Does EVERY adventure need multiple save games?
 

I am creating a game and have come to coding the 'save game' part. I am wondering if I really need more than one saved game. Any comments?

If a game has unexpected dead ends, you need to save often. My game does not. I don't like dead ends.

If a game has timed sequences, you need to save often. My game does not. You can take as long as you like on any puzzle.

If it takes ages to get into some apart of the game, you might want to save at various stages. But my game has a chapter structure where you can navigate between parts of the game in a non-linear way.

I can see the need for one save game slot - you don't want to go through every part every time you play. But I cannot see the need for more than one.

This might sound like heresy, but consider The Sims. The game progresses, but you never go back to a previous stage.

Apart from being unnecessary, I think multiple game slots might actually be harmful to my game. First, jumping back and forth destroys the illusion of being part of a real progress. Second, extra coding means less time spent on the story, and more chance of an unexpected crash.

So I think in my circumstances, a single choice of 'save current state or start from the beginning' is a good plan. What do others think?

No Action Jackson only has one savegame slot. Go for it, but just make sure your game really is bug-free. ;)

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare has four slots to save, if I can remember correctly, and to do so you need to collect amulets throughout the game. And that is a very action based adventure game. Even they don't allow going much back and forth.

Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb doesn't have a manual save option, but it saves automatically as you progress in the game.

I agree with Wormsie. Don't worry about it as long as you make the flow of the game logical and interesting. :)

I've never tried Action Jackson (love the title, though!) Is the single-slot ever a problem?

I agree with the bug comment, though. I added a lot of special code to my game, only to take it out again a year later. Under heavy testing, 2004's clever feature became 2005's bug. I love solid, stable games, so I have made myself a rule: don't add any clever code unless it is absolutely necessary. And if it is absolutely necessary, ask the question again. :)

Thanks. This is a great relief. I value the opinions of people who play more games than me. I'm too busy making my game, so don't play as many other games as I would like.

The name is "No Action Jackson". No, it's not a problem, because the game has no bugs... Of course, when you play adventure games, you sometimes tend to load an older save, and check if you've missed something. But that is mostly paranoia, I think, and a leftover of the Sierra-era.

Or something. :shifty:

Multiple saves is good. What if a player wants to go back and revisit a part of the game? By removing that option you will annoy some players, and that's never a good thing to do without good reason.

That's only related to the general game design, and not if you allow saved games or not. What if a player wants to revisit a certain part of the game after he has completed the game. Maybe he's writing a review and wants to check something.

Nah, it doesn't take long to get it working (see my follow-up to your post on the Sludge-forum), and I've not seen any unexpected crashes in my work-in-progress that includes a save/load system.

The only problem with one savegame slot is when multiple persons play on the same machine. I.E. me and my brother.

It depends on how linear your game is. If there's any chance the player will want to replay a section (to see if they could have solved a problem differently, for example), then one save slot is a very bad idea. Sometimes if I get stuck in a game I like to go back to a previous save and try doing things in a different order, to see if that triggers something or gets me "unstuck" by making me think in a different way. And if there's any possibility of multiple puzzle solutions or multiple paths, I resent the developer forcing me to replay rather than making it easy for me to restore from a saved game.

I think unless you have a very good reason, putting in only one save slot is just going to alienate players who are used to multiple saves.

-emily

Very good point!

Update: the question is now moot, because the Amazing Trumgottist (May He Live Forever) has provided me with some wonderful code that works beautifully. And (he assures me, and he is never wrong) it is thoroughly tested and stable. I just adapted it for my game, saving is now sorted. Isn't the Internet wonderful?

Now I can get back to the good stuff of adding new scenes.

GOOD !!
I hate one-save games for a multitude of reasons ... probably all already velaborated above !! :pan: :crazy: