Post-launch updates and preserving save file progress
Hey, I recently released Hollowbody on Steam. It's been incredibly popular, which is great!
I've since pushed 5 post-launch patches whilst managing to keep users save files intact. These have mostly been small tweaks to code or puzzle logic, collisions etc.
I'm looking to do a more significant update in the future and wanted to establish if there was way of approaching this that wouldn't compromise player save files.
What are the common aspects of AC's save system that could potentially break when making an update?
The biggest potential issue I could see is with adding new scenes to the game's build options - would ensuring these scenes are added to the end of the list of scenes in Build Settings possibly avoid this? I always reference scene changes by name, but from what I can tell AC's save system references them by number (the one listed alongside scenes in Build Settings).
I would also like to add some new variables (both scene and global) along with inventory items and ActionList Assets.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
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I played the demo a little while ago - I had no idea this was an AC game! Congrats on the release. One for the showcase page, perhaps?
Adding new scenes should be fine. How AC stores scene data is handled in the Settings Manager - this is separate to how they're referenced in Actions. So long as you add them to the end, however, you should be fine.
The same is true of Variables and Inventory items - you can add new ones without intefering old saves.
Bear in mind, however, that variables created since a save was recorded will not be updated upon loading that save. If you need to manually set such variable values, you'd need a custom script that reads the contents of the save file after the fact, checks if the variables were referenced, and makes adjustments if not.
Generally, the main thing to avoid is the removal of old data. AC references items, variables etc via their ID number, which will be available for use again if you delete and then add e.g. a new item. Just creating new data should be OK.
Thanks Chris, that's great to know!
I'd be honoured for the game to be featured on the Showcase page. Happy to provide any info if needed.