Ability and Effect Lifecycle

Every ability and effect moves through a defined set of lifecycle stages. This page breaks down each stage in detail.

Lifecycle

1. During game initialization, the ability manager is created along with all ability members.

2. During gameplay, abilities await the manager's activation trigger.

3. On ability activation:

   1. The ability manager creates the ability context and populates it with the required data.

   2. The manager calls Use() with a reference to the context and the entity that is activating the ability.

   3. Internally, Use():

      1. Calls CanUse() to validate the ability activation. If invalid, the activation stops here. Otherwise, it continues.

      2. Calls MakeContext() to create a copy of the context for the effect component.

      3. Calls MakeAbility() to create the effect entity with the effect component attached.

      4. Adds the effect to the ActiveEffects list.

      5. Returns the newly created effect to the manager.

   4. The ability context is destroyed. The context copy on the effect component persists until ability deactivation.

   5. The effect component's OnBeginUse() callback triggers.

   6. The ability's BeginUseEvent() broadcasts.

4. Each active effect component runs asynchronous logic in OnSimulate() until deactivation via EndUse() or Cancel().

   1. If Cancel() is called, CanCancel() is called to validate. If the given cancel_reason is valid, EndUse() is called. Otherwise, the simulation continues.

   2. If EndUse() is called explicitly or by cancellation, the ability begins deactivation.

5. On ability deactivation:

   1. The effect component's OnEndUse() callback triggers.

   2. The ability's EndUseEvent() broadcasts.

   3. Internally, EndUse():

      1. Removes the effect from the ActiveEffects list.

      2. Destroys the effect entity and associated objects.

6. At the end of the game, the ability is destroyed with other persistent objects.

Object Lifetime Reference