WorldManager (WAPI)

World Manager (WAPI) is a generic world and environment command and control system for Unity that enables environmental assets to play nicely together.

It does this be providing a simple but powerful interface that allows you to control the components that render your environment a generic and coordinated way.

The intention is to bridge the gap between assets and make it easier to develop games by plugging them together using a common API. You will still configure your assets individually to your own taste, but coordination and control is generic and centralised.

Assets can choose which parts of the API they implement and regardless of how much they support, you will get value from this system because of the way it coordinates their behaviour.

Additionally, WAPI introduces a global set of shader variables, so that any shader that implements WAPI will automatically be updated when settings change without requiring the overhead associated with the subscription mechanism.

This API will be kept stable and professionaly maintained, and will also be available as a free unity asset (soon). For more information go to https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/world-manager-generic-world-management-system.484239/.

Basic Usage Pattern

To generate events, and get and set values use the following generic format e.g. WorldManager.Instance.Api()

To receive events when values are changed implement your own listener via the IWorldApiChangeHandler interface and then connect it up e.g.

public class WorldController : MonoBehaviour, IWorldApiChangeHandler
{
    .. your stuff..

    void Start()
    {
        ConnectToWorldAPI();
    }

    //Let world manager API know you want to handle events
    void ConnectToWorldAPI()
    {
        WorldManager.Instance.AddListener(this);
    }

    //Let world manager API know that you are no longer interested
    void DisconnectFromWorldAPI()
    {
        WorldManager.Instance.RemoveListener(this);
    }

    //If this object has been added as a listener then it will be called whenever an event is fired,
    //use the changeArgs.HasChanged method to filter for the events you are interested in
    public void OnWorldChanged(WorldChangeArgs changeArgs)
    {
        if (changeArgs.HasChanged(WorldConstants.WorldChangeEvents.GameTimeChanged))
        {
            //Grab game time
            m_timeNow = (float)changeArgs.manager.GetTimeDecimal();

            //Do whatever logic you want
            m_timeNow += 0.25f;

            //Set it back into world manager -> NOTE you would never do THIS SPECIFIC THING
            //as this will cause another OnWorldChanged event to be generated, which would in turn
            //cause this to be executed again in one nasty loop
            WorldManager.Instance.SetDecimalTime(m_timeNow);
        }
    }
}

Take a look at WorldController.cs for a simple example of how to use the API. It both listens to things and also implements a simple user interface that controls it in the editor and at runtime.

To use as global variables in shaders the general naming standard is _WAPI_[PropertyName], however in many instances the data has been stored in vectors for efficient transfer to the GPU, so take a peek at the code to get the naming. At the very least however all shader variables are prefixed with _WAPI_.

API Categories

• IsActive
• Time
• Player Location, Sea Level, Latitude & Longitude
• Temperature and humidity
• Wind
• Fog
• Rain
• Hail
• Snow
• Thunder
• Clouds
• Moon
• Season
• Sound Levels
• Extensions
• Serialisation

Serialisation system

The serialisation system allows you to manage the process of saving and loading WAPI data. The choice of when to do this and how to store the serialised data are up to you.

Extension system

The extension system allows you to create your own extension sub classes and add them to WAPI to be managed. You could add additional game state information as well handlers for Update and LateUpdate and have them called on your extensions when World Manager updates. Just derive your class from WorldManagerExtension, and add it to the extensions list.