File handling for partial state

Authoring Inform 7
1

I have a large program to build an open-world system. However, I also have a detailed and rich player character (PC). I would like to save the PC data and bring it into a different world (an updated version of the world) occasionally. Is that possible?

2

You can do this with external files, see chapters 23.11 (Files) to 23.15 (Exchanging files with other programs) in the documentation.

Here’s a minimal example where we transfer some character data from one project to another:

Code for Game 1 (export data by WAITing):

The Lab is a room.

The File of Character Data is called "pcdata".

Table of Character Stats
Stat	Value
"Strength"	12
"Intelligence"	12

After waiting:
	write File of Character Data from the Table of Character Stats;
	say "Character stats saved to file."

Code for Game 2 (import data by JUMPing):

The Second Lab is a room.

The File of Character Data (owned by another project) is called "pcdata".

Table of Character Stats
Stat	Value
"Strength"	6
"Intelligence"	6

After jumping:
	if the File of Character Data exists:
		read File of Character Data into Table of Character Stats;
		say "Character stats were read from an external file.";
		repeat through the Table of Character Stats:
			say "[Stat entry]: [Value entry]."

If you play the compiled games in the same folder, then you can import the data from Game 1 into Game 2, and the stats will be 12 and 12 after the import, instead of the 6 and 6 which we started out with in Game 2.

3

Thanks so much for this. I informs how my architecture of the world and the PC data are built.