Expanding save system for multiple slots

[Areinu]

I would like to get small expansion on the topic of creating saves. While expanding the system to support multiple files is very simple I was wondering what is the proper approach to display basic data about each save in the UI.

For example I would like to show who is currently in party, how much gold the player has and what is the playtime, but I wouldn’t want to read and parse whole save file, which can grow big over time, or could get slow if player creates some astonishing number of save slots.

What would be proposed/best practices solution here?

[Brian_Trotter]

Fortunately, we can let the file system itself manage potential slots… Each save slot can get it’s own file, you might restrict this with something like “slot1.sav”, “slot2.sav” if you like.
For overview, at the same time that you save the game in a slot, you could also create a secondary file (“save1overview.sav”) in which you only gather the items of interest to an overview. That overview is what you’ll load in your Load screen. Then based on the overview the player selects, then you’ll choose the proper save file.

[Areinu]

Thanks for the reply, I like this solution, it’s simple to implement and does everything. I don’t know why I was trying to figure out how to write file headers or other unnecessary complicated things