How to build fast hierarchies for game objects using data oriented design
This article explains how to implement hierarchical game object structures using an Entity Component System (ECS) and data-oriented design principles, focusing on performance improvements by organizing transform data in flat arrays rather than traditional object trees.
Background
- **ECS (Entity Component System)** is a software architecture pattern popular in game development. Instead of objects containing both data and behavior (OOP), ECS separates them: *Entities* are just IDs, *Components* are plain data (position, health, etc.), and *Systems* are functions that operate on that data. This is often called **Data-Oriented Design** (DOD), which prioritizes CPU cache efficiency over abstraction.