unity-patterns

Unity Pattern Selector

Use this skill to decide whether a pattern is justified. Do not recommend every pattern at once.

Guardrails

Mode: Documentation only — no REST skills to gate; load freely under any operating mode (Approval / Auto / Bypass).

• Recommend at most 1-3 patterns, and explain why simpler options are not enough.

Pattern Guide

• ScriptableObject

  • Use for authored config, shared static data, event channels, and reusable data assets.
  • Avoid as the default home for per-run mutable gameplay state.

• C# events / delegates

  • Use for one-to-many notifications with clear ownership and unsubscribe points.
  • Avoid for imperative flows that need ordering, return values, or complex debugging.

• Global event bus / observer hub

  • Use sparingly and only when many systems truly need broad decoupled notifications.
  • Avoid as the default answer to coupling. It often hides ownership and makes debugging harder.

• Interfaces

  • Use when multiple implementations or clearer dependency boundaries are needed.
  • Avoid adding interfaces around every class without a real seam.

• State machine

  • Use for actors with mutually exclusive states and explicit transitions.
  • Avoid when a few booleans or a small command flow is enough.

• Object pool

  • Use for frequent spawn/despawn of bullets, VFX, enemies, UI items.
  • Avoid for rare objects or when lifetime is simple.

• Service layer

  • Use for a small number of cross-scene systems with explicit bootstrap and interfaces.
  • Avoid turning everything into hidden singletons or service locators.

• Generics / custom attributes

  • Use when they remove repeated boilerplate with clear type safety or editor metadata value.
  • Avoid when they make gameplay code harder to read than duplicated simple code.

Decision Lab: Same Goal, Multiple Implementations

The Pattern Guide above answers "which pattern?". For most non-trivial design decisions, the better exercise is: pick the 2-3 plausible implementations, put them side by side, and compare on switch cost, query cost, code complexity, and failure modes. Below is a worked example; use it as the shape for other decisions rather than as the answer.