• Compression to give the shortest possible codes
  
• Error reporting to allow you to handle invalid codes
  
• Optional CRC to verify codes are valid
  
• Optional username encoding so that codes for games saved by a certain user will only work for that specific user
  
• Handles all data (booleans, strings, integers and floating point numbers)
  
• Project contains a sample use of the save-game code system
  

1. Backpack the Savegame sprite from the Toolkit project and add it to your own project
   
2. Add a format description list
   
3. To save a game put your game data into a list and broadcast to create a save-game code
   
4. To load a game broadcast to decode a save-game code and put the data from the list into your game
   

• boolean {array <array length>}
  
• string {extended} {“variable”} length <max length> {array <array length>}
  
• integer {min <min value>} {max <max value>} {array <array length>}
  
• float {min <min value>} {max <max value>} {precision <decimal places>} {array <array length | varName>}
  

• assign <varName>
  encode
  
• crc
  

Cloud-Multiplayer wrote:

Cloud would be really useful!

dude341 wrote:

Perhaps if it could be adapted to use number-based save codes suitable for Cloud Data.

dude341 wrote:

Also, may I ask how you got the list names on the screen to be different from their actual names?

Maximouse wrote:

I think that multidimensional arrays would be a useful feature.

RokCoder wrote:

But Scratch doesn't have multidimensional arrays/lists?

integer min 0 max 100
assign var1
integer min 0 max 100
assign var2
string variable length 10 array var1 var2 # two-dimensional array

follow
say [me]
now

kriblo wrote:

Wow, you've really gone to town with this! Excellent work!

when green flag clicked
say [Ok.]
ask [But can I do it with just numbers?] and wait
if <(answer) = [yes]> then 

  
say [Can someone show me how to do it?]

else

say [Ok.]

cs2011226 wrote:

Can I do it with just numbers?

RokCoder wrote:

RokCoder's Save-Game Toolkit

Add game loading and saving to any project!

Features include:

• Compression to give the shortest possible codes
  
• Error reporting to allow you to handle invalid codes
  
• Optional CRC to verify codes are valid
  
• Optional username encoding so that codes for games saved by a certain user will only work for that specific user
  
• Handles all data (booleans, strings, integers and floating point numbers)
  
• Project contains a sample use of the save-game code system
  

Instructions for use

1. Backpack the Savegame sprite from the Toolkit project and add it to your own project
   
2. Add a format description list
   
3. To save a game put your game data into a list and broadcast to create a save-game code
   
4. To load a game broadcast to decode a save-game code and put the data from the list into your game
   

Format description list

The toolkit needs to know the format of the data to be saved - whether it contains strings, booleans, lists, etc. To do this, modify the Savegame: format list. For example, if you want to save a string and an integer the list would contain -

string length 10
integer

These are the values that can be used in the format list -

• boolean {array <array length>}
  
• string {extended} {“variable”} length <max length> {array <array length>}
  
• integer {min <min value>} {max <max value>} {array <array length>}
  
• float {min <min value>} {max <max value>} {precision <decimal places>} {array <array length | varName>}
  

Parameters in <angled brackets> are compulsory. Parameters in {curly brackets} are optional.

Directives

• assign <varName>
  encode
  
• crc
  

Adding assign count will assign the variable count with whatever value was previously encountered. This variable can then be used to declare the lengths of arrays. This is extremely useful if you need to save arrays of data that may be different lengths each time.

Adding encode to the format list will make the savegame code encrypted using the player's username. This means that players cannot share their savegame codes.

Adding crc to the format list forces the toolkit to check the validity of entered savegame codes which prevents players from being able to guess random codes.

Format syntax

boolean - A single boolean value
boolean array 10 - A list of ten boolean values
string length 10 - a string exactly ten characters long
string variable length 10 - a string that is a maximum of ten characters long
string variable length 10 array 4 - a list of four strings, each of which is a maximum of ten characters long
integer - an integer (whole number) between 0 and 63
integer min 10 - an integer (whole number) between 10 and 63
integer max 100 - an integer (whole number) between 0 and 100
integer min -10 max 50 - an integer (whole number) between -10 and 50
integer min -10 max 10 array 5 - a list of five integers each of which is between -10 and 10

float works the same as integer with the addition of the optional precision parameter to define the number of decimal places. By default it will store floats with one decimal place (e.g. 4.51 will be stored as 4.5).

Example using the toolkit

For a simple game we might want to store the character that the player has chosen to use, the name he has given that character, his maximum hit points, his current hit points and a list of which treasures have been found. The format list (Savegame: format) would look something like this -

Note that you can add comments at any point in the format file by adding the # character but this is entirely optional.

To save the game, the game data would need to be written to the Savegame: data list. The script for that would be similar to this -

To load a game the script would look something like this -

Final notes

I wrote this toolkit because I've lost count of the number of times I've implemented different save-game systems in projects. Using this solution I'll never need to write another one! I'm contemplating doing something similar for cloud variables so please let me know if you might find that useful.

If you have any questions, suggestions, improvements, feedback or bug reports, please post them to this forum.

Goldtabby wrote:

I'm having a hard time understanding this… Can you help me?

RokCoder wrote:

Goldtabby wrote:

I'm having a hard time understanding this… Can you help me?

I've set up a simple example to show how a list of five numbers can be saved/loaded.

Notice that the Savegame: format list is already set up. This should be modified for whatever data you want to save/load.

Goldtabby wrote:

RokCoder wrote:

Notice that the Savegame: format list is already set up. This should be modified for whatever data you want to save/load.

What is the format for?

RokCoder wrote:

Goldtabby wrote:

RokCoder wrote:

Notice that the Savegame: format list is already set up. This should be modified for whatever data you want to save/load.

What is the format for?

So the toolkit knows what data to save. It can save strings, numbers, lists and pretty much anything else but you need to let it know.