welcome

DOD is an approach to structuring game code around the flow and transformation of data. Instead of organizing gameplay around relationships between objects, we organize it around the data our systems need and how that data moves through the game. In practice, this often means storing related runtime data in arrays, separating data from logic, and writing functions that process many items at once.

DOD offers three key advantages. It can improve performance by structuring data to take advantage of modern computer architecture, reduce code complexity by separating data from logic, and improve extensibility by solving problems through data. Throughout this book, you will learn how these three techniques work together to create game architectures that are both efficient and easier to maintain.

After nearly 20 years of using OOP, I was introduced to the wonders of DOD in 2020 while working at Plarium on Nova Legends, a mobile RPG. With DOD, my team and I were able to write high-performance code that allowed us to build complex gameplay while maintaining a very high frame rate. It also allowed our game designers to test gameplay changes by simulating millions of battles in seconds.