I think I understand the basic idea behind a Finite State Machine-based game loop. But I'm trying to write a little game in which the same object can simultaneously be in multiple, independent states. At least that's what I want to do.

To give you an idea: Robot may be in FleeState and FireLaserState at the same time, besides in each of them individually at any time.

Would something like this be possible using the FSM pattern? Or ought I to look elsewhere?

After all, does the whole idea make sense?

I think I understand the basic idea behind a Finite State Machine-based game loop. But I'm trying to write a little game in which the same object can simultaneously be in multiple, independent states. At least that's what I want to do.

To give you an idea: Robot may be in FleeState and FireLaserState at the same time, besides in each of them individually at any time.

Would something like this be possible using the FSM pattern? Or ought I to look elsewhere?

After all, does the whole idea make sense?

Pasted from my comment below: A little clarification of why I'd like states to be kept separate: I want the player to have the ability to program simple state changes before a game... say "if (health_is_way_too_low) flee". But then I want multiple such rules to be active simultaneously in order to keep the game interesting, and cannot know beforehand which other states may be active.