Save/Load System

Persistence layer for game progress, profiles, and settings.

Key Classes

SaveLoadManager

Location: Assets/_Game/Scripts/Managers/SaveLoadManager.cs

Service: [Service(LoadScene = "BootstrapScene")] - Persistent across scenes

Core operations:

Method	Purpose
SaveGame()	Persist current state to disk
HasSaveData()	Check if save exists
GetSaveData()	Retrieve current save data
DeleteSaveData()	Clear save data

ProfileManager

Location: Assets/_Game/Scripts/Managers/ProfileManager.cs

Service: [Service(LoadScene = "BootstrapScene")] - Persistent

Multi-profile system:

public class ProfileManager : MonoBehaviour
{
    public int CurrentActiveProfileIndex;
    public RunDifficulty GameDifficulty;

    public void CreateProfile(string name, RunDifficulty difficulty);
    public void SelectProfile(int index);
    public void DeleteProfile(int index);
}

GameSaveData

Location: Assets/_Game/Scripts/Data/GameSaveData.cs

Master save container:

[Serializable]
public class GameSaveData
{
    // Progress
    public WorkDayProgress workDayProgress;
    public GameRunState currentGameState;
    public ShopPrepareSubstate currentSubstate;

    // Player data
    public CharacterCustomizationData characterCustomization;
    public List<string> helperCatIds;
    public GamePlaythroughData playthroughData;

    // Session data
    public GameSessionMetadata lastSessionMetadata;
    public GameLevelProgression levelProgression;

    // Upgrades and shop
    public List<CakeUpgradeSaveEntry> cakeUpgrades;
    public List<string> offeredHelperCatIds;
    public List<string> offeredCakeUpgradeIds;

    // Flags and history
    public PlayerGameFlags playerGameFlags;
    public List<StarCompletionRecord> starCompletionHistory;

    // Meta
    public float totalPlaytimeSeconds;
    public string saveVersion;
}

GameProfileData

Profile with auto-backup saves:

[Serializable]
public class GameProfileData
{
    public string profileName;
    public GameSaveData currentSave;
    public List<GameSaveData> autoBackups;
    public DateTime lastPlayedTime;
}

Save Triggers

Saves happen automatically at:

Trigger	Location
Entering OverworldScene	OverworldSceneInitializer
Entering Shop state	GameRunOrchestrator
After level completion	GameRunManager
Application pause/quit	OverworldSceneInitializer / GameRunSceneInitializer

Never during active gameplay - prevents save scumming.

Serialization

Uses Unity’s JsonUtility:

string json = JsonUtility.ToJson(saveData, prettyPrint: true);
File.WriteAllText(savePath, json);

Save location: Application.persistentDataPath

Restoration Flow

Mid-Run Save (shop/gameplay/lost)

1. ProfileManager loads save, determines currentGameState
2. Creates GameRunStartConfig (mode=RestoreSave, saveData=...)
3. SceneTransitionCoordinator.TransitionToGameRun(config)
4. GameRunSceneInitializer.RestoreSave():
   - Restore helper cats (via PersistentHelperCatManager)
   - Restore star completion history
   - Restore deck configuration
   - Restore game flags
5. GameRunOrchestrator.RestoreSavedRunAfterSceneLoad()
6. Transition to saved state

Overworld Save

1. ProfileManager loads save
2. SceneTransitionCoordinator.TransitionToOverworld()
3. OverworldSceneInitializer.RestorePersistentData():
   - Restore helper cats
   - Restore star completion history
   - Restore game flags
4. InitializeOverworld() activates hub world

Validation

private bool ValidateSaveData(GameSaveData saveData)
{
    if (saveData == null) return false;
    if (saveData.workDayProgress == null) return false;

    // Check restaurant still exists
    var restaurant = ProgressionDataManager.Instance
        .GetRestaurant(saveData.workDayProgress.CurrentRestaurantId);

    return restaurant != null;
}

Playtime Tracking

Both GameRunSceneInitializer and OverworldSceneInitializer track session duration:

public void UpdatePlaytime()
{
    float sessionDuration = Time.time - sessionStartTime;
    saveData.totalPlaytimeSeconds += sessionDuration;
}

Called on:

• Application pause
• Application quit
• Before saves

Error Handling

• Invalid saves log warnings but don’t crash
• Missing data uses defaults
• Corrupted saves can be deleted via profile manager