Small game engines and rule systems — composing state machines into something that behaves like a system
19 April 2027
State machines from last week compose into something larger: a small rule system or game-engine loop, where several pieces of state interact under a consistent set of rules. This is the last purely-programming week before the course turns back to physical media for the round trip’s second half.
Outline#
- a minimal game-loop structure: update, then render, on every tick
- composing several small state machines instead of one large one
- where the line sits between “a system with rules” and “a scripted sequence” — and why the difference matters for your final project
- studio time: extend a rule system with one new interaction of your own
Teaching team
- Idris Fenn — tutor