https://blog.jonmikeys.com/tags/games/ Recent content in Games on Coyote Time Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/what-tactical-terrain-actually-means/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/what-tactical-terrain-actually-means/ Tactical terrain analysis is the practice of asking what the map makes possible. A hill, wall, chokepoint, or dark corner is not automatically useful. It becomes useful when it changes movement, visibility, or risk. That is why terrain analysis matters: it turns the map into data that an AI can evaluate. The basic question The core question is simple: Which parts of this map give one side an advantage? That question is more useful than a hand-authored list of “important” spots. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/when-waypoints-learn-about-visibility/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/when-waypoints-learn-about-visibility/ A waypoint graph is useful for movement. It becomes more valuable when it also models exposure. If each node knows what it can see, the graph can answer tactical questions, not just pathfinding questions. Visibility is the tactical signal Visibility tells you several things at once: whether a position is exposed whether it provides cover whether it is good for attacking from whether a route is safe to travel whether the position is likely to attract return fire That makes visibility one of the strongest signals in tactical AI. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/influence-maps-turning-the-fight-into-a-heatmap/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/influence-maps-turning-the-fight-into-a-heatmap/ Visibility tells you whether a place can be seen. Influence maps tell you how much pressure exists there. That difference matters. A position can be visible without being dangerous, and dangerous without being fully visible. Influence maps help estimate the shape of the fight instead of only the geometry of the map. What an influence map is An influence map is a grid layered over the terrain. Each cell stores a value that represents power, danger, control, or importance. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/spatial-databases-for-tactical-ai/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/spatial-databases-for-tactical-ai/ A single tactical score is easy to compute and hard to trust. A layered spatial database is easier to debug because each layer answers one question. Why layers matter A tactical AI usually needs more than one kind of spatial information. One layer can describe visibility. Another can describe cover. Another can describe occupancy or line of fire. Keeping those signals separate makes the system easier to reason about. That is the main idea behind the spatial database in the lecture: represent the map as a stack of tactical views. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/practical-tactical-awareness-system-starting-small/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/practical-tactical-awareness-system-starting-small/ A tactical awareness system should start small. The first version does not need to model everything. It needs to answer one or two useful questions clearly. Start with one signal The first step is to pick one tactical signal that is easy to measure. Good candidates are: visibility cover a small penalty for exposed paths The point is not completeness. The point is to get a result that changes behavior in a useful way. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/flyweight-and-object-pooling/ Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/flyweight-and-object-pooling/ Flyweight shares the data that repeats across thousands of objects. Object pooling reuses the instances that keep being created and destroyed. This guide covers ScriptableObject definitions, UnityEngine.Pool, handle-based pools, reset bugs, and when neither is worth it. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/mediator-pattern-in-games/ Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/mediator-pattern-in-games/ A practical guide to the mediator pattern in game code: when a group of components needs to coordinate, and one scoped middleman beats a web of direct references. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/service-locator-in-unity/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/service-locator-in-unity/ Service locator gets dismissed as a global with nicer clothes. It has real, defensible uses at engine boundaries and in small games — here is where it earns its keep and where it rots. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/visitor-pattern-in-game-code/ Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/visitor-pattern-in-game-code/ A practical C# guide to the Visitor pattern in game code: where double dispatch helps, how to validate ability data, and when a switch or ordinary methods are clearer. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/decorator-pattern-in-games/ Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/decorator-pattern-in-games/ Use decorators to stack optional game behavior around a stable interface, while keeping order, lifetime, allocation, and debugging costs visible. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/octrees-for-faster-3d-pathfinding/ Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/octrees-for-faster-3d-pathfinding/ Build a smaller 3D navigation graph by giving open space large octree cells and reserving fine detail for obstacles, then run A* over the free leaves. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/csharp-records-in-unity/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/csharp-records-in-unity/ Where C# records fit in Unity projects, where they cause trouble, and how to keep serialized data, runtime values, and live game objects separate. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/reflex-di-factories-abstract-factories/ Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/reflex-di-factories-abstract-factories/ A practical follow-up on combining dependency injection with factory and abstract factory patterns in Unity, using Reflex as the container and one dungeon-room spawning context from start to finish. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/factory-and-abstract-factory-patterns/ Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/factory-and-abstract-factory-patterns/ A practical guide to factory and abstract factory patterns in game code: when construction choices deserve a home, when a simple method is enough, and how to avoid turning creation code into architecture theater. