I'm looking at changing paths. I would love to write a story for a video game.

Hello I have been working on a game in Godot 3.5 and i have a horrible save load bug. I can load in the game but if i close the game i see the save file in the project data yadda, but it wont reload the save properly.

SaveLoadManager. 
extends Node

export var save_file_path = "user://save_game.save"
var is_saving = false
var Player_MaxHP = 25
var Player_HP = 25
var player_outside_pos : Vector2
var plantselected = 1 #1 = Tomatoe #2 = Wheat #3 = Corn #4 = Strawberry
var Enemy_Hp = 4
var Enemy_MaxHP = 4
var numofTomatoe = 0
var numofWheat = 0
var numofCorn = 0
var numofStrawberry = 0
var food = {}
var usedItems = []
var inventory = {}
var ItemList = {} # Define as a regular variable
var Dialogic
var Player
var dialog_index = 0
# Store all essential game data here
var game_data = {
"Player_HP": 25,
"Player_MaxHP": 25,
"inventory": {},
"Item_List": {},
"Dialogue": null,
"dialog_index": 0,
"player_outside_pos": Vector2()
}

func save_game():
if is_saving:
return  # Already saving
is_saving = true
var save_file = File.new()
if save_file.open(save_file_path, File.WRITE) == OK:
var data = {
"Player_HP": Player_HP,
"inventory": inventory,
"Item_List": ItemList,
"Dialogue": Dialogic
}
save_file.store_var(data)
save_file.close()
print("Game saved successfully!")
else:
print("Failed to open save file for writing.")
is_saving = false

func load_game():
var save_file = File.new()
if save_file.file_exists(save_file_path):
if save_file.open(save_file_path, File.READ) == OK:
var data = save_file.get_var()
Player_HP = data.get("Player_HP", Player_HP)
inventory = data.get("inventory", inventory)
ItemList = data.get("Item_List", ItemList)
Dialogic = data.get("Dialogue", Dialogic)
save_file.close()
print("Game loaded successfully!")
else:
print("Failed to open save file for reading.")
else:
print("Save file not found.")

# Access specific values from game data
func get_inventory():
return game_data.inventory

func update_player_hp(new_hp):
game_data["Player_HP"] = new_hp




func save_dialogic_data():
ProjectSettings.set_setting("dialog_index", dialog_index)
ProjectSettings.save()

func load_dialogic_data():
if ProjectSettings.has_setting("dialog_index"):
dialog_index = ProjectSettings.get_setting("dialog_index")





MainMenu.  extends Node
onready var save_manager = get_node("/root/SaveLoadManager")

func _ready():
$VBoxContainer/VBoxContainer/Start.grab_focus()

func _on_Start_pressed():
if Input.is_action_just_pressed("Enter"):
$GunShot.play()
print("Start pressed")
# warning-ignore:return_value_discarded
get_tree().change_scene("res://scenes/Mexico/Mexico.tscn")

func _on_Options_pressed():
print("Options pressed")

func _on_Exit_pressed():
print("Exit pressed")
SaveLoadManager.save_game()
get_tree().quit()
func _on_Continue_pressed():
if File.new().file_exists("user://save_game.save"):





SaveLoadManager.load_game()
Global.load_dialogic_data()
Global.load_inventory()
print("Loading game...")
get_tree().change_scene("res://scenes/Mexico/Mexico.tscn")
else:
print("No saved game found.")





func _on_SaveTimer_timeout():
pass # Replace with function body.




