Turn Based: Static Order
Turn-based means that players take turns acting instead of all acting at once. Static order means that the turn order is fixed, not dynamic.
This is the classic turn-based mechanic used in most board games. Often described as I-go-you-go, which is accurate for two player games. For games with more than two players this turn system can become very unfair towards the players that go last.
Examples:
- Chess:
- White plays first, then Black, then White again - this order never changes.
- Heroes of Might & Magic:
- Blue plays, then Red, then Green, then Yellow, then repeat.
- The only possible change is to skip players that have been eliminated.
ECS Design
Components
Player
- name: String
- color: Color
- order: Integer
Active
Marker component indicating that a Player is the active player.
EndTurn
Marker component indicating that the Active Player is ending their turn.
Entities
One entity per player with a single Player component.
Systems
Turn System
The turn system should be implemented aprroximately as follows (Python pseudo-code, very naive implementation):
active_players = world.get_entities_with_components(Player, Active)
if len(active_players) == 0:
players = world.get_entities_with_component(Player)
players.sort(key=order)
send_event("start_round")
world.add_component(players[0], Active)
send_event("start_turn", player)
else:
active_player = active_players[0]
if active_player.has_component(EndTurn):
world.remove_component(active_player, Active)
world.remove_component(active_player, EndTurn)
send_event("end_turn", active_player)
players = world.get_entities_with_component(Player)
players.sort(key=order)
for player in players:
if player.player.order > active_player.player.order:
world.add_component(player, Active)
send_event("start_turn", player)
return
send_event("end_round")
Notes:
- To skip an eliminated player, simply delete their Player entity.
- The events indicate places where other systems may need to do stuff related to turns.
