State Designer - DOTS Powered Finite State Machines

Finite state machines are one of the most reliable ways to build clear, maintainable gameplay logic. State Designer brings that workflow into a modern, data-oriented architecture built on Unity DOTS, giving you the flexibility to create scalable systems for gameplay, AI, interactions, UI flow, and more.

No DOTS expertise is required. State Designer supports GameObject, hybrid, and Entities-based workflows, so you can use the approach that fits your project today while keeping a path open for higher-performance data-oriented execution as your project grows.

By combining visual state machine authoring with a DOTS-backed runtime, State Designer keeps logic organized while reducing runtime overhead. The result is a workflow that feels intuitive to build with and remains efficient and predictable as complexity increases.

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🧠Why Finite State Machines?

State machines excel at modeling systems with clear phases, transitions, and event-driven behavior. They are a natural fit for gameplay systems, character abilities, interactable objects, UI flows, and cutscenes.

✨Key Features

Performance & Architecture

• Built on Unity DOTS for efficient runtime execution
• Supports GameObject, hybrid, and Entities workflows
• Burst-compiled traversal and transition systems
• Data-oriented runtime designed for scalable state logic
• Supports both object-backed and DOTS-backed node patterns

Authoring & Tooling

• Visual node-based finite state machine editor
• Event-driven graph flow with transitions, conditions, and actions
• Reusable subgraphs with override support
• Runtime SharedVariable inspection
• Error window and editor debugging support
• Save & Load support

State Design

• States, actions, conditions, transitions, and events
• Sequential or parallel action execution within a state
• Shared variables for communication across graph logic
• Pause, resume, and runtime state persistence
• Flexible graph composition with subgraph references and inheritance

Extensibility

• Familiar API for custom states, actions, and conditions
• Extend systems with object-backed or DOTS-backed implementations
• Custom editor controls and inspectors
• Designed for long-term project integration

💡Use Cases

• Gameplay Systems: Character abilities, combat states, cooldowns, and interactions
• Interactive Objects: Doors, elevators, switches, traps, and environment logic
• UI Flow: Menus, prompts, dialogue states, and screen transitions
• Scene Management: Loading, unloading, persistent scenes, and transitions
• AI & Simulation: Reactive agents, entity behaviors, and event-driven world logic
• Turn-Based Systems: Phase flow, action resolution, and stateful combat logic
• Save/Load Workflows: Persistent runtime state and variable restoration
• Custom Logic Systems: Build project-specific state-driven mechanics visually

🤝Seamless Integrations

• Animal Controller
• Behavior Designer Pro
• Dialogue System
• Essential Kit
• Feel
• Love/Hate
• Curvy Splines
• Quest Machine
• Sensor Toolkit 2
• Simple Waypoint System
• Ultimate Character Controller
• Ultimate Inventory System

State Designer combines the proven clarity of state machines with a modern DOTS-based runtime, giving you a flexible way to build performant, scalable game logic inside Unity.