My Bed that i save on
 extends DoorItem
onready var save_manager = get_node("/root/SaveLoadManager")

func interaction_interact(interactionComponentParent: Node) -> void:
print("Interacting with bed for save")
SaveLoadManager.save_game()  # Centralized save function  # Save the game when the player interacts with the bed

and my Global Script is.

extends Node

export var save_file_path = "user://save_game.save"
var is_saving = false
var Player_MaxHP = 25
var Player_HP = 25
var player_outside_pos : Vector2
var plantselected = 1 #1 = Tomatoe #2 = Wheat #3 = Corn #4 = Strawberry
var Enemy_Hp = 4
var Enemy_MaxHP = 4
var numofTomatoe = 0
var numofWheat = 0
var numofCorn = 0
var numofStrawberry = 0
var food = {}
var usedItems = []
var inventory = {}
var ItemList = {} # Define as a regular variable
var Dialogic

# Add variables to store and manage dialogic timeline
var dialog_index = 0

func add_used_item(item_name):
usedItems.append(item_name)

func is_item_used(item_name):
return usedItems.find(item_name) != -1

func _ready():
load_game()
load_inventory() # Call load_inventory() when entering a new scene
load_dialogic_data()  # Call load_dialogic_data() to load the dialogic timeline

func _on_SceneTree_scene_changed():
save_game()
save_inventory() # Call save_inventory() when switching scenes
save_dialogic_data()  # Call save_dialogic_data() to save the dialogic timeline

func save_inventory():
ProjectSettings.set_setting("inventory", inventory)
ProjectSettings.set_setting("equips", inventory.equips)
ProjectSettings.save()

func load_inventory():
if ProjectSettings.has_setting("inventory"):
inventory.inventory = ProjectSettings.get_setting("inventory")
if ProjectSettings.has_setting("equips"):
inventory.equips = ProjectSettings.get_setting("equips")

func add_item(item_name):
if inventory.has(item_name):
inventory[item_name] += 1
else:
inventory[item_name] = 1

func remove_item(item_name):
if inventory.has(item_name):
if inventory[item_name] > 1:
inventory[item_name] -= 1
else:
inventory.erase(item_name)

func has_item(item_name):
return inventory.has(item_name)

func get_item_count(item_name):
if inventory.has(item_name):
return inventory[item_name]
else:
return 0

func reset_inventory():
# Clear the inventory
PlayerInventory.inventory.clear()
PlayerInventory.equips.clear()

#SAVE##########

func _on_SceneTree_about_to_change():
save_game()  # Call save_game() when switching scenes





func save_game():
if is_saving:
return  # A save operation is already in progress

is_saving = true
var save_file = File.new()
if save_file.open("user://save_game.save", File.WRITE) == OK:
var data = {
"Player_HP": Player_HP,
"inventory": inventory,
"Item_List": ItemList,
"Dialogue": Dialogic
}
if save_file.store_var(data) == OK:
print("Game saved successfully!")
else:
print("Failed to store data in the save file.")
save_file.close()
is_saving = false  # Reset the flag
else:
print("Failed to open the save file for writing.")
is_saving = false  # Reset the flag
func load_game():
var save_file = File.new()
if save_file.file_exists("user://save_game.save"):
if save_file.open("user://save_game.save", File.READ) == OK:
var data = save_file.get_var()
if data:
Player_HP = data.get("Player_HP", Player_HP)
inventory = data.get("inventory", inventory)
ItemList = data.get("Item_List", ItemList)
Dialogic = data.get("Dialogue", Dialogic)
print("Game loaded successfully!")

save_file.close()
else:
print("No data found in the save file.")
else:
print("Failed to open the save file for reading.")
else:
print("Save file not found.")
##############

#DIALOGICDATA########

# Dialogic-related functions to save and load the dialog index
func save_dialogic_data():
ProjectSettings.set_setting("dialog_index", dialog_index)
ProjectSettings.save()

func load_dialogic_data():
if ProjectSettings.has_setting("dialog_index"):
dialog_index = ProjectSettings.get_setting("dialog_index")

# Here, you can add logic to switch to the correct timeline based on dialog_index
# For example, if dialog_index is 0, you can switch to timeline 0, and if it's 1, switch to timeline 1.
# Make sure you have functions or logic in place to switch between timelines in your Dialogic system.

