Book Image

Game Development Patterns with Unity 2021 - Second Edition

By : David Baron
Book Image

Game Development Patterns with Unity 2021 - Second Edition

By: David Baron

Overview of this book

This book is written for every game developer ready to tackle the bigger picture and start working with advanced programming techniques and design patterns in Unity. Game Development Patterns with Unity 2021 is an introduction to the core principles of reusable software patterns and how to employ them to build components efficiently. In this second edition, you'll tackle design patterns with the help of a practical example; a playable racing game prototype where you’ll get to apply all your newfound knowledge. Notable updates also include a game design document (GDD), a Unity programming primer, and the downloadable source code of a complete prototype. Your journey will start by learning about overall design of the core game mechanics and systems. You’ll discover tried-and-tested software patterns to code essential components of a game in a structured manner, and start using classic design patterns to utilize Unity's unique API features. As you progress, you'll also identify the negative impacts of bad architectural decisions and understand how to overcome them with simple but effective practices. By the end of this Unity book, the way you develop Unity games will change – you’ll adapt a more structured, scalable, and optimized process that will help you take the next step in your career.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
1
Sections 1: Fundamentals
5
Section 2: Core Patterns
16
Section 3: Alternative Patterns
20
About Packt

When to use the Object Pool pattern

To better understand when to use the Object Pool pattern, let's review when not to use it. For instance, if you have entities that need to be spawned once on your map, such as a final boss, putting it in an Object Pool is a waste of memory that you could use for something more useful.

Also, we should keep in mind that an Object Pool is not a cache. It has a similar purpose—the reuse of objects. The core difference is that an Object Pool has a mechanism in which entities are automatically returned to the pool after being used, and an Object Pool, if well implemented, handles the creation and deletion of objects depending on the available size of the pool.

But suppose we have entities such as bullets, particles, and enemy characters that are frequently spawned and destroyed during a gameplay sequence. In that case, the Object Pool can relieve some of the strain we are putting on the CPU by reducing repetitious lifespan calls such as create...