What to call save games

[ggambett]

This may sound trivial to many of you, but English is not my native language, so please accept my apologies.

I'm implementing savegames for Betty's Beer Bar, to replace the dreaded level codes.

When the player wants to start a new game, I'll present him with several "slots" to store the savegame. The game will auto-save after each level. Then, the user selects Load Game, picks one of the slots, and continues where he left.

I'm not sure what to call these "slots". Is "slots" the appropriate term? I'll present the empty slots with a prompt saying "Select Save Slot", maybe "Select Save Position" is better? "Select Saved Game Position"? I don't want it to be confusing or sound weird.

Thanks,
--Gabriel

[Gary the Llama]

Save slots sounds much more professional (that is, if we're debating the professionalism of save slots).

[exepotes]

well, gabriel, english is not my native language neither, but i found this for you, from the game Sonic 3 (SEGA Genesis): " New to a Sonic game is the save system - six slots are available on the game's built-in battery for Sonic and Tails' progress. ". You can read the whole review here.
anyway, you could simply put "Load saved game", or "Load game". i find them simpler and clearer.
hope it helps.

ps: you can see here how they managed it, just search for "Sonic Classics 3 In 1" in the page.

[Phantom1029]

I think you would be okay going with save slots

[Mithril Studios]

Developer's care about "slots" -- that's where we look to put or retrieve data.

Players care about "games" or "positions" -- that's what they look to in order to continue their enjoyment.

I'd let them enter their own title for each saved game, and put a time stamp with a little picture next to it.

If you don't want them to be entering stuff, use a descriptive name of the players progress like "Day 1 - Smallville" or something.

I guess for empty slots I'd label them "Saved Game 1" to "Saved Game <n>"

Anthony

Edit: Nah, on second thought, I'd make all the empty slots read "<empty>" or "Save game here!"

[DGuy]

Suggestion:

Have the options "Start New Game" (which will always be active) and "Continue Game ..." (which will be inactive until the game is first played).

When "Start New Game" is selected, ask for a player name. It is that name which will become the name of the save game file holding all the game status information.

When the player next starts the game, the "Continue Game ..." option will be active because there is now a game to continue. When "Continue Game ..." is selected, a list of player names will be presented (along with basic progress info: level, score, etc) and a prompt to "Select Player". When a player name is seleted, that players game status information will be loaded up and the game continued.

Of course you'll have to handle the "what if the name already exist?" situation and, if you decide to use the player name as a file name, that the player name is a valid filename, but I feel the above method will seem more familar to casual players, then will the idea of "saved games" or "game slots" or positions.

HTH,
David

[oNyx]

>Is "slots" the appropriate term?

Yes, they are called "slots". However, it's rarely used as a headline.

When the player wants to start a new game, I'll present him with several "slots" to store the savegame. The game will auto-save after each level. Then, the user selects Load Game, picks one of the slots, and continues where he left.

How long does it take to restore the state? If the delay is small, I would remove that additional step. Eg here is a headline, let's say 5 slots and you just click on one of em. If there is some data, the game will immediately start and if there isn't any data the user will be asked for entering a name. Selecting one of those slots and then clicking on "load" is more complicated than it needs to be

And on the bottom could be "delete"->screen with slots ("load" or "back" at the bottom)... click on one of the slots->delete? <yes/no>.

However, if loading takes a while a two-step loading procedure (select then load) would be the best thing to do.

The logic behind that is pretty straightforward. It's good to annoy the user a bit in order to prevent him/her from something bad (eg. accidently deleting a file, having to wait etc). And the other one: don't ask unnecessary questions. If it can be undone within a split second there is no reason to ask (eg. browsing - if you accidently click on the wrong link you can just go back).

As simple as these rules might be... it's hard to get it all initially just right.

edit:

Oh and some games also use an additional "guest" slot, which doesn't save at all. I think it's nice if someone just wants to give it a try. There is no need to enter a name and there is always one slot which everyone can use.

[ggambett]

Thanks for your responses so far, but I think I didn't make myself completely clear.

The user won't have to type anything. Just click on a big button that says "EMPTY". The game will generate titles ("Bar - Day 1").

What I was asking is what to call those big buttons. I will show 4 big buttons with an informative text "Select a <whatever>". I think I'll go with "Select Save Position".