unity-ecs-patterns

# Unity ECS Patterns

Production patterns for Unity's Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS) including Entity Component System, Job System, and Burst Compiler.

## When to Use This Skill

- Building high-performance Unity games
- Managing thousands of entities efficiently
- Implementing data-oriented game systems
- Optimizing CPU-bound game logic
- Converting OOP game code to ECS
- Using Jobs and Burst for parallelization

## Core Concepts

### 1. ECS vs OOP

| Aspect      | Traditional OOP   | ECS/DOTS        |
| ----------- | ----------------- | --------------- |
| Data layout | Object-oriented   | Data-oriented   |
| Memory      | Scattered         | Contiguous      |
| Processing  | Per-object        | Batched         |
| Scaling     | Poor with count   | Linear scaling  |
| Best for    | Complex behaviors | Mass simulation |

### 2. DOTS Components

```
Entity: Lightweight ID (no data)
Component: Pure data (no behavior)
System: Logic that processes components
World: Container for entities
Archetype: Unique combination of components
Chunk: Memory block for same-archetype entities
```

## Patterns

### Pattern 1: Basic ECS Setup

```csharp
using Unity.Entities;
using Unity.Mathematics;
using Unity.Transforms;
using Unity.Burst;
using Unity.Collections;

// Component: Pure data, no methods
public struct Speed : IComponentData
{
    public float Value;
}

public struct Health : IComponentData
{
    public float Current;
    public float Max;
}

public struct Target : IComponentData
{
    public Entity Value;
}

// Tag component (zero-size marker)
public struct EnemyTag : IComponentData { }
public struct PlayerTag : IComponentData { }

// Buffer component (variable-size array)
[InternalBufferCapacity(8)]
public struct InventoryItem : IBufferElementData
{
    public int ItemId;
    public int Quantity;
}

// Shared component (grouped entities)
public struct TeamId : ISharedComponentData
{
    public int Value;
}
```

### Pattern 2: Systems with ISystem (Recommended)