OOP vs. ECS - SC-SGS/surviving-sarntal GitHub Wiki

Discussion about the basic architecture of our project, decision for OOP.

The current project is structured using Flecs and the Entity-Component-Statement. As a team, we are unfamiliar with the ECS-architecture, since we have only worked with OOP so far. Therefore, we are considering removing the ECS, and replacing it with a new structure.

We have to decide how to structure our project on a fundamental level. We need to make the decision if we want to keep the existing ECS structure or change it to OOP.

• Keeping the Entity-Component-System
• Change ECS to OOP

Keep the structure of the project as it currently is. While refactoring or adding new functionality, we have to keep adhering to the principles of the ECS.

• Good, because ECS is the better option for performance-critical applications
• Good, because ECS provides flexibility and reusability, since components can be easily added
• Good, because it would make the software engineering part of the project less complex/ work-intense for us

• Bad, because the ECS makes it more difficult for us to understand the structure and functionality of the existing codebase
• Bad, because the existing documentation for Flecs is difficult to understand

Renew the whole structure of the project and design a new structure based on OOP. Transform the ECS design into the OOP design.

• Good, because OOP design is more intuitive and familiar for the team
• Good, because OOP makes code reuse easier through inheritance and polymorphism
• Good, because the design transformation would force the team to throughly understand the code
• Good, because previous experience with OPP would make the refactoring of code, adding/ improving functionality easier for the team

• Bad, because it requires extensive refactoring of the codebase

Chosen option: "Change ECS to OOP", because it makes the physics as well as the game engineering part of the project more approachable for us, since it is the project architecture/design we are most familiar with. Changing the structure from ECS to OOP will give us the opportunity to create a basic code structure of the project, that can easily be understood, extended and maintained by our team.