JS-ECS is a javascript Entity Component System designed around relational references. This project was influenced by a number of previous ECS projects that were too far out of scope, and poorly planned. After some work, it was decided that the best way to approach making a larger, more complete project was to seperate this into it's own repository.
Since JS-ECS is prebuilt, you can simply download /build/ecs.js and import it via CommonJS or ES6 syntax. Alternatively, if you would like to rebuild the bundled files, you will need to install the dev-dependencies via npm using the command npm install.
To build the project, simply run the following command: npm run build. This will build a ecs.js UMD file as well as a ecs.module.js ES6 file.
If you would like to actively modify and rebuild on /src/** change, run the following command: npm run watch. This will build the same two files mentioned above.
JS-ECS examples can be initialized in two ways. Either run the command npm start from the root directory. This will run the application in NodeJS. If you wish to run the example via a browser, simply load the /examples/index.html file into your favorite browser. The example output will be displayed in the developer's console.
JS-ECS has the following constructors:
- ECSObject - This is the base JS-ECS Object
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.Load( ...items ) {this}- Used to append children
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.unload( ...items ) {this}- Used to unappend children
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.canLoad( ...items ) {bool}- Used to confirm an item can be loaded
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.canUnload( ...items ) {bool}- Used to confirm an item can be unloaded
- Entity - Entities contain instances of Components
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- Extends ECSObject
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.entities {object}- Contains a keyed list of entities based on their constructor name.
- Component - Components store data to be manipulated by Systems
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- Contains no methods
- System - Systems manipulate the data of Entity Components
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.update( entities {array}, dt {float} ) {null}- Called by an Instance. Should not be changed
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.onUpdate( entities {array}, dt {float} ) {null}- Called after.update( ). This is where system functionality should be placed.
- Instance - Manages Systems, giving them a list of entities to handle on update
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- Extends ECSObject
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.update( scene {Scene}, dt ) {null}- Filters the entities of a scene and distributes them to the appropriate systems for operation.
- Scene - Contains a collection of Entities, is passed into an
Instance.update( )method -
- Extends ECSObject
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.getEntitiesByComponents( ...Components ) {array}- Used by Instances to get a list of entities based on a collection of components.