When i close the game and reopen it and hit continue i am losing the data. but the file is there. I can save on the bed and go back to the main menu hit continue, in game and it takes me back to the scene but if i close the game, i get taken back but im losing the inventory and dialogue data

We're hosting a winter showcase for first person shooter games. Details here:

FPS Winter Showcase

Here are the overall highlights of the showcase:

• Looking for around 15 games to showcase.
• Streamers will also the stream the game and give feedback
• Interviews with developers will be done during the showcase
• Open to FPS on any platform (Stream, Itch.io, etc)
• We want to leverage the holiday season to maximize sales/wishlist sign-ups

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Upvote1Downvote0Go to comments

After releasing a demo and setting up a Steam page, it’s crucial to focus on effective promotion to attract more players and sustain interest. What promotional methods can help generate excitement around a co-op horror game? Which platforms, marketing strategies, and channels are most effective in reaching the target audience and increasing engagement?

Hey everyone! 👋

We're working on an ambitious new game project called [R] inspired by the depth of Arma 3 Life and GTA RP servers.

[R] aims to be a complete game — not just a server with heavy gameplay modifications — where players can dive into realistic roleplay life simulation.

If you have a few minutes, we'd love to get your feedback to help shape [R]!

👉 https://forms.office.com/r/jQQVfs4wmn

Thanks a lot for your time, and looking forward to building something epic with your input!

I'm about to start hunting for an outsource partner to help create a bunch of assets for our game. Normally when I need to find someone external, I tend to just ask other developers who they use and recommend - is there another way?

I used to work at Microsoft, where they had people dedicated to meeting and reviewing outsourcers. If you needed something, you would speak to that person, who would be able to recommend a bunch of companies to speak to.

Is there anything like that for Indie developers? Some sort of giant list of outsourcers, the type of work they do and if people recommend them?

What i mean by this is for example if a game was running originally at 30 fps n then later gets remastered n now runs at 60 how is this process achieved

Hey guys, so for the last 4 years I've been an active developer of mods/models/scripts and I just want to know if any of the knowledge I've picked up during this time will ever help me get a job working as a game dev somewhere.

Some extra context and information. I run a Patreon account where I've made just under 2k during these 4 years not including any commissions, while a lot of the stuff people buy/commission is mainly NSFW I ended up learning a ton about character design, structures, and clothing/armors. Back when I started I was doing everything In blender but I've since been using Adobe PS and Substance, Zbrush, as well as Unity and Unreal, with occasionally using Blender for things. I've made a few mods for the game BG3 and taught myself Python, LUA, C#, and C++. While I'm not a pro on the coding aspect of things and I'll typically spend more time on getting the code to work right than creating characters, bubut I can manage to get it in the end.

The biggest thing though is my degree is in Mechanical Engineering and I'm working for a well rounded firm, so this stuff is basically my hobby outside of gaming. But If the opportunity presented itself I think I'd like to take a stab at it.

As well as I'm not really sure how to go about creating a portfolio since a lot of my real good commissioned work is basically NSFW parody of popular game characters.

For those curious my creator Twitter account where I post most of my stuff is @Nemix_NSFW, BE WARNED THERE IS NSFW CONTENT.

Anyways thank you for reaching the end of this, any insight is very welcomed and I am grateful.

An obvious choice would be a PC, but I don't have one, only a laptop and phone. I've done a bit of research and found that numerous engines can work on phones and laptops.

In general, is it phones or laptops as the 2nd best option to develop games for?

View Poll

Hi everyone! I’m currently working on my master’s thesis, where I’m comparing the SFML, Raylib, and SDL2 libraries in the context of game development. I’d love to hear about your experiences with these libraries. Which one have you used or are you using in your work, and what influenced your choice?

I’m not looking to crown a “best” library – we all have our favorite tools, and the diversity of options available lets us reach similar end results through different approaches, which is one of the great things about our field.

If you’re open to it, I’d appreciate your permission to cite your responses in my thesis.

Thank you!

