Skip to content

🧾 Shields — Pools

📦 Folder Overview

This folder contains shield value aggregators intended for UI, FX, and external gameplay systems.

These types do not absorb damage and are not shields in the IShield sense.

🎯 Purpose

Pools provide:

  • Aggregated shield values for UI and feedback
  • Safe multi-contributor tracking via tickets
  • Decoupled inputs for external systems

🧩 What Lives Here

ShieldPool (Ticketed)

Implements IShieldTicketPool.

API:

int ticket = pool.AddReturnTicket(amount);
pool.RemoveByTicket(ticket);
pool.ClearAll();

Behaviour:

  • Each AddReturnTicket creates an independent contribution
  • Returns a unique ticket ID
  • Removing a ticket removes only that contribution
  • Total equals the sum of active contributions

Notes:

  • AddReturnTicket(0) returns -1 (no ticket created)
  • Removing an unknown ticket is a no-op
  • Total is clamped to >= 0

⚠️ Important Notes

Events

ShieldPool exposes:

  • Inspector event: onTotalChanged(int total)
  • C# event: event Action<int> TotalChanged

These fire when the aggregate total changes.

Typical uses:

  • UI shield bars
  • Feedback and FX scaling
  • Debug overlays

Behaviour

  • The ticket dictionary is the source of truth
  • The cached total exists for quick reads and inspector visibility
  • Totals are recomputed on enable to remain correct across pooling and reloads

Boundaries

Pools are not:

  • Damage absorbers (IShield)
  • Ordering or stacking systems
  • Networking or replication systems

Do not:

  • Treat ShieldPool as a shield
  • Expect it to reduce damage
  • Share ticket IDs across systems
  • Use it as a networking sync mechanism

🧠 Usage Guidance

Recommended pattern:

  1. Call AddReturnTicket(amount)
  2. Store the returned ticket ID
  3. On expiry, call RemoveByTicket(ticket)
  4. Do not mutate totals directly

This allows multiple systems to contribute safely.

  • Shields (Abstractions)
  • Shields (Builtin