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/strategy-pattern-in-games/ Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/strategy-pattern-in-games/ A practical guide to using the strategy pattern in game code for weapons, movement, AI decisions, scoring rules, and other behavior that needs to change safely. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/memento-pattern-game-state-snapshots/ Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/memento-pattern-game-state-snapshots/ A practical guide to using the memento pattern for undo, checkpoints, editor tools, and save snapshots in game code without leaking internal state everywhere. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/r3-reactive-programming-in-unity/ Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/r3-reactive-programming-in-unity/ A practical look at using R3-style reactive streams in Unity without turning every button click, timer, and gameplay signal into architecture theater. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/builder-fluent-builder-patterns/ Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/builder-fluent-builder-patterns/ A practical guide to builder-style APIs in game code: when they clarify setup, when object initializers are enough, and where fluent chains become a trap. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/memory-arenas-in-game-code/ Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/memory-arenas-in-game-code/ How I use arena allocators for frame-local scratch data, why they beat per-object frees, and why they are not a replacement for pooling or the GC. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/api-programming-through-http/ Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/api-programming-through-http/ A practical guide to calling HTTP APIs from game code without making retries, auth, or failure handling a mess. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/zero-allocation-linq-in-unity/ Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/zero-allocation-linq-in-unity/ A practical look at LINQ in Unity, where the allocations come from, and when a zero-allocation alternative like ZLinq is worth using. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/event-buses-in-unity-architecture/ Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/event-buses-in-unity-architecture/ A practical way to use event buses in Unity without turning them into hidden global state, leaky subscriptions, or another way to avoid design decisions. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/hierarchical-state-machines-in-unity/ Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/hierarchical-state-machines-in-unity/ A practical way to keep Unity state machines readable when several states share the same rules. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/command-pattern-in-games/ Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/command-pattern-in-games/ A practical look at the command pattern in game code, with examples for input, undo, replay, and when a direct call is still better. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/raycasting/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/raycasting/ A practical rewrite of Lode’s raycasting tutorial, with the same core ideas and images explained in cleaner prose. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/cancellation-tokens-in-unity/ Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/cancellation-tokens-in-unity/ A practical follow-up to async in Unity: how cancellation tokens keep loading flows, delays, and background work from hanging around after the object is gone. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/mirror-multiplayer-part-1-authority-first-rpcs-second/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/mirror-multiplayer-part-1-authority-first-rpcs-second/ A practical way to structure Mirror games so the server owns the rules, clients send intent, and state sync stays boring. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/async-in-unity-with-unitask/ Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/async-in-unity-with-unitask/ A practical way to use async and await in Unity without falling back to callback soup, extra GC churn, or tangled loading code. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/benchmarking-csharp-in-unity/ Mon, 13 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/benchmarking-csharp-in-unity/ A practical way to benchmark Unity C# code without confusing profiling, frame time, and microbenchmarks. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/modular-game-ui-systems/ Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/modular-game-ui-systems/ A practical UI structure for games: keep screens, views, and game logic separate so menus do not turn into a knot. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/dependency-injection-for-game-code/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/dependency-injection-for-game-code/ A practical look at dependency injection in game code, why it helps, and how to use it without turning your project into framework soup. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/dependency-injection-in-unity/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/dependency-injection-in-unity/ A practical way to make game code easier to test, refactor, and reason about. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/observer-pattern-in-games/ Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/observer-pattern-in-games/ A practical look at the observer pattern, event buses, and why game objects should communicate without dragging the whole scene graph into the conversation. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/astar-pathfinding/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/astar-pathfinding/ A practical explanation of A* pathfinding, why it works, and how to use it in game projects. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/behavior-trees-for-game-ai/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/behavior-trees-for-game-ai/ A practical introduction to behavior trees, how they work, and when they are a better fit than state machines. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/blackboard-architecture-for-game-ai/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/blackboard-architecture-for-game-ai/ A practical explanation of blackboard architecture for game AI, why it exists, and how it helps behavior trees and GOAP share state cleanly. https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/goap-for-game-ai/ Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://blog.jonmikeys.com/posts/goap-for-game-ai/ An introduction to GOAP, how it differs from behavior trees and FSMs, and how to use it in game AI.