MUST SHOULD MAY |
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119. (what's this?) |
If at all possible, saving in a DX Town game SHOULD be automatic and done in the background.
Windows 98 would run ScanDisk and nag the user if the user were to turn off the PC without choosing Shut Down from the Start menu. This is because their implementation of FAT wasn't particularly robust to power loss. Newer versions of Windows starting with Windows XP, on the other hand, uses the more robust NTFS, which records changes to metadata in a log file. If power is lost, NTFS replays the changes in the log file the next time it mounts the drive.
Animal Crossing acts like Windows 98. All three games nag the player if the player turns off the console without using Save and Quit.
After the user has rearranged games on the shelf in WarioWare D.I.Y. Showcase for the Wii, saving the game to the console's NAND flash memory takes as long as 9 bounces of an on-screen ball with Wario's mustache on it. WarioWare D.I.Y. for Nintendo DS saves much faster; it completes in the same time as three bounces. So it appears writing to a Wii console's NAND is a slow process.
Nintendo can keep its slow NAND, and Nintendo can keep its Windows 98-era angry mole.
DX Town will use a journal similar in concept to that of NTFS, logging everything the player does. If the program closes unexpectedly, the journal gets replayed on the next play. Games for PC-like platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) should use SQLite, known for its robustness and its permissive (public domain) copyright status. Games for Android can use android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase.
Categories: DX Town rules, Articles with RFC 2119 verbs