[Bf-committers] BGE improvements: States and state engine

[Benoit Bolsee]

Hi Kent,

I know that a state engine system like you describe is already possible
but it becomes messy very quickly because you have all these connections
between bricks crossing each other. The only sensible way to build a
state engine of a certain complexity with the current system is to code
it in a single big Python controller, but that's not user friendly for
non programmers.

The main goal of the improvement is
1) readability: the GUI allows you to display only the
controllers/sensors/actuators that are linked together in a state and
not just all or nothing as today. An overal vue of the state engine is
also very useful.
2) user friendly: state engine implementation becomes accessible to
non-programmer.
3) performance: disabling sensors of inactive states saves CPU.

I forgot to mention that there is another enhancement that is needed for
the Apricot project: support for shape keys in the Game Engine. I'll try
to do that as well.

Benoit