com.badlogic.gdx.ai.sched

Interface Scheduler

All Superinterfaces:

Schedulable

All Known Implementing Classes:

LoadBalancingScheduler, PriorityScheduler, SchedulerBase

public interface Scheduler
extends Schedulable

A Scheduler works by assigning a pot of execution time among a variety of tasks, based on which ones need the time.

Different AI tasks can and should be run at different frequencies. You can simply schedule some tasks to run every few frames and other tasks to run more frequently, slicing up the overall AI and distributing it over time. It is a powerful technique for making sure that the game doesn't take too much AI time overall.

The tasks that get called are passed timing information so they can decide when to stop running and return. However, note that there is nothing to stop a task from running for as long as it wants. The scheduler trusts that they will be well behaved.

Notes:

• Hierarchical Scheduling: Scheduler extends the Schedulable interface, allowing a scheduling system to be run as a task by another scheduler. This technique is known as hierarchical scheduling. Also, it's worth noting that with a hierarchical approach, there's no reason why the schedulers at different levels should be of the same kind. For instance, it is possible to use a frequency-based scheduler for the whole game and priority-based schedulers for individual characters.
• Level of Detail: On its own there is nothing that hierarchical scheduling provides that a single scheduler cannot handle. It comes into its own when used in combination with level of detail (LOD) systems. Level of detail systems are behavior selectors; they choose only one behavior to run. In a hierarchical structure this means that schedulers running the whole game don't need to know which behavior each character is running. A flat structure would mean removing and registering behaviors with the main scheduler each time.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	add(Schedulable schedulable, int frequency, int phase) Adds the schedulable to the list using the given frequency and phase
void	addWithAutomaticPhasing(Schedulable schedulable, int frequency) Adds the schedulable to the list using the given frequency and a phase calculated by this scheduler.

Methods inherited from interface com.badlogic.gdx.ai.sched.Schedulable

run

Method Detail

addWithAutomaticPhasing

void addWithAutomaticPhasing(Schedulable schedulable,
                             int frequency)

Adds the schedulable to the list using the given frequency and a phase calculated by this scheduler.

Parameters:

schedulable - the task to schedule

frequency - the frequency

add

void add(Schedulable schedulable,
         int frequency,
         int phase)

Adds the schedulable to the list using the given frequency and phase

Parameters:

schedulable - the task to schedule

frequency - the frequency

phase - the phase