Working with the Hostess, queues and delta time

So ive got a small gym running for my program, a set of tables with placeholder art to show states and a non-viewable 'hostess' controller.

The hostess consists of a set of queues, which are offered a group of random guest size at random intervals. The hostess offers the group to a queue of matching description (those waiting for a table of 3 go into the queue for 3's and 4's) etc, using a best fit approach.

While the tables dont show any difference for max seating yet, eventually i will create different sprites for tables of various sizes and shapes.

Implementing the "arrival" of guests could lead to a more detailed look at the state of the performance, time of day and use of marketing strategies. Looking back at rct and its publicity options for gaining more guests, i may be able to add these kinds of features later on once the core gameplay is set.

At the moment the Hostess class is not intended to be a child of Staff, and is instead simply a controller of the flow of guests. If i later decide to have the option of a graphic representation, i would be able to give it a limited set of information and control to simulate human behaviour. (For instance, StaffHostess could have only limited view of the tables availability, and have to check around regularly to find which tables are taken.)

The Table class is currently maintaining itself by running update and incrementig a counter variable if the table isOccupied. Future implementations will take into account timed intervals for each state based on the guests and check against delta time for a change. (For instance, 4 guests will finish 2 shared meals quicker than 2 guests habing a meal each.)

My next step is to add StaffWaiter and a Computer to take orders and deliver Consumables to the table.

4/8 Tables Sat in various states