Managing UI Navigation with Pushdown Automata in Ebitengine

    The UI Navigation Problem Game UI often involves stacked screens: you open a pause menu, then settings, then graphics options, then a confirmation dialog. Each screen needs to: Pause the screen beneath it Handle input independently Resume the previous screen when closed Maintain state across transitions Simple state machines fall short here. You need something that can track a stack of states. Enter the pushdown automaton. What is a Pushdown Automaton? A pushdown automaton is a state machine with a stack. Instead of just transitioning between states, you can: ...

    November 3, 2024 · 8 min · Rafiul Alam