1.8

empty

Problem

BaseGridMap is allowed to "optimize" spatial/area searches by limiting entities to check and dividing them into cells. However, with the ECS architecture, systems frequently need to work with a specific component rather than the entity itself. Currently, BaseGridMap queries return entities only. As a result, every query that needs a component has to call FindComponent() for each returned entity or do something else to map entities to components. A typical workflow becomes:

1. Query BaseGridMap for entities;

2. Call FindComponent() on each entity;

3. Only now do actual work.

This partially defeats the purpose of using an optimized spatial lookup when the actual object required by the system is a component.

Proposal

Add component-aware lookup support to BaseGridMap, allowing a spatial query to directly retrieve or iterate over components associated with registered entities.

For example:

class BaseGridMap {
  int FindComponentsInRange(out notnull array<ScriptComponent> components, typename componentTypename, vector origin, float range, int mask = 0);
};

So, now you can do:

class MySystem : GameSystem {
  protected ref SomeBaseGridMap m_gridMap;

  void Register(notnull MyComponent comp) {
    m_gridMap.Insert(comp.GetOwner());
  };

  void Work() {
    array<MyComponent> comps = {};
    m_gridMap.FindComponentsInRange(comps, MyComponent, pos, r);
    foreach (MyComponent comp : comps) {
      Do(comp);
    };
  };
};