{"id":1732,"date":"2012-06-23T17:53:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T16:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/?p=1732"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:44:58","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:44:58","slug":"how-to-save-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/23\/how-to-save-games\/","title":{"rendered":"How to save games!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The need for good usability when saving games is obvious \u2013 players want to know that their data is safe. Unlike the actual gameplay, which requires user experience evaluation, saving a game is a short, goal focused task. However it is still a fundamental aspect of gaming, and can have a huge impact on a player\u2019s perception of a game.<\/p>\n

This lends itself to some best practises, derived from reviewing current games, which can be applied to almost any genre of game. In this post I\u2019ve created some saved games rules, and given examples of games where breaking these rules has ruined my day!<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/strong>Don\u2019t make the default option on the main menu \u201cnew game\u201d.<\/strong>\n

    Let\u2019s caveat that. Don\u2019t make the default option \u201cnew game\u201d after<\/em> the first time the player has played the game. Instead, the default option should be \u201ccontinue\u201d. A player is only going to start a new game once, however will continue the game multiple times.<\/p>\n

    This not only stops the player from having to make unnecessary selections on the main menu, but also stops them from potentially overriding their saved game (although as designers, you obviously shouldn\u2019t let your game do this!). I had this exact experience with Monkey Island <\/strong>on iOS, <\/strong>where selecting \u201cNew Game\u201d, the top menu item, wiped hours of progress by replacing my existing session with a new game. \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n

  2. <\/strong>Allow players to manually save, but tell them what will be saved.<\/strong>\n

    For the vast majority of games, there is no reason why the player should have to wait until set checkpoints before saving their game \u2013 there can be any number of real world factors that require the players attention, and it\u2019s unfair to make them lose progress in the game because of this.\u00a0 This rule can sometimes be broken, especially on narrative heavy games, in order to make player\u2019s decisions meaningful.<\/p>\n

    However it is important to ensure that players are aware of what will be saved when they save. For example, in Just Cause 2<\/strong>, the player\u2019s progress, health and equipment will be saved, but not their location. This can cause confusion, as the player will initially be disorientated when they restart a saved game, at an unknown location.\n<\/li>\n

  3. <\/strong>When saying \u201call progress since the last save will be lost\u201d, make sure players are aware of when the last save was.<\/strong>\n

    It is common when quitting games to see a message that says \u201call progress since the last save will be lost\u201d. If that is the case, it\u2019s important to make sure players are aware of when the last save was, and what will be retained. For example, in Heavy Rain<\/strong>, this message is displayed when quitting, whenever the player quits. However the player doesn\u2019t control saving in this game, it all happens automatically, and so is left unsure about what will be saved \u2013 is it their progress since the beginning of the level? Or is progress saved elsewhere?<\/p>\n

    To fix this, make the message conditional (i.e. if you are leaving just after a save, don\u2019t display it), and make sure the message is explicit about when the last save was, if it is something out of the player\u2019s control!\n<\/li>\n

  4. <\/strong>Autosave!<\/strong>
    \nShort & simple. It\u2019s never fun to replay a challenge you\u2019ve already completed (as Wheatly learnt in Portal 2<\/strong>). Make the game autosave often, especially after the player has completed a long and difficult challenge, or watched a long, unskippable cutscene!<\/p>\n

    This was done badly in Cursed Mountain<\/strong>, where the player is required to shake the wiimote for 2 minutes before challenging a boss \u2013 and the savepoint is before the wiimote shake!<\/a>\n<\/li>\n

  5. Autosave<\/strong> often, and let player\u2019s pick which to resume! <\/strong>
    \nFrequent autosaves can cause a potential issue \u2013 when the player is stuck in an impossible battle, perhaps due to low health or ammo, and the game saves, the player is left stuck in a situation\u00a0 they can\u2019t possibly get out of.<\/p>\n

    To fix this, make autosaves independent, and allow the player to pick which to resume \u2013 often games will have separate autosaves for the beginning of a level, and for the last checkpoint, so the player doesn\u2019t have to replay large sections of gameplay if it all goes wrong!\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These rules seem obvious, and are easy to implement, but are often overlooked when making games. However they can have a huge effect on the player experience. Putting in time to think about save games can save your game from being abandoned by players!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The need for good usability when saving games is obvious \u2013 players want to know that their data is safe. Unlike the actual gameplay, which requires user experience evaluation, saving a game is a short, goal focused task. However it is still a fundamental aspect of gaming, and can have a huge impact on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games-user-research","grve-entry-item","grve-blog-item"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to save games! - Steve Bromley - User Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/23\/how-to-save-games\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to save games! - Steve Bromley - User Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The need for good usability when saving games is obvious \u2013 players want to know that their data is safe. 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