"Save My Game!" 💾 Data Serialization & Escaping in Scratch

Learn how to safely convert (serialize) your variables into a basic save code in this Scratch coding tutorial. We'll learn about simple CSV's (comma separated value), and implement a robust character escaping system to avoid conflicts and guarantee what goes in, is what comes out! We'll create two custom blocks, "Write Value", and "Read Value".
This episode will be followed up by a second episode that will also be part of the RPG series, and we'll expand on save codes showing how to make them modular, and backwards compatible.
My tutorials are for all budding game & software developers using Code Blocks. Scratch On guys!
🚀 Boost Your Creativity with Griffpatch
The Griffpatch Academy will take you from "Gamer to Game Creator"
Learn more at 👉 griffpatch.aca... 👈
😺 Scratch was developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. See scratch.mit.edu
👀 Quick and Fun Tutorials
• Quick and Fun Scratch ...
👀 Episodes in the series:
Ep.1 - Craft your dream Scratch Game - • RPG Tutorial | Craft y...
Ep.2 - Infinite Scrolling & Tiles - • 🐱 Infinite Scrolling &...
Ep.3 - I AM SPEED - • ⚠️ LAG FREE Scrolling ...
Ep.4 - Build a LEVEL EDITOR in Scratch - • Code a LEVEL EDITOR in...
Ep.5 - Split Screen & Multi Tile Assets - • EDIT FASTER ⚡ Tile Tra...
Ep.6 - Layers & Onion Skinning - • LAYERS 🧅 "Onion Skinni...
Ep.7 - Collisions Pins - • Collision Pins? 💥📌 Now...
Ep.8 - Player Collisions - • Player Collisions + Wa...
Ep.9 - Animate the World - • How to Animate Game Wo...
Ep.10a - Data Serialization - • "Save My Game!" 💾 Data...
Ep.10b - Modular Scene Saving - • Unlock the Power of Mo...
❤️ Scratch Addons - scratchaddons....
-------------Video Chapters-------------
0:00 Intro
1:10 Comma Separated Values & Delimiters - CSV & DSV
2:22 Basic Write Value Custom Block
3:55 Basic Read Value Custom Block
6:30 Index out of bounds error and Optimisations
8:16 Write with Escaping
11:20 Read with Escaping
12:28 One last issue!
13:51 Summary
15:49 Outro

[@ChraphtMyne]

I hope this comment can get to you. I played your paper Minecraft when I had no money to buy the official Minecraft, which was from 2015(11 yo) to 2021(17 yo). It was a good portion of my childhood, which also got me interested in scratch(2017, 13yo), which later made me interested in programming languages(2018, 14 yo). Now I'm 20 yo, trying to make a game like Terraria on Unity game engine. I was stuck at world generation and and world saving, AND I RECALLED YOUR GAME. At first I thought I would have to break down your scratch game on my own. Then I saw your videos towards paper Minecraft. With this video and your Procedural World Generation video, you actually helped me a lot on my unity project. Education sessions with such advanced techniques you taught us in your videos are usually paid courses on the internet, but you just...what the heck man, you mean so much to me. You are the one who inspired me towards programming, and now you are helping me again, I don't know how to thank you.

[@Millie_oo0]

Thats really nice i have to say! Good luck on your programming journey’s future!

[@Quest-vg3xn]

i totally agree

[@Montserratballaltaccount]

same

[@minhhoangle-jn4kf]

just use perlin noise to make terrain

[@CSS-MarioSonicGaming]

i just hope griffpatch sees this

[@gman8398]

I honestly think that the best part about griffpatches tutorials is the fact that he is so skilled at the language that every tutorial he makes the more advanced scratch games can be for everyone else, keep up the good work man!

[@gymcu7019]

|

[@NotDIY]

although im not new to scratch, griff is making me learn things I struggled with in the past, just in a simpler manner, Thanks Griff!