Now that is news, JetBrains has released Rider and WebStorm FREE for non-commercial use:

https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/

Widens the set of tools available to new programmers to find the tool that fits their style of coding.

I would like to show you my game's current condition. To summarize, I prepared a video for viewers to understand better. It's on Steam but not published. Your feedbacks are very appreciated for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq0eXAjqTFY&t=186s

I am a 13-year-old aspiring game developer with a strong interest in creating a game that mirrors real-life experiences. My objective is to design an immersive experience that enables players to navigate everyday challenges and make decisions, thereby capturing the complexities of our world. I am eager to acquire knowledge regarding game development techniques, programming languages, and design principles. I would greatly appreciate any advice, resources, or tips that could assist me in getting started in this field.

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a journey that’s been both challenging and helpful in managing my OCD. I recently completed a video game focused on OCD, built to give players insight into what it’s like to live with obsessive-compulsive disorder. As someone who’s struggled with OCD, creating this game was both a personal project and an effort to help others understand. But what I didn’t expect was how much I would gain from it, especially when it comes to feeling less alone.

Living with OCD can feel so isolating. The intrusive thoughts, the rituals, the constant second-guessing—it’s something many people don’t really see or understand. Developing this game let me externalize my experience and offer it as a way for people to gain insight into the reality of OCD.

How Awareness Can Help Those Affected

One of the reasons I wanted to share this story is to highlight the role that awareness and understanding can play in healing. Just knowing that others out there see OCD for what it really is makes it easier for those of us who live with it. Awareness reduces stigma, and that’s something we need more of—not just for OCD but for mental health in general.

If you or someone you know struggles with OCD, or if you want to understand more about it, I’d encourage you to find or create something that connects with the experience. Knowing that others see and care has been transformative, and I hope this game can be a small step toward building empathy and reducing that sense of isolation for others, too.

Thank you for reading. I’m happy to answer questions about the game or anything related. Connecting over this has made all the difference for me, and I hope it can for others too.

For those interested, here is the link to the game which is playable for free from the browser:
https://narratividigitali.itch.io/on-constant-delay

Our research has shown that there is a 94% overlap between people who love True Crime and people who play Wordle. So We are trying to get honest feedback from folks who love True Crime, love playing Wordle or both! So if this sounds like you, please share your favorite True Crime or Wordle starter word (I’ll guess which is what) and I can invite you to playtest.

Anyone in game development knows, playtesting is a critical part of the process so appreciate the support from this group.

Disclaimer: we don’t have a live product yet

We have not raised funding yet so bootstrapping with our own funds through organic outreach.

Am 16 years old I know NOTHING about game development but am really interested, and I want to learn how to develop a game from scratch. I want to develop games, I want to have a career in this field, and I want to learn. I want to be a solo developer. So please tell me from where I should start.

Thank you!!

I will keep this brief. Today I release my first game on Steam to all platforms, Windows, Linux and Mac. Building and compiling for the different platforms they do have their quirks that you need to test for. But building for Mac OS specifically I feel has quite a lot of road blocks for an indie dev, especially if you are solo.

First you have to have a Mac, and they are far more expensive than a PC for a lower spec machine.
Second you have to compile for a Mac on a Mac, which given the price normally means you have a lower spec Mac so build times are really high!
Third you need to go through a command line signing procedure, which is a pain.
Forth, you need to register as a Mac developer, which is a yearly fee.

I don't understand why they decided to make is such a roadblock, I would imagine a lot of dev's don't even bother with Mac.

Am I being unreasonable or is Apple just making it hard to make an extra cash flow from developers.

PS: I will always support Mac anyway, because of my audience, even if it is only a small percentage.

Hello everyone, let me make a simple post for a simple question (I think ... ?)

I'd like to understand how people get 100% funded, because I imagine it must be very hard...

