1 Choose the right pattern

There are many ways to implement a game state manager, such as stacks, queues, finite state machines, or event-driven systems. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the complexity and requirements of your game. For example, stacks are simple and efficient, but they can limit the transitions between states. Queues are more flexible, but they can introduce latency and memory issues. Finite state machines are powerful and modular, but they can become unwieldy and hard to debug. Event-driven systems are dynamic and responsive, but they can cause coupling and dependencies. You should choose the pattern that best suits your game's needs and goals.

2 Use interfaces and inheritance

One way to improve the flexibility and maintainability of your game state manager is to use interfaces and inheritance. Interfaces are contracts that define the methods and properties that a game state must have, such as enter, exit, update, and render. Inheritance is a way of creating subclasses that inherit the behavior and attributes of a parent class, such as a base game state. By using interfaces and inheritance, you can ensure that all your game states follow a consistent structure and logic, while also allowing them to override and customize specific features and functions.

3 Optimize your data structures

Another way to improve the performance and flexibility of your game state manager is to optimize your data structures. Data structures are the ways you store and organize your game state data, such as variables, arrays, lists, dictionaries, or custom classes. Depending on the size and complexity of your data, some data structures may be more efficient and convenient than others. For example, arrays are fast and easy to access, but they have a fixed size and can waste memory. Lists are flexible and dynamic, but they can be slow and costly to manipulate. Dictionaries are versatile and associative, but they can have collisions and overhead. Custom classes are expressive and modular, but they can introduce dependencies and overhead. You should choose the data structures that best fit your game state data and operations.