[@oxintoma32dev]

10:51 Fixed! we just forgot to add a "change variable (save idx) by 1" in the repeat loop. thats why it just adds only the first letter of each value in the save code also thank you so much,that helped alot! :D

[@iheirhR8237]

Isaiah Wakakai goat thus felling that I use a notary to claim don't go that gagger abby wasabi

[@myithspa25]

@@iheirhR8237what

[@Beconchiklol]

Btw i know how to code it so its hard to change cuz values will break

[@Blockitjames]

nice to see you are using methods from text programming languages such as escape characters into scratch! It also helps people know alot about text programming when they end up getting into it! Great work Griffpatch as always!

[@griffpatch]

Yes, that was the plan

[@Mr_green650]

@@griffpatch Maybe you can encrypt the code and decrypt the code to stop the player from cheating in the game

[@vii-ka]

​@@Mr_green650 The problem with that is the player can see inside and encrypt any value they want.

[@Mr_green650]

That’s true but if we make it really hard to read or edit than it should be possible

[@vii-ka]

@@Mr_green650 so basically make spaghetti code so bad worse then Papyrus's spaghetti that it scares away the cheaters?

[@N_jsd]

I’m glad you’re finally making a tutorial on how to do this so it’s more accessible! I did this a while back with your encoding and decoding system from the cloud tutorials, and have the game read the numbers to give you your values back. Though I didn’t use any delimiters so it could get a bit confusing with all of the values in my game.

[@BobChess]

Finally! We can do RPG in scratch!! I can't wait to see the new episode of it!!!

[@pcc404]

me too!

[@DUMB_PERSON_NEAR_ME]

I know how to do that

[@HTS-wb4gg]

@@DUMB_PERSON_NEAR_ME 1 minute ago, I guess people uhh

[@syesjohnny4119]

@@DUMB_PERSON_NEAR_ME yeah

[@bobhim-mq4vt]

YA!

[@YessoN-YT]

Before this video I had made a fairly similar system on turbowarp (with the "files" extension) but with lots of lists and which didn't work sometimes... And here I see a video that can help me! Thank you griffpatch :)

[@griffpatch]

No problem

[@startFX]

YES FINALLY, I've been trying to make one for ages, especially for my custom scene editor for the firework particle project, and you there a tutoprial ! Thank you so much griffpatch !

[@griffpatch]

My pleasure

[@adamsophian2335]

@Creeper Download tutorial as tutorial?

[@matangoldstien5922]

This is actually pretty easy, thank you griffpatch!! I am currently catching up with your awesome raycaster, added to it a world generation thanks to your maze generation with some tweaks, this here will make a great addition!

[@supranova1]

Been wondering how to do this for a while, amazing work as always. I was just thinking about data saving when I saw this video posted just 1 hour ago!

[@griffpatch]

Good timing!

[@iheirhR8237]

@@griffpatch Isaiah Wakakai goat thus felling that I use a notary to claim don't go that gagger abby wasabi

[@sirthatgames]

I did raycasting and took a break. Now I’m back and I’m ready for more. Good work as always Griffpatch.

[@theblazingspud]

I needed exactly this to save people scores and levels in my new game! Thanks so much Griffpatch!

[@griffpatch]

My pleasure

[@Femtobot314]

HOw did griff reply

[@kales901]

@@Femtobot314 by pressing the "reply" button

[@Picotech1]

@@kales901 WoW

[@tommax1626]

This is really funny, i just thought about this exact matter in order to make my scratch game especially with encryption! Thank you Griffpatch!

[@Its.a.me.wavey_]

HOL UP THIS VIDEO WAS UPLOADED 14 MIN AGO AND YOU REPLIED 17 HOURS AGO

[@Blockitjames]

@@Its.a.me.wavey_ he has a membership so he got the video early

[@arodandtamarazalioukamir3869]

HOW DOS IT SAY THAT U COMMANT 19 HOURS AGO AND THIS VIDEO IS ONLY 1 HOUR AGO?

[@pndaMobby]

​@@arodandtamarazalioukamir3869 membership gets videos early

[@gamerseeker2697]

You can buy a Griffpatch membership, so you can get videos early!

