FCommMessage Structure and Design

📦 Overview

The FCommMessage struct models a game communication message as a transport-friendly, extensible object with a clear separation between routing metadata (the envelope) and opaque content (the payload).

This pattern mirrors internet protocols like HTTP and SMTP: structured headers + flexible message bodies.

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📢 Metadata Envelope (Known Structure)

Used for routing, filtering, tracking, and system-wide logic.

FName SenderID;         // ID of the component sending the message
FName TargetID;         // Optional: direct recipient if private
FName ChannelID;        // Optional: for broadcasting via channels
FName MessageType;      // DataTable-driven message type identifier
FDateTime Timestamp;    // When the message was generated

✅ Characteristics:

• Consistent across all messages
• Understood by the CommunicationCenter and all listeners
• MessageType is a DataTable lookup, not an enum

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📥 Payload Body (Opaque Content)

Used to carry arbitrary message data, interpreted only by receivers.

FString PayloadJSON;

✅ Characteristics:

• Can encode structured game data (e.g., JSON, serialized maps)
• Allows actor-specific or component-specific behavior
• Encourages separation of transport and interpretation

🚀 Example Payload:

{
  "Weather": "Rain",
  "Intensity": 0.7,
  "Region": "EastField"
}

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⚖️ Benefits

• Decouples sender and receiver logic
• Enables dynamic routing, filtering, and logging
• Facilitates future enhancements (e.g., TTL, priorities)
• Allows subsystem-to-subsystem messaging without coupling

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⚡ Future Enhancements (Optional)

• Add Priority, Flags, TimeToLive to the envelope
• Support for schema validation of payload
• Add PayloadType hint for deserialization logic (if needed)

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✅ Next Step Suggestions

• Define FCommMessage as a USTRUCT
• Create sample payload structures and receivers
• Define MessageType DataTable schema and usage patterns