In this talk I'm going to present a state machine framework created to conform to the strict gamedev requirements, and explain how to use it in gameplay logic implementation. While primarily aimed to be used for video games, it would work well in any other application built around an update loop (e.g. windows message pump in win32 UI applications). Additionally, during the course of the presentation, we'll explore bits of state machine theory and the guidelines for structuring monolithic entity update logic into a hierarchy of states.