A list of ways to create save games in the Godot Engine

godot_save_options.md

Godot Save Formats

• Table of Contents
  • Json
  • XML
  • Tscn
  • Binary
  • Text

Table of contents generated with markdown-toc

Json

Read: parse_json(str)

Write: to_json(data)

Pros

Easy to debug and use.

Cons

Large file size.

Only supports float number type.

Most data types have to be saved using var2str.

XML

Read: XMLParser or File

Write: custom

Pros

XML is widely supported.

Cons

Currently hard to write custom XML parser and serializer.

GDscript Resources

Read: load(file)

Write: ResourceSaver.save(resource)

Pros

Integrated into Godot. Loading and saving Godot data directly.

Cons

No versioning. Difficult to debug outside Godot.

Tscn

Read: load(file)

Write: PackedScene.pack(scene)

Pros

Integrated into Godot; load and save Godot game state directly.

Cons

Saves everything, can‘t select.

Binary

Read: var2bytes(var)

Write: bytes2var(bytes)

Pros

Small file size, very customizable and compact.

Cons

The most difficult and hard to debug option.

Text

Read: var2str(var)

Write: str2var(str)

Pros

Easy to read and write.

Cons

Error-prone and large file size.