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A Simple Unity State Machine with a nice API and automatic transition support. No reflection, string names, or need to inherit anything.

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SUSMachine - a Simple Unity State Machine

ci GitHub version

A state machine implementation with a quick, easy and nice to use API - no reflection or string names, no need to inherit anything.

Supports Unity 2020.2 and up.

A Quick Glance

enum States { Normal, Blocking }
enum Events { Attacked }

int lives = 3;

[SerializeField]
float blockTime = 2;

StateMachine<States, Events> stateMachine;

private void Awake()
{
    stateMachine = new StateMachine<States, Events>
    {
        AnyState =
        {
            OnEnter = fsm => Debug.Log($"Entering state {fsm.CurrentState}"),
            
            OnExit = fsm => Debug.Log($"Exiting state {fsm.CurrentState} to {fsm.NextState}")
        },

        [States.Normal] =
        {
            OnUpdate = fsm => Debug.Log($"Time idling: {fsm.TimeInState}"),

            [Events.Attacked] = _ => lives--,

            Transitions = {
                // in this state, check in update for space press. enter blocking state if true
                {_ => Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space), States.Blocking}
            }
        },

        [States.Blocking] =
        {
            [Events.Attacked] = _ => Debug.Log("Attack blocked"),

            Transitions = {
                {fsm => fsm.TimeInState >= blockTime, States.Normal}
            }
        }
    };

    /// Initialize can be called at any time when you're ready -- not just in Awake().
    /// By supplying this gameObject into the second parameter,
    /// the state machine will autmatically Close() when the gameObject is destroyed.
    /// Otherwise, you may want to call Close() in OnDestroy(), OnDisable() etc.
    /// Note: Initialization calls Enter() and Closing calls Exit().
    stateMachine.Initialize(States.Normal, this.gameObject);
}

void OnCollisionEnter(Collision collision)
{
    stateMachine.TriggerEvent(Events.Attacked);
}

Installing

via OpenUPM

  • openupm add com.kdmagic.susmachine

via Unity Package Manager

  • In the unity package manager window, click add package from git URL... and paste the following:
  • https://github.com/JamesYFC/SUSMachine.git?path=/Packages/com.kdmagical.susmachine#release

After installation, just import the namespace and you're good to go.

using KDMagical.SUSMachine;

Updating

To update to the latest version, go to the Simple Unity State Machine package in the Package Manager and hit the Update button.

Note: Unity currently doesn't notify you that a new version is available for packages installed from git.

Unity 2020

As the update button isn't available in 2020, reinstall the package by following the installation step above again.

Noteworthy Changes

  • v0.9.0 - In transitions with events, the event parameter is now first in the order. e.g. {States.State1, Events.Event1} is now {Events.Event1, States.State1}

State Objects

A state object contains all the actions to call when certain events happen, as well as the transitions.

The state machine is provided as the sole parameter when calling these actions.

The available actions are:

  • OnEnter
  • OnExit
  • OnUpdate
  • OnFixedUpdate
  • OnLateUpdate
  • [EventEnum.EventName] (when events are enabled)

A StateMachine can contain a state object for each member of the states enum, plus AnyState, whose actions are called before any specific state's. AnyState's transitions take lower priority than specific state object's transitions.

var fsm = new StateMachine<States>
{
    AnyState =
    {
        //...
    },

    [States.State1] =
    {
        // ...
    },

    [States.State2] =
    {
        // ...
    },

    [States.State3] =
    {
        // ...
    },
}

Events

State objects also support events for actions and transitions.

Simply add another generic parameter to StateMachine to enable this support.

// without events
var fsm = new StateMachine<States> { };

// with events
var fsm = new StateMachine<States, Events>
{
    [States.State1] =
    {
        [Events.Event1] = _ => Debug.Log("Event1 Triggered!")
    }
};

You can then trigger these events with fsm.TriggerEvent(TEvents eventToTrigger).

Stateful Data

To keep track of and modify variables within a state object, use the Stateful<TStates, TData> or Stateful<TStates, TEvents, TData> classes.

TData must be a struct type.

When using this class, your actions and transition functions get more parameters related to the data being tracked.

var fsm =
{
    [States.State1] = new Stateful<States, (string name, int count)>
    {
        // names are optional here -- ("Hello", 0) does the same thing.
        InitialData = (name: "Hello", count: 0),

        OnEnter = (_, data, modify) =>
        {
            // deconstruct syntax
            var (name, count) = data;

            Debug.Log($"Name: {name}, Count: {count}");

            data.count++;

            modify(data);
        }

        Transitions =
        {
            { // transitions to State2 on the first frame where count reaches 2
                (_, data) => data.count >= 2,
                States.State2
            }
        }
    }
};

var fsm = new Stateful<States, int>
{
    [States.State1] = new Stateful<States, Events, int>
    {
        // as data is a struct, omitting InitialData will mean it is set to its default value.
        OnEnter = (_, data, __) => Debug.Log("data = " + data) // data = 0
    }
};

Transitions

Automatic

Automatic transitions are functions that run on a specified update loop (Update, FixedUpdate or LateUpdate) after behaviour actions trigger, checking for if the state machine should automatically switch to another state.

