Serialization Design

An overview of how serialization and deserialization will work in this project.

Structure

Interface ISerializer that contains following method stubs:

string Serialize();
ISerializer Deserialize(string serialized);

Abstract classes will inherit ISerializer. Abstract classes will implement Serialize() but not Deserialