Save Game 'Change Directory' Option

[Sam2]

It may seem trivial, but when one keeps a savegame archive or two, it helps to have the option to cross-reference these when restoring or saving during a game.  The absence of a 'Change Directory' option at the save or load game screens in the King's Quest remakes made this cumbersome, and was puzzling given the standard template for most V.G.A.-based Sierra games.

Is this being considered for the upcoming Quest for Glory remake?  I do hope the creators take this point into consideration and make such an option available to us.  Thanks.

Trailer looks good.  Good job, guys.

[Anonymous Game Creator 2]

AGS does not allow you to change directories, as then somebody could use it to write a malicious program which deletes all files from the user's hard drive. I think all of AGS's file operations are limited to the game directory.

That said, we will probably increase the number of savegame slots to something like 50 for the final release.  How many save slots do you guys think would be necessary for a QFG game (keeping in mind also, that AGS savegames can be quite large in file size)?

[Sam2]

For all practical purposes of gameplay, I think 50 should be more than enough.  

A demanding number of slots or an option to change directories is normally set aside for some of us who indulge in the special pet project of creating a library of organised folders of savegames with most stages throughout the entire game archived nicely in detail.  But as you said, and for the reason you mentioned, A.G.S. sets limits.  

Still, the idea of simply increasing the availability of slots is quite good and 50 sounds generous, certainly I would think beyond what is necessary for the average gamer and maybe even sufficient enough for the specific purpose I mentioned before (I believe KQ2 provided a maximum of 23 slots, so what is proposed is more than double that size).

It would be useful to know of other board members' perspectives and what their experiences tell them constitutes the average number of available saves with which they would normally feel comfortable, so someone should add more to this thread.

[gamecreator]

If I use 20 saves per character, that's 60 for all three.

So... why not just make it 100?  If people are concerned about disk space, they can always move/burn/erase old saves or simply limit the number of saves they make.  I've never been a fan of programs purposefully limiting users' options.

[ATMachine]

I vote for 100 savegame slots, which is a reasonable number for such a large game. For example, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis has three paths, and it takes me about 60-80 savegames out of ~100 slots to get through all 3.

At the moment, I have about 600 QfG2EGA saves sitting on my hard drive ( ) but most of them are concerned with stat increases or finishing combat alive, not with important events in the story. So I could probably make do with 100 slots, but any fewer and I'd have to move my save game files into other directories.

I've seen AGS games with ~100 slots, so it's certainly feasible. And as gamecreator said, if people don't like the file sizes, they can always limit how much they save.

[Broomie]

I must be the only one who uses 2 or 3 save slots. I just overwrite saved games as I go.

[Lordrasson]

not the only one I don't think I have ever used more than 2 maybe 3 save slots with a game even way back then, it has come back to bite me in the backside a few times especially with some of the older games where you can hit dead ends often but you just start again, and "Knowing is half the battle!"

[Kurdt]

I'm a little of both. I have generic save spots labeled "city" or "desert" or something for when I survive battles or go on stat-increasing binges, and I have more specific saves for milestones like "fire elemental" or "raseir" or something. I'm always paranoid about using too many save games since Conquests of Camelot gave me an "Out of Heap Space" error at the Saracan when I was 6 and I had to clean out every save game and restart from scratch to get through it (unfortunately, my friend was the one who got through most of that game and he refused to tell me how to do it, so I basically was at square one). I usually keep about 10-12 slots, depending on game length.

[Alliance]

AGS does not allow you to change directories, as then somebody could use it to write a malicious program which deletes all files from the user's hard drive.

Are you serious?  :eek

[Erpy]

Deleting is a big word...I don't think AGS has any functions to delete files, but you could definitely write something that starts writing gibberish data into a file, essentially destroying it. That's why you can only modify files in the folder the game is stored in.

[meuchler696]

I know I'm a little late to the thread, but never late than never.

My vote would be to set it as high as possible.  I assume it's just a constant somewhere and therefore trivial to set.

If someone wants to have 4096 saved games, then so be it.  It won't crash the game or fill the hard drive.

[Erpy]

I don't think it's that trivial to set for the scripter. A listbox in AGS can only hold a maximum of 50 savegames, which is what we're at right now.

[Alliance]

50 is perfectly fine.
After all, you could just copy all of your current saves to a directory, and paste them all back whenever you wanted to use them.

[MusicallyInspired]

Lol, 100 save games? That's insane! How would you sort through all that?? Or are some of us used to using the 100+ save games that all the LucasArts games supplied? I'm with Broomie, I overwrite my save games. I have at the most 5 save games per "play-thru". And I don't play multiple "play-thrus" of the same game at once, so...

[gamecreator]

The idea is to accomodate as many people as possible without inconveniencing them.  Just because there are 100 slots available, that doesn't mean you have to use all of them.

[MusicallyInspired]

I'm not arguing against having them...I'm not even arguing. I'm just saying I've never seen anyone use that many savegames before. Just hard to relate to!

[gamecreator]

Understandable.  If I'm just playing through the game I only use a handful of saves as well, just in case I need to backtrack.  But I also like to save to keep saves around (like on a CD) for whenever I have an urge just to reinstall the game and play from a certain point.  My savegames would look something like this:
Fighter - Start
Fighter - Fire Elemental
Fighter - Water Elemental
Fighter - EOF
Fighter - Issur Game
Fighter - Going to Raseir
etc.  And then the same for the other two classes.  I definitely plan on doing this for AGDI so as not only to play each character but to fully explore their game.  If I have an idea later to try something new with the thief and the fire elemental, I'll definitely load that slot back and do it.

Yeah, it's kind of anal but you should see my friend's "system."  I think it's multiple saves per day.  :lol

[meuchler696]

I don't think it's that trivial to set for the scripter. A listbox in AGS can only hold a maximum of 50 savegames, which is what we're at right now.

Listbox max of 50 eh?  I'll avoid any snarky comments as complaining about a free game being developed on a free engine is usually bad form.

Well, 50 would be more than enough for the average person who does one or two runs through the game.  I guess if anyone is hardcore enough to have multiple meticulously saved characters, they wouldn't have a problem with copying them out of the saved game directory.