ECSx v0.5.1

View Source ECSx (ECSx v0.5.1)

ECSx is an Entity-Component-System (ECS) framework for Elixir.

In ECS:

  • Every game object is an Entity, represented by a unique ID.
  • The data which comprises an Entity is split among many Components.
  • Game logic is split into Systems, which update the Components every server tick.

Under the hood, ECSx uses Erlang Term Storage (ETS) to store active Components in memory. A single GenServer manages the ETS tables to ensure strict serializability and customize the run order for Systems.

configuration

 Configuration

You may configure various settings for ECSx in the application environment (usually defined in config/config.exs):

config :ecsx,
  manager: MyApp.Manager,
  tick_rate: 20,
  persist_interval: :timer.seconds(15),
  persistence_adapter: ECSx.Persistence.FileAdapter,
  persistence_file_location: "components.persistence"
  • :manager - This setting defines the module and path for your app's ECSx Manager. When only a module name is given here, the path will be inferred using the standard directory conventions (e.g. MyApp.Manager becomes lib/my_app/manager.ex). If you are using a different structure for your directories, you can instead use a tuple including the :path option (e.g. {ManagerModule, path: "lib/path/to/file.ex"})
  • :tick_rate - This controls how many times per second each system will run. Setting a higher value here can make a smoother experience for users of your app, but will come at the cost of increased server load. Increasing this value beyond your hardware's capabilities will result in instability across the entire application, worsening over time until eventually the application crashes.
  • :persist_interval - ECSx makes regular backups of all components marked for persistence. This setting defines the length of time between each backup.
  • :persistence_adapter - If you have a custom adapter which implements ECSx.Persistence.Behaviour, you can set it here to replace the default FileAdapter.
  • :persistence_file_location - If you are using the default FileAdapter for persistence, this setting allows you to define the path for the backup file.

Link to this section Summary

Functions

manager()

Returns the ECSx manager module.

manager_path()

Returns the path to the ECSx manager file.

persist_interval()

Returns the frequency of component persistence.

tick_rate()

Returns the tick rate of the ECSx application.

Link to this section Functions

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manager()

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@spec manager() :: module() | nil

Returns the ECSx manager module.

This is set in your app configuration:

config :ecsx, manager: MyApp.Manager
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manager_path()

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@spec manager_path() :: binary() | nil

Returns the path to the ECSx manager file.

This is inferred by your module name. If you want to rename or move the manager file so the path and module name are no longer in alignment, use a custom :path opt along with the manager module, wrapped in a tuple.

examples

 Examples 

# standard path: lib/my_app/manager.ex
config :ecsx, manager: MyApp.Manager

# custom path: lib/foo/bar/baz.ex
config :ecsx, manager: {MyApp.Manager, path: "lib/foo/bar/baz.ex"}
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persist_interval()

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@spec persist_interval() :: integer()

Returns the frequency of component persistence.

This defaults to 15 seconds, and can be changed in your app configuration:

config :ecsx, persist_interval: :timer.minutes(1)
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tick_rate()

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@spec tick_rate() :: integer()

Returns the tick rate of the ECSx application.

This defaults to 20, and can be changed in your app configuration:

config :ecsx, tick_rate: 15