gamestate

GameState is a term used in game development to describe the consolidated data that defines the current status of a running game. It typically includes global information such as the current score, level or stage, elapsed time, remaining lives or rounds, team compositions, and flags or conditions that affect the entire game world. The GameState serves as a single source of truth that clients in a multiplayer setting can synchronize with, ensuring that all participants have a consistent view of the game’s progress.

In a multiplayer architecture, GameState is usually maintained on the server as the authoritative source of truth. Clients receive updates about changes to the GameState so user interfaces, AI, and gameplay logic can react accordingly. This separation helps enforce rules and prevent desynchronization between players. In single-player games, a GameState still organizes global data and transitions between phases (such as menu, loading, in-game, and paused) without network replication concerns.

Unreal Engine provides specific implementations related to this concept. The engine includes the GameState and GameStateBase classes, which are replicated to clients so they can display up-to-date information like scores, team states, and match progress. In Unreal, GameMode defines the game rules and authority typically resides on the server, while PlayerState stores per-player data. The GameState often includes a replicated representation of the match state (for example, WaitingToStart, InProgress, Paused, or Finished) that clients observe to adjust UI and behavior.

Beyond engines, the GameState pattern appears in many architectures as a centralized object or structure that captures global game information, supports persistence across sessions, and coordinates state transitions throughout gameplay.