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Re:Unity patents ECS by shock-value on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @03:25PM (#28448779)
Not really. To me the novelty in the first claim is that they have a system which automatically determines an optimal memory layout, even in the face of new combinations of components within a newly created entity. A typical hand-crafted ECS system wouldn't likely infringe -- it's more likely that the memory layout was defined in advance.

I guess this will be a major roadblock to Unreal Engine offering such an automated ECS system, which is a real shame. There are certain types of games which do need ECS to make viable use of computing resources (simulations, etc). You don't see many of those on Unreal now and I guess you won't for the foreseeable future if this patent holds.

Re:Unity patents ECS by ilaksh on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @05:22PM (#28450118)
What exactly is their system for determining optimal layout? It must be disclosed in detail. They can't just claim that any approach like that is theirs.
Re:Unity patents ECS by not2b on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @07:35PM (#28451145)
Unfortunately your second sentence is not correct; patents do this overclaiming game all the time.

(not a lawyer, co-inventor on three patents so I've been through this, unfortunately as I didn't want to participate in that system, consult a lawyer before doing anything rash).

The claim matters, not their detailed description. The most harmful patents work that way: describe in detail a specific implementation, but write the claims to cover every alternative implementation you can think of.

Re:Unity patents ECS by jandrese on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @03:53PM (#28449063)
Unless the system was attempting to cache-optimize the memory, then it is probably going to infringe. So basically everybody.
Re:Unity patents ECS by Rd6n6 on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @03:50PM (#28449041)
Several already existing unreal games already use ecs. I saw a tech talk about Conan exiles for example. It’s just not part of the engine. Can’t find the talk, it was an epic event, but they advertise it in job postings

https://jobs.funcom.com/jobs/975839-gameplay-programmer

Edit: the video https://youtu.be/QlKXPBFh5BM

Re:Unity patents ECS by dejaime on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @08:37PM (#28546388)
But that is exactly what an archetypal ECS is! It is used to determine an optimal memory layout with whatever combinations you throw in!