About this manual
This manual explains ACTION GAME MAKER’s quick restart feature, and the autosave it records to.
How quick restart works in ACTION GAME MAKER
Quick restart is there to make retrying from a checkpoint, or recovering from a fall, happen with no waiting. You run it with the action “QuickRestart”.
The way it works is “add one more save destination, called the autosave, and return to it quickly”. Recording uses the same “SaveGameData” as an ordinary save — you just pick “autosave” as the destination. The only new thing to learn is that one destination; how saving works does not change.
| Destination = a normal slot | Destination = the autosave | |
|---|---|---|
| SaveGameData | Writes to a file | Records to memory immediately and writes the file later |
| LoadGameData | As before | Loads the same way (usable for “continue” after relaunching) |
| QuickRestart | Not available | Returns as fast as possible, with no scene transition and the BGM continuing |
Recording to the autosave
In “SaveGameData”, set “Slot Spec Type” to “Specify Auto Save”. The slot number is not used. Run it when the player touches a checkpoint, enters a boss room, and so on.
- What is saved is the same as an ordinary save. Object positions and states, and variables and switches, are recorded according to their “savable” setting.
- The format is also the same as an ordinary save, so “LoadGameData” can load the autosave, and “ExistsSavedGameData” can test whether one exists (both take “Specify Auto Save” in the slot spec type).
- Recording happens in memory first, and the file is written out at scene changes and when the game ends. That avoids a write — and a stall — on every record. Because of that, a forced shutdown loses everything recorded since the last write-out.
“QuickRestart”
It is in the “File” category under “Add Other Action”. Put it where the restart key is pressed, where the player dies from a fall, where health reaches 0, and so on.
Restart Type
| Restart type | What is restored | Scene state | What it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rewind Scene To Auto Save | Everything as of the recording (every object’s state, the camera, layers, project variables, the shared board) | Rewound to the recorded point | A proper checkpoint restart |
| Return To Auto Save Alone | Only your own position | Left as it is | When you want defeated enemies to stay defeated and only yourself moved back |
| Return To Last Foothold | The position of the last platform you stood on | Left as it is | Recovering from a fall |
With “alone” and “last foothold”, the object’s “Revive Action ID” state runs after you return. Build your revival presentation and invincibility time there.
“Rewind Scene” returns instantly when the recorded scene and the scene you are in are the same, because no scene transition happens. In a different scene, loading the scene is unavoidable, so it behaves like an ordinary load (the BGM restarts from the beginning too).
How the BGM is handled
These settings are used only with “Rewind Scene”.
- Keep BGM If Same: if the same BGM as at the recording is playing, it keeps playing; otherwise the recorded BGM plays from the start. That prevents the accident where the boss BGM keeps playing after a restart, having switched over after you passed the checkpoint.
- Restart Saved BGM: always plays the recorded BGM from the start.
With “alone” and “last foothold”, whatever BGM is playing simply continues.
What gets cleared
You can choose what is tidied up when you restart. All of these apply to the whole scene, not just the object that ran the action.
- Clear Barrage: removes every barrage bullet in flight.
- Clear Effects: removes the presentation still on screen.
- Clear Generated Objects: removes objects that did not exist at the recorded point. Objects operated by a controller are not removed. It is not used with “Rewind Scene”, because the restore itself removes them.
- Clear Revive Targets: discards the list of objects waiting to revive so that they do not come back. This one applies to the whole game.
How returning to a foothold behaves
“Return To Last Foothold” works even if you have never run an autosave. If all you want is a retry after a fall, this restart type is enough on its own.
- What is recorded is “the platform, and your position relative to it” at the moment you land from the air. Even if you were standing on a moving floor, you return to the correct position once the floor has moved.
- Up to 3 entries of history are kept. If the platform has gone — a breakable floor, say — you return to the entry before it.
- If none of the history is usable, you go to the autosave point; if there is no autosave either, nothing happens.
- Even on the same platform, moving away from the recorded position records a separate entry. The distance that counts as “separate” is set by the project setting “Quick Restart Foothold Distance Tiles” (3 tiles by default).
- Only game objects record footholds. Lightweight objects (Area2DGameObject) have no concept of landing, so this restart type cannot be used with them.
Worked examples
Restarting from a checkpoint
- On contact with the checkpoint object, run “SaveGameData” with the slot spec type set to “Specify Auto Save”.
- Put “QuickRestart” on the player’s death action with the restart type set to “Rewind Scene To Auto Save”.
- Setting the BGM handling to “Keep BGM If Same” makes retrying in the same place feel smooth.
Adding nothing but a retry after a fall
- No autosave is involved.
- Run “QuickRestart” from your fall detection (went off screen, touched spikes, and so on) with the restart type set to “Return To Last Foothold”.
- Build a blink and a short invincibility into the player’s “Revive Action ID” state.
Keeping defeated enemies defeated and moving only yourself back
- Set the restart type to “Return To Auto Save Alone”.
- Turning on “Clear Barrage” and “Clear Effects” stops you dying instantly to bullets left over from before.
- Turning on “Clear Revive Targets” keeps defeated enemies from reviving.
“Continue” after relaunching
- On the title screen, use “ExistsSavedGameData” (Specify Auto Save) so that “continue” can only be chosen when a recording exists.
- When it is chosen, run “LoadGameData” (Specify Auto Save). The autosave is in the same format as an ordinary save, so play resumes from there.
Things to watch out for
- Running quick restart cancels your velocity before you return, and the camera catches up to the destination immediately. That prevents returning while still carrying falling speed and continuing to fall, and prevents an “went off screen” condition firing right after the return and restarting over and over.
- With “alone” and “last foothold”, only the position is restored. Variables, switches and other objects’ states are not. To rewind everything, use “Rewind Scene”.
- Running “Rewind Scene” discards the foothold history.
- Running “Rewind Scene” or “alone” with no autosave recorded does nothing. If it might be pressed right after the game starts, gate it with “ExistsSavedGameData” or combine it with “last foothold”.
- Because the autosave delays its file write, a forced shutdown loses everything recorded since the last write-out. Provide a save to a normal slot at natural break points too.
- Quick restart applies to the object that ran the action. To move both players back in a two-player game, run it on each object or use “Rewind Scene”.