Setting up the StateManager controller

Now, look at line 6 of the StateManager class in the following screenshot. We have a big problem right off the bat:

The activeState variable needs to be able to store all of the State types. Right now it can only store a reference to a BeginState type of object. This looks like a huge problem! What about the classes PlayState, WonState, and LostState? What if we had 50 different States that needed to be referenced in activeState?

The following diagram is our dilemma:

Studying an example of inheritance

Let's look at this issue using objects we all use all the time.

How about a Potato? Let's also imagine we have a Potato bag. Now to connect these real objects into the scripting world, the following is a simple declared variable:

public Potato bag;

So we have a variable named bag. The type of object it can store is a Potato. Saying this in another way: I have a Potato bag, and the only thing I can put in it is a potato.

The issue is shown in the following diagram...