[@KidPrarchord95]

This sort of data management has always been what I'm best at programming! This video has given my new perspective on my approach, too, which is appreciated! Great video, as per usual.

[@RandomStufff423]

Honestly man how do you make every Scratch tutorial sound so easy? Keep up the awesome work.

[@FeniteFr]

I like how complex things became simple in your tutorials :)

[@griffpatch]

I do try :D

[@FeniteFr]

@@griffpatch And you succed !!

[@HurelyDev]

@@griffpatch how would you save and load a list

[@um_idkw]

He could explain how to make an entire computer (cpu, gpu, custom machine language , custom asm, compiled lang, input system, ect) in scratch and it would be simple.

[@apbmatticus6121]

@@um_idkw so true!

[@aringelblade]

Finally saving my progress I thought it wasn't possible but griffpatch did it congratulations :)

[@crackerpooppop]

Yay! I love it when griffpatch uploads. He makes everything simple and enjoyable :)

[@Kweable_Gaming]

So true

[@AndyWandyBandy]

Yes! I've been experimenting with save codes, but I can't get them to 100% work each time. This will definitely help!

[@griffpatch]

Great to hear!

[@box..]

I have moved on to Unity but you’re content inspired me to take a step backwards and load up scratch! Great job with you’re videos btw!

[@PabTSM-OfficialChannel]

griffpatch is content? wow didn’t know

[@mikk.t.7824]

​@@PabTSM-OfficialChannelRude meanie

[@PabTSM-OfficialChannel]

i was being ironic, @@mikk.t.7824

[@Phillip_Duck]

This reminds me of string variables I learned about in computer class. Epic 😎 Also that contains block trick is amazing! I wonder what else it can be used for?

[@kermitplaysminecraft1012]

I cannot tell you how much you make my life easier with what you make, whenever I try to code smt new I always see if you already have a tutorial on it or not, and you always do :D

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

It's not the way I create save codes, and text escaping, but it's simple and it works. The ways I do it is probably more complicated, as I loop through it using a repeat until letter > length of text.

[@vii-ka]

A very tiny optimisation: The last letter in this text is always ‹|›. This marks the end of the last value. However, ‹› would also work, so you can remove ‹|›. If only there was an (all but last of [text]) block for this!

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

You check if the save code is "" before saving the value, and if it's not, add "|" to it, then add the value.

[@donutguy804]

my school blocked scratch because people kept playing games on it

[@ChrisYay-oi3of]

Luckily my school district teaches little kids scratch so I'm fine

[@doggorgg]

@@ChrisYay-oi3oflol same

[@dersilberfisch]

You can try translating the link into english and then clicking on the link it works but stuff gets laggy most times

[@crovat5218]

​@@foxneko4465pretty much, yes

[@mattiskardell]

@@doggorggi made my school teaches scratch

[@chesswizard7057]

Oh man I think we have all been waiting for a cool tutorial like this! 🔥

[@brendenistired]

Day 4 of asking for moving platforms in the tile scrolling platformer series. I don’t expect to see this or make a video on this but I love your channel so much! You deserve 1 mill!

[@Ilikepotatoes067]

Another good upload by griffpatch; thank you for saving us!

[@griffpatch]

No pun intended

[@Gravitraxbro]

Suggestion: If you put this in a game, the player could give a value like 999|999|999 and max out his/her character. Maybe you can make it so it is slightly harder to decode?

[@two2fiv67]

If you multiply by any number when encoding and divide it by the same number when decoding, it will be much harder to decipher what values are what, alternatively you could turn letters into numbers and numbers into letters (a=1, b=2, etc. or shift every number by a value, 1=4, 2=5, etc.)

[@Gravitraxbro]

@@two2fiv67 I'm going to do both :)

[@two2fiv67]

You could use a random number to multiply the values in the save by and put the random number in the save code, then when decoding use the random number, [Ideally first or last in the code] and divide by the number to make it harder.

[@lime_is_crime6407]

or make it a cloud username detection so that way he or she can't interact with the save code or system.

