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) our framework uses a somewhat different naming scheme as compared to the classic ECS. Here is the list of the terms used throughout this manual:

Common Term Term Description Known ECS Term
Subject Subject The low-level composition of Traits. Entity
Subjective The higher-level part of a Subject consisting of Details. N/A
Part Trait The struct-based building data block. Component
Detail The class-based building data block. Component
Iterable Chunk The storage for Subjects Slots and Traits. Chunk
Belt The storage for Subjective Slots. Chunk
N/A Slot A single element in an Iterable. N/A
Flagmark The manual bit flags specification of the Subject. N/A
Traitmark The traits composition specification of the Subject. Archetype
Detailmark The details composition specification of the Subjective. Archetype
Fingerprint The full specification of a Subject’s topology. Archetype
Filter The including/excluding selector of the Subjects. Query
Mechanic The processing logic for the Subjects. System
Mechanism The world-based subset of Subjects and Mechanicals. N/A
Machine The global runtime state of the framework. N/A

Why did we chose the non-conventional naming scheme in the first place? Well, we obviously consider ours to be a better one overall and here is why.

“Entity” is a much broader term, that is usually reserved for some general-purpose objects and is quite useful as a general documentation term. On the other hand the word “Subject” is better associated with something that is not autonomous by its own and is actually dependent, subordinate. 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 the game ticking and the game design as a whole. As of “component” – this is basically already reserved by Unreal Engine itself. “Detail”/“Trait” are free to use and are quite obvious to be Parts of something (i.e. Subjects).

It may be hard to remember at first, but you’ll get used to it and the logic behind the terms. So to sum this all up, the “Entity Component System” is basically transformed into the “Subject Part Mechanic”. Please, get back to this article from time to time if you get lost.

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  • Last modified: 2021/12/04 20:25
  • by vladius