Memory Management Strategies

Optimizing Memory Usage

Memory is a finite resource, and efficient management directly impacts game performance. Understanding memory allocation patterns is crucial for creating responsive systems.

Object Pooling

Creating and destroying objects repeatedly causes garbage collection pauses. Object pooling pre-allocates reusable objects, eliminating allocation overhead.

class BulletPool:
    function initialize(poolSize):
        bullets = []
        for i = 0 to poolSize:
            bullets.append(new Bullet())

    function getBullet():
        if availableBullets.length > 0:
            return availableBullets.pop()
        return createNewBullet()

    function returnBullet(bullet):
        bullet.reset()
        availableBullets.push(bullet)

Memory Profiling

Understanding where memory is spent requires profiling tools. Identifying memory hotspots allows targeted optimization efforts.

Compression and Streaming

Large assets are streamed into memory as needed rather than loading entirely. Audio and texture streaming prevents memory overflow while maintaining perceived quality.

Generational Garbage Collection

Modern runtime environments use generational GC, assuming short-lived objects die quickly. Minimizing allocations in hot loops respects this assumption.

Data-Oriented Design

Organizing data by access pattern rather than class hierarchy improves cache locality and reduces memory bandwidth requirements.

Thoughtful memory management transforms from invisible infrastructure into a competitive advantage.