[@FAUXCUSpd]

@@two2fiv67 this is a good idea

[@ImNotOnGoodKushAndAlcohol]

a way I found how to do this very easily is by not setting the values at the start of the game but before you publish it you have to set the values to what you want them to be set to when someone starts the game for the first time, this is because if you don't set the values at the start of the game, then the values will equal to the values the values were set when they were publish, then when someone stops the game and then starts it again then the values still stay the same because there isn't code at the start function resetting them.

[@MarkerousMarker]

When it was Friday I talked to my friend about him playing a scratch game, then I said ‘I really hope you can save games in scratch’ and 2 days later there it was,a video about saving games Thank you,griffpatch😊 (Try to hit 300k subs by the end of 2023)

[@Tumanus]

When griffpatch uploads new video, we know that it will gonna be great!

[@jorgenandersson1964]

Agree! =D

[@Kweable_Gaming]

So True

[@speeed212]

You make my day with your uploads

[@buttercupthegamer]

Without using any tutorials I created a save code system for a clicker game I made, and I'm gonna be honest, you did it better than me/

[@yahya2853]

Ever since 6 months ago, I switched to python and unity and you came back up on my for you. I remember watching every video of yours to help with my scratch games. Unfortuentely, I don't use Scratch anymore but you taught me alot and you are the reason why I upgraded cuz I thought I was too good for scratch, which I was thx to u😂. Although I may not watch ur videos anymore, I thank you

[@obseletechannel]

I love your videos!! I've been watching ever since your Scrolling Platformer tutorial you did back in 2018-19!!

[@griffpatch]

Wow!!! So cool - thanks for watching!!!

[@obseletechannel]

@@griffpatch These are good and high in production value! I also love the sense of humor

[@duckymations9065]

Fixed it! that's the type of mistake I make when I have been coding for hours on end. and when I can't fix it I have a mental breakdown only to come back the next day and realize my silly mistake.

[@JuanGamer0202]

i knowed how you did that game save system, but i never tried to replicate because i thought it would be realy hard to do, watching you to optmize your code and do it as simple as possible while still working fine is just insane, and i love it

[@OOJMi_]

This is the FIRST TIME since I starter following you that I’m 10+ hours late to one of your videos 😮 (It’s my birthday 🎉)

[@griffpatch]

Happy birthday!

[@SupaTNT_OG]

Fixed it! I also want to say thanks for uploading such awesome videos i had always wanted to know how to make good scratch games and then a friend told me about you and your channel, and I'm sure many others feel the same way. Keep up the great work and have an amazing day!

[@Elitherich]

I love how the thumbnail is a Scratch cat with Cool guy sunglasses!

[@tvcoder4life103]

Griffpatch, i love your editing in your videos. for example at 4:38 the game screen shifts away smoothly to the right, i love your tutorials they always help me!! Hope you have a good summer.

[@loric9157]

ngl when I first saw this video I thought it wasn't griffpatch bc of the different thumbnail style. Can't wait for The new RPG Episode!😁

[@ConSoot]

Amounts of notifications Griffpatch got: *ABSOLUTE INFINITY AND BEYOND*

[@redly_roblox]

Hey, I found this video recommend at this page and it's really useful as I don't have to worry using cloud datas( as it can save globally) but this one is wonderful! FInally for ourselves.

[@dollarcoin]

was going to develop a scratch port of one of my favorite games and realized save codes were gonna be a large issue. turns out this video came out at a convenient time for me, and even better, actually explains it really well! now i just need to figure out how to encrypt and decrypt it

[@Dash22212]

did you finish it?

[@Ukraine-0]

I was making a tringle drawer, and I needed script to read list, which has x1,y1,x2,y2,x3,y3,color. THANK YOU!!!

[@Laserdemon]

Thanks for teaching me the "save my game" code, I really appreciate it.

[@FlooferLand]

this video made me realize how much Griff's way of constructing sentences sounds like vsauce. Sentences like "So, are we done? Well. We could be" makes me straight up imagine the vsauce music playing in the background

[@pessskychaos4874]

Holy moly! How on earth do you always manage to make videos on exactly what i was having problems with?!!?? I was wondering how i would save a list with all the tiles for a level. This is ultra-perfect!