You can setup as many automatic transitions as you want on a specific state object.

There are two ways to setup automatic transitions:

Simple Syntax

{PredicateCondition, State, TransitionType}

var stateMachine = new StateMachine<States>
{
    [States.Idle] =
    {
        Transitions =
        {
            {
                // if this returns true, enter the state specified.
                _ => Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space),
                // the state to enter if the predicate returned true.
                States.Jumping,
                // the update loop to run on. Can be omitted as Update is the default.
                TransitionType.Update
            }
        }
    }
}

When using Stateful, the PredicateCondition can also be written in the form (stateMachine, data) => bool.

Complex Syntax

{TransitionFunction, TransitionType}

Allows you to define a function where you can return any state or null, allowing you to set up several conditions in the same place.

The following example is a simple switch case, but the logic in this function can be as complex as you need.

Transitions =
{
    {
        _ => {
            switch (someNum)
            {
                case 1:
                    return States.State1;
                case 2:
                    return States.State2;
                case 3:
                    return States.State3;
                default:
                    return null;
            }
        }
    },
    // this last parameter is not necessary as it will default to TransitionType.Update if omitted
    TransitionType.Update
}

When using Stateful, the TransitionFunction can also be written in the form (stateMachine, data) => States?.

In some cases, such as below, the compiler can't figure out that the returned type is States?.

If this happens you simply need to cast one of the returns like so:

[States.Idle] =
{
    Transitions =
    {
        {
            _ => someNum < 0
                ? States.State1
                : (States?)null
        }
    }
}

Event Transitions

There are several ways to write event transitions.

These are only run when the event is triggered, directly after any event actions are called.

Direct

{Event, State}

When the event is called, enters the specified state.

Transitions =
{
    { Events.Event1, States.State1 }
}

Simple

{Event, PredicateCondition, State}

Transitions =
{
    // when the event is triggered, the condition is called. Enters State1 if the condition is true.
    { Events.Event1, _ => someNum > 0, States.State1 }
}

When using Stateful, the PredicateCondition can also be written in the form (stateMachine, data) => bool.

Complex

{Event, TransitionFunction}

Allows you to define a function where you can return any state or null, allowing you to set up several conditions in the same place.

Transitions =
{
    Events.Event1,
    _ => someNum switch
    {
        1 => States.State1,
        2 => States.State2,
        var x when x >= 3 => States.State3,
        _ => null
    }
}

When using Stateful, the TransitionFunction can also be written in the form (stateMachine, data) => States?.

Order

As soon as the first automatic transition in a particular update loop returns a positive result, the state machine will switch its state to that result.

Therefore, the order in which you set your transitions matters.

Consider the following:

var stateMachine = new StateMachine<States>
{
    [States.Jumping] =
    {
        Transitions =
        {
            {
                _ => {
                    Debug.Log("first check");
                    return GetJumpHeight() > limit;
                },
                States.State1
            },
            {
                fsm => {
                    Debug.Log("second check");
                    return fsm.TimeInState > jumpTime;
                },
                States.State2
            }
        }
    }
}

If the return value of GetJumpHeight() rises above the limit before, or in the same frame, as jumpTime is surpassed, then the second check will not occur and the state will be set to States.State1.

Manual

The built-in event and transitions support should cover most use cases, but a manual SetState method is also provided.

void StateCheck()
{
    if (someCondition)
    {
        stateMachine.SetState(States.State1);
    }
}

Be careful when using this in OnEnter and OnExit, as improper use can cause a stack overflow!

var fsm = new StateMachine<States>
{
    AnyState =
    {
        OnEnter = fsm => fsm.SetState(States.State2)
    }
}

fsm.Initialize(States.State1); // stack overflow! AnyState.OnEnter called infinitely!

Splitting Out

If you find that your functions get too large to be written in lambda syntax, or for any other reason, you can write them elsewhere -- as long as they have the matching signature.

// in state machine init...
[States.SomeState] = {
    OnEnter = SomeFunc
}

void SomeFunc(IStateMachine<States> stateMachine) { }
// in state machine init...
[States.SomeState] = Stateful<States, MyStruct>
{
    OnEnter = SomeFunc
}

void SomeFunc(IStateMachine<States> stateMachine, MyStruct data) { }

Manual Initialization & Closing

State machines need to call Close() when their use is finished.

This is done for you if when you specify the second parameter in Initialize().

A MonoBehaviour will be created that calls Close() on the state machine when the specified GameObject is destroyed:

Initialize(T initialState, GameObject closeOnDestroy)

However, you may omit the second parameter if you want to call Close() manually.

fsm.Initialize(States.State1);

// elsewhere, e.g. in OnDestroy
fsm.Close();

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A Simple Unity State Machine with a nice API and automatic transition support. No reflection, string names, or need to inherit anything.

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