Glossary
A comprehensive glossary of terms used throughout the AstraWeave documentation.
A
- Action
- The final stage of the AI loop where an agent executes planned behaviors through validated tool calls.
- Admonish
- An mdBook preprocessor for creating callout blocks (warnings, notes, tips).
- Agent
- An AI-controlled entity in the game world with perception, planning, and action capabilities.
- Arbiter
- The AI system responsible for validating tool calls and ensuring agents can only perform sanctioned actions within game rules.
- Archetype
- In ECS, a unique combination of component types. Entities with the same components share an archetype for cache-efficient storage.
- Asset Pipeline
- The content processing workflow that converts raw assets (textures, models, audio) into engine-optimized formats.
B
- Batch Executor
- A system for grouping multiple LLM inference requests to improve throughput.
- Behavior Tree
- A hierarchical AI decision-making structure where nodes represent conditions, actions, and control flow.
- Blackboard
- A shared data structure for AI agents to read and write state information.
- Biome
- A terrain zone with distinct environmental characteristics (forest, desert, etc.).
C
- Character Controller
- A physics component that handles player/NPC movement with collision detection.
- Clustered Lighting
- A rendering technique that divides the view frustum into clusters for efficient many-light rendering.
- Component
- In ECS, a piece of data attached to an entity. Components contain only data, not behavior.
- Core Loop
- The fundamental AI cycle: Perception -> Reasoning -> Planning -> Action.
D
- Deterministic Simulation
- A simulation where given the same inputs, the outputs are always identical. Essential for replay and networking.
- Director
- An AI system that orchestrates game pacing, difficulty, and narrative events.
E
- ECS (Entity Component System)
- A data-oriented architecture pattern where entities are IDs, components are data, and systems are logic operating on components.
- Entity
- In ECS, a unique identifier (typically an integer with a generation counter) that components are attached to.
- Episode
- In memory systems, a recorded sequence of events that can be recalled for learning.
F
- Fixed Timestep
- A simulation update rate that runs at a constant interval (e.g., 60Hz) regardless of frame rate.
- Frame
- One complete update cycle of the game, including input, simulation, and rendering.
G
- GOAP (Goal-Oriented Action Planning)
- An AI planning algorithm that finds optimal action sequences to achieve goals by searching through possible world states.
- Generational Index
- An entity ID with a generation counter to detect use-after-free bugs when entities are recycled.
H
- HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image)
- An image format storing extended brightness values, commonly used for environment lighting.
I
- IBL (Image-Based Lighting)
- A technique using environment maps to provide realistic ambient lighting.
K
- KTX2
- A texture container format supporting GPU compression and mipmaps.
L
- LLM (Large Language Model)
- AI models (like GPT, Llama, Phi) used for natural language understanding and generation.
- LOD (Level of Detail)
- Rendering optimization that uses simpler geometry for distant objects.
M
- Mermaid
- A JavaScript-based diagramming tool integrated into mdBook for rendering flowcharts and diagrams.
- Mipmap
- Pre-calculated, progressively smaller versions of a texture for efficient rendering at different distances.
- MRA
- Metallic-Roughness-AO texture packing format used in PBR materials.
N
- Nanite
- Unreal Engine 5’s virtualized geometry system. AstraWeave implements similar techniques for GPU-driven LOD.
- A polygon mesh representing walkable areas for AI pathfinding.
O
- Orchestrator
- The AI component that coordinates multiple agents and manages their interactions.
P
- PBR (Physically Based Rendering)
- A rendering approach that simulates realistic light behavior using physical principles.
- Perception
- The first stage of the AI loop where agents observe the game world state.
- Planning
- The AI stage where goals are decomposed into action sequences.
- Preprocessor
- An mdBook tool that transforms source files before rendering.
Q
- Query
- In ECS, a request for entities matching specific component patterns.
R
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)
- A technique combining information retrieval with LLM generation for context-aware responses.
- Ragdoll
- A physics-based character simulation for realistic death/knockback animations.
- Rapier
- The Rust physics engine used by AstraWeave.
- Rhai
- An embedded scripting language for Rust, used in AstraWeave for game logic.
S
- Sandbox
- An isolated execution environment for AI tool calls, preventing unauthorized actions.
- SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data)
- CPU instructions processing multiple data points simultaneously for performance.
- Spatial Hash
- A data structure for efficient spatial queries (collision detection, neighbor finding).
- System
- In ECS, logic that operates on entities with specific component combinations.
T
- Tick
- One fixed timestep update of the simulation.
- Tool
- In AI systems, an action an agent can take, validated by the Arbiter.
- Tool Vocabulary
- The set of actions available to AI agents, each with schema and validation rules.
U
- Utility AI
- An AI approach where actions are scored by utility functions and the highest-scoring action is selected.
V
- Voxel
- A 3D pixel, used in terrain systems for destructible/modifiable environments.
W
- WGPU
- A Rust graphics library providing a cross-platform abstraction over Vulkan, Metal, DX12, and WebGPU.
- WGSL (WebGPU Shading Language)
- The shader language used with WGPU.
- World
- The container for all entities, components, and resources in the engine.