[@talismanthecoder]

Me Too!!!

[@irradiated_gamer]

If you use the turbowarp zip extension you can make a file with the save code and load it from the users computer when they join they continue a game, thus creating saving without copy and pasting the code.

[@qwerty_qwerty]

WOOO! A new griffpatch video :) Fixed it! Didn't actually need to pause the video lol. Now applaud me >:)

[@rulomasplaygames5204]

This guy is god of scratch. He knows everything. He will be able to do 60 players fall guys in 2d. Edit: You should make tutorial how to make level editor and how to save it

[@floppie8615]

Fixed it! We just forgot to add a change variable (save idx) by 1 in the repeat loop. that's why it just adds only the first letter of each value in the save code.

[@cannedrandomness]

Wow this is so good, I was making my "Toilet Simulator" game and I was also watching youtube on my tv and saw that you posted this just an hour ago, so I decided to take the tutorial... I was making this comment yesterday and I stopped because I was going somewhere.

[@Wolfie0936]

thank you so much! this was very helpful and now i can make a game i have been wanting to make for quite a while!

[@OrtonLongGaming]

Dont think i didnt see that funny ad placement at 6:42 Got a laugh out of me lol

[@BrAvOD-oo7pn]

bro griffpatch is the goat scratch just would not be the same without griffpatch and if there was no griffpatch there was no geomatry dash bro i am telling you this guy is a legend :) :) :D

[@AbsoluteZRO]

Griffpatch i just wanted to say this is kinda creepy but also good at the same time. Not you or your game creepy but I was searching up how to make a save code or save games and couldn't find anything until I saw this. Literally the timing is weird. You could make any video and it was a video I needed. This was very helpful and thank you.

[@certified_bot]

I tried to do cloud saving system in my Scratch game, but it didn't work. Now I can make saving system without using cloud variables! Love your content!

[@varganyamuvek]

I just love how Griffpatch always has an upbeat mood in his videos :-)

[@PeterbroMC]

Bro's an human AI

[@varganyamuvek]

@@PeterbroMC xD

[@justinsketchesNG626]

FINALLY!!!! JESUS CHRIST IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR 2 YEARS NOW

[@justinsketchesNG626]

You should do an RPG turn-base battle with stats plus exp! Like Earthbound

[@ScratchHow-To_Coding]

I've already made a way to make save codes, but I'm still watching this!

[@-ItzAriana-]

52 minutes ago! AHHH! Thank you for making this video, Griffpatch!

[@WBR44]

fixed it! (kind of suprised but i noticed that pattern) Thanks for all the helpful tutorials!

[@darkie001]

For some reason, hearing, "Bug squashed!" makes you feel super powerful.

[@Willbin23]

Omg it has done 3 years since I wanted to find a save code tutorial and btw I fixed it lol. Food job man!

[@Willbin23]

Good*

[@DaWulffy]

I remember that last year I did this for a game that pretended to be Google and I wanted all the pages created by the community to be saved. In the end I couldn't finish it because I didn't know how to do it very well.

[@redmath991]

love your uploads, keep up the great work! gwiffyyyy!!!!

[@MattAndPock-uk7tz]

this is actually how I learned to make save data for my games, or at least, this is how I do it now. Back when I made my Angry Birds Game, I added a savecode with no pipes and it took 3 days to put together. I had to use a list for stars and a list for mighty eagle percentages. It works but I think this one is cleaner And for those using turbowarp, I recommend the encode extension to go along with this Because who other than a hacker can decode Base64.

[@Guchu1234]

I have a short theory. If you have a cloud variable, anytime anyone saves you could make a code of sorts out of numbers. The values are set by username. If we encode this, we can get the username of someone. Then we could match it up with data also saved in numbers. This could cause saving without having to ctrl c and then ctrl v.

[@DJLENZ-CODER]

griffpatch famous keep on the good work just find a time to rest because most times when i watch your tutorials i see the amount of messages you have just make sure you find time for yourself and keep on the good work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Komeiji0401]

I like how this is not only useful in Scratch but for other game engines as well!

