🧠 Dev Log: The Power of Interfaces — How Modularity Set Us Free

“I didn’t really understand interfaces when I started this project. But now, I realize they’re not just a tool — they’re the architecture of freedom.”

When we began building Colonies: Genesis of E.D.E.N., the focus was simple:
Build a systemic simulation that spans from Paleolithic Earth to interstellar civilization.

What followed was anything but simple. Modeling that kind of scope meant facing rapid complexity growth — not just in data, but in behaviors, interactions, and time.

What saved us?

Interfaces.

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🧩 Interfaces as Simulation Grammar

As the system evolved, we leaned on C# interfaces — and they became the foundation of the simulation.

Not just because they enforce contracts in code.

But because they unlock something much deeper:

• ✅ Interoperability between unrelated systems
• ✅ Emergence through clean abstraction
• ✅ Composable behavior without inheritance hell

Here are the key interfaces that shaped our architecture:

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✅ IDefinition

The data backbone. All content — planets, facilities, contracts — is defined declaratively.

• Enables procedural worldgen
• Powers modding and content packs
• Cleanly separates data from logic

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✅ ITickable

The timekeeper of the simulation.

• Every system that evolves over time implements this
• Centralized tick scheduling and profiling
• Simulation time is no longer hardwired — it’s orchestrated

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✅ ICapability

The engine of agency.

• Adds behavior at runtime, rather than encoding it into base classes
• Encourages composability over inheritance
• Facilities, factions, agents: all get their abilities through capability injection

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✅ IContract

The verb layer of the simulation.

• Defines intent (build, trade, research, sabotage…)
• Unifies player actions, AI behavior, logistics, and diplomacy
• Supports delegation, simulation, fulfillment, and chainable task design

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✅ ISelectable / IInspectable

How the simulation speaks to the player.

• Generic UI can inspect any simulation object
• Enables modular panels, debug tools, and editor overlays
• Keeps UI decoupled from game logic

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🧨 What Would It Look Like Without Interfaces?

Imagine a version of Colonies without interfaces:

// Monolithic ticking
foreach (var planet in planets)
    planet.UpdatePlanet();
foreach (var faction in factions)
    faction.ManuallyTickLogic();

// Hardcoded behavior
if (facility.canSmelt)
    Smelt();
if (facility.canGrow)
    GrowCrops();

// UI mess
temperatureText.text = tile.Temperature.ToString();

It’s rigid. Brittle. Bloated. And ultimately: non-emergent.

No clean simulation loop.
No late-binding behavior.
No modding.
No clarity.

You become the glue — and the glue breaks.

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🌌 What Interfaces Gave Us

Interfaces turned Colonies into a composable simulation:

• A tile can be selected, ticked, rendered, and inspected — with zero coupling.
• A contract can be fulfilled by any capable entity — including AI, factions, or drones.
• A UI panel can inspect any object — as long as it speaks the IInspectable language.

This is what makes the simulation feel alive.

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🧭 Final Reflection

When we package and release this framework — a simulation-first toolkit built by Emergent Dynamics — the community won’t just inherit code.

They’ll inherit a philosophy.

A world where:

• Behavior is injected, not inherited.
• Data is declared, not hardcoded.
• Time is orchestrated, not looped.
• Actions are structured, not scripted.

Everything in this world knows what it can do — and how to say so.

– Emergent Dynamics
Architects of Worlds Yet To Be