• How do they attract people to their project ? Do they advertise everywhere to attract people ? 🤔

Also, I'd like to know:

• What's the main reason for doing a Kickstarter ? 🤔

In my case, it's still far too early, but I'm looking ahead to the future. But, I find it interesting to do a Kickstarter to create an initial community, and get more money to be able to make a quality game faster. But if you think about it, I'm thinking $5,000 or $8,000. Would be more than enough to complete my game.

So my question is :

• Do you think it would be worth it to do a Kickstarter ? 🤔

As a programmer it is hard to go back to any other IDE after using VSCode for a while. Are there any game engines that have been designed to work with VSCode? That is to say, game engines that are VSCode extensions.

Hello! So I'm asked to make this choice-based text game for this one course. In short, the game is about the player acting as Gorbachev and having the option of enacting different policies and hiring/firing different advisors. The professor wants the students to get into groups and have them create the different policies/choices and advisors and the game should take that information and display it on the screen. I've got the main gameplay interface portion set, and now I'm on the project's back end. I genuinely have no idea how and where to start with this. What I was thinking is having each policy look like cards with the different choices available. Something like https://red-autumn.itch.io/social-democracy but with my own visual style. I was thinking of using some sort of game engine/framework so i don't have to make it fully from scratch but then i ran into the problem of what kind. I am using html/css/js.

These are some of the core mechanics that he wants implemented:

Political Capital. Having political capital is what allows Gorbachev to undertake reforms, hire and fire advisors, etc. Political capital is spent to implement new policies. More drastic policies require greater political capital. His capital depends on 1) his popularity 2) the effectiveness of his advisors.

Policies and Policy Trees. Each turn allows the player to undertake certain economic, political, and social policies. Some policies have prerequisites (e.g. perestroika requires uskoreniye). Certain policies require specific or multiple advisors to enact (e.g. very liberal economic reforms require liberal advisors).

If any of you guys have any suggestions or tips on which game engine to use for this it would be much appreciated because I feel like I'm running in circles and getting no where.

Hello! Really wasn’t sure where to put this question, sorry if there’s a better sub I’d be happy to try it

Essentially, I have the budget to help develop the arcade in a meow wolf type space

I wanted to make an arcade cabinet based off a corny old movie or chick flick- as a joke

“steel magnolias” the fighting game or “on golden pond” and it’s a frogger clone with old people

Anyway, since I’m not charging people to play the cabinets, and it’s all part of an art museum (that you do pay to enter) is the arcade game safe under parody law? Artistic license? The game would only ever be playable in that one cabinet in that location.

I am making this post mainly to practice mine English skills in translation, but perhaps one might find it interesting. Since that, I apologize if you find it hard to read.

Please, if you've started reading, read it till the end even if it might be unbearable at some point.

I once had an idea of mine to make a specific mod on an existing app, that in my opinion would change the education tools for language (for instance, Duolingo) drastically and perhaps make someone lots of money. I do believe it's only cons for both developer and consumer.

I've even gathered a group of individuals in an effort to attempt making it, but failed miserably, since the lack of the resources, mostly lack of time.

I guess the only thing I can do now to see my idea alive is to outsource it somewhere and hope someone hears me out.

So, to start off, I am currently studying Japanese for over 1.5 year and I've learned a lot not only about Japanese, but also about methods of studying the language itself.

I think eventually the entire education sphere will be in the Internet but as for now it's only in it's begining stage.

Lots of people actually need languages for communication, work, styding and so on. Some people learn languages for fun. Long story short, people demand tools for learning language.

And awcorse, when there is a demand, there are also people, who make such tools and simultaneosly (optional) try to make some money of it.

That's where tools such as Duolingo come from. I wouldn't call them a tools that can teach you language on it's own, but it still helps you refresh some of your knowledge and keeps you "in tune" (if you're isolated from language's area and those who to speak with).

But this is where the problem comes.

Burnout.

Lots of people are trying their best to learn language, but give up over time, cause they don't see the results of their efforts. Languages are not as difficult as one might suggest, but they need patience and long-time aproach.

For example, I've started learning Japanese with three friends of mine but they've all quited after one month, except for me.

The reason is they've been trying way too hard and were spending about 2-3 hours a day, when I was casually grinding about 20-30 minutes just for fun, as a hobby of mine.

Awcorse, if they were desperate enough they would end up learning the language faster than I, but does one posses such mind set, to cook it for 2-3 hours every day for an year or so, even witnessing lack of results?

The thing is, IMO, they need to build some system with slow pace for themselves to keep their motivation at a high level despite lack of the results. And this will slowly turn a fraction of one's efforts to a fraction of knowledge.

Now, slightly confussing part, but very important one.

Masturbation.

Yeah, that's a bit strange part, but trust me, you'll get what I'm trying to tell you.

Let's be honest all of us do it, some are more often than others, some less often.

There's an entire empire of pornography production for all sorts of fetishes and they're all making lots of money on human's instincts.

There is a thing called hentai games. When as just a normal pornography can satisfy one's lust and they won't have any second thought about it, games are made for gamers to those who seek more than just a video/animation/art.

Those games are having a lot of fans (huge projects such as Nekopara series, Muse Dash, Fate Grand Order**, Koikatsu party etc) and definitely draw more attention than a simple porn.

And what's the reason for this, why games are more popular and appealing?

There are a lots of reason like the story, customization, variety of choises etc, but the one we're interested in is an element of "ardour".

IMO, people have some kind of an unsatisfaction feeling because things they desire are easily accesible and don't actually require any kind of efforts. And after the thing is done, they have some holowness inside of them, because they think that the entire action is pointless and it doesn't give you anything, just an act of lust, which you don't actually deserve and so on.

And the main thing about some hentai games is that they provide some kind of "ardour", since the desirable thing isn't so easily accessible and you do actually have to do something and get desired as a reward. That's what drives players into playing these games, they need some action and efforts.

On the other hand, hentai games don't actually solve the problem of pointless.

But there was one game that made me thinking and writing this entire post.

Dr. Dee Chemistry quizz was genius to me. It combined both the element of "ardour" of hentai games and the education part. I mean, Chemistry never was my favourite subject in school, but the entire process of getting the desired part just got me hyped up.

And it's not because I'm into teacher & student kind of scenes or a furry, it's because I've got what I wanted based on the knowledge I possesed, which got me a bit proud of myself, to say the least. Awcorse you can google all the answers, but It's would've ruined all the fun.

I do believe, this concept might be applied to anything that can be learned as a reward and some kind-of-motivation.

Let me explain how i see it in Duolingo, for instance.

In my head, I imagine some kind of a customizable virtual assistant (might be running as a role in GPT-4, for instance, if you don't want to write all the repliques) which helps you with some motivational messages as you complete levels (they're currently present in Duolingo, but as a loading screen tips), collects stats about your progress and makes diagrams showing it to you (still are kinda in a just-hatched stage in the Duolingo, because stats don't actually show anything usefull), and sends congratulations if you achieve something. The NSFW function might be turned on, if desired and will be avaliable after completing test on your recent acquired knowledge (or like a section of knowledge that you want to recall). Add story line to the character if needed and make it novelle-like.

Speaking about the languages, to create the immersion, the assistant should be aware of the topic you're currently studing and it should have scenes (both NSFW and normal ones) tied to the subject. (like if you've completed a course on the "everything related to the culinary", the test should be like interactive mini-game of going to the supermarket, buying products, cooking according to the recipe while everything is in your language of study) I mean it would be an amazing way to test your language skills in a specific situation.

But I do believe that this immersion also might be created in other subjects it's only up to your imagination.

I could've write more about all of the implications of this idea, but I'm getting a feeling that this post is already long.

So, in theory, this app/game (if both the course and assistant part done neet) will drag lots of people (of all needs), and money I guess....

Just make a great education product and add NSFW part with an element of "adour", that will motivate you, it will only make it better.