engine itself. “Detail”/“Trait” are free to use and are quite obvious to be a part of something.

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  • Last modified: 2021/10/19 11:24
  • by vladius