GDC 2025 Session Viewer
The ECS Behind ‘Warhammer 40000: Space Marine 2’
Sergei Avdeev (Engine Technical Director, Saber Interactive)
Location: Room 2005, West Hall
Date: Thursday, March 20
Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Programming
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: Video
Audience Level: Intermediate
The session explores the development of a custom Entity Component System (ECS) built for Space Marine 2 to create hordes of enemies and other details in the game. The talk will cover many practical challenges of converting a traditional OO engine to include ECS features, as well as explore how to design your own ECS from the ground up to suit your game.
Takeaway
Attendees will gain insights into the architectural decisions behind the custom ECS used in Space Marine 2, including its design, messaging system, unique out-of-box job scheduler. They will also explore the challenges of integrating ECS with a classic OOP approach and discover the unique game features developed specifically for Space Marine 2.
Intended Audience
The presentation targets game developers, software engineers, and technical directors interested in advanced game architecture. Attendees benefit from understanding ECS design principles and performance optimization. Prerequisite knowledge includes basic programming concepts, familiarity with game development, and understanding of object-oriented programming and ECS fundamentals to fully grasp the presented concepts.
