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AI RPG Engine

Chapter 22 — Save Files

Part VII — Debugging and Tools

State serialization.

Topics

Section titled “Topics”
  • Save structure — what gets serialized
  • Compatibility — how saves interact with engine versions
  • Inspection — reading save files for debugging

What Gets Saved

Section titled “What Gets Saved”

The engine serializes the complete WorldState:

  • all entity states (stats, resources, inventories, statuses)
  • zone states (dynamic properties, hazard activation logs)
  • module state (cognition beliefs, perception logs, progression unlocks)
  • event history
  • random seed state
  • tick counter

Inspecting Saves

Section titled “Inspecting Saves”

Use the CLI to print a save file in readable format:

Terminal window
ai-rpg-engine inspect-save

This outputs the full world state as structured text, making it easy to verify entity positions, belief states, progression unlocks, and environmental conditions without loading the game.

Compatibility

Section titled “Compatibility”

Save files are versioned. The engine checks the save version against the current engine version and warns about incompatibilities. Content changes (new zones, modified entities) may invalidate saves, but engine-level changes are designed to be backwards-compatible where possible.