[@duobleyeet]

This is a perfect tutorial for beginners to learn more about scratch. Griffpatch as always!

[@Bit64ONE]

0:23 "Oddly familiar platformer game" I died

[@MyysticYT]

Wow, this is incredible!

[@weegie3343]

thank you griffpatch! I already know how to do this (sort of) but i had to save variables separately to lists, and the lists where either uncompressed or slightly compressed, but still with at least 8,000 characters! This could save many gigabytes of storage for people who play my games!

[@SsvbxxYT]

Fixed it. Also, you can use a "Repeat until" block for the read value script.

[@normalgamer5853]

You can use the cloud var to hold your serialized data and if it get to big you can save it to another cloud var

[@eddieandmaxie]

I made something to help save data differently! The way I made it needed scratch accounts to add into a list of users (if the user hasnt been added then we add it to the list) then with the data you want to save, you make a variable for it and a list, and then when you update and press green flag you set the variable to the item of item # of user. But before that happens, the variable has to be updated and has to be set to the item # of user in users. If it isnt there, we add the data to it’s own list, otherwise when we update it and it’s there, you replace it with the new data

[@therealkyurem1]

That was so funny, he brought up tension to click it again, and he clicked it, but I got an ad 😂lol

[@pamelacromwell4646]

Finally!! I always wanted to know how to do this!! Thanks so much griffpatch!!

[@NickoDaLord]

Hay, Griffpatch, you are the only reason I'm allowed to use my account in school, thank you for everything you've taught me since 30th July, last year.

[@griffpatch]

Awesome!

[@talismanthecoder]

youve taught me since i was a kid

[@artcas2]

Thank you ! 👍

[@Crue-gaming]

2:09 don’t throw key boards out your window! Me: grabs keyboard…

[@nithyavijai1548]

Lol

[@nonexistence00]

ive heard of csv's before, but i didnt know that scratch can use them to save data amazing vid as always :)

[@BigYoshi12]

As soon as he said “what happens if we click it again at time 6:40, when he clicked I got a Reese’s puffs ad

[@unyxium]

The saving system I've settled on and standardised across all my projects is one that uses key-value pairs instead. I don't bother with escape characters because my data realistically will always have unused characters (and unicode is an alternative too). So, my saves end up looking like... key1:value1,key2:value2,key3:value3,. For loading I dump everything into a list first. Then to get a certain value, look for the key and the value will be the item immediately after it. I use the (item # of [] in list) block to keep it simple. This system is so flexible because the order of the key-value pairs do not matter. Backwards compatability is easy.

[@iaroslav3249]

Funny thing I was already doing something similar for my own project since there's no "Split" block in Scratch like there is in JavaScript. This video made this tactic more public. Cool!

[@sakkamsamerkhan8102]

Nice I've been waiting for this Your the best scratcher

[@nether_robot]

10:50 Fixed it! (save idx does not change from 1, so every character is the first letter, so change save idx by 1 after each repeat)

[@darealelohim]

I found out a way to save the codes into a list so that players don't have to remember them. A setback is that you can only save 200k values per list, but you could just add more lists.

[@EE-ou4pc]

You should add a copy/paste feature to the RPG! I can’t wait!

[@nhathoangnguyen3198]

you are not a human,you are a brilliant god

[@BvSchagen]

I've been thinking of how to save my raycaster for weeks, VERY HELPFULL.

[@iamsupershane69420]

10:52 after the set save code to join [save code + c], you should have added the 'change save idx by 1' block

[@lukacotar2573]

Please make a way create a NPC that you can interact with!! Love your videos, you are amazing!!!!!

[@FLA-j1w]

yay episode than comes out soon great work as always griffpatch

[@ashleyjbassett]

Fixed it (with my son) without a change save idx it cant go to the next letter so its stuck on the first letter in the value. Griffpatch your my son's hero and I just signed him up to the Griffpatch academy and he's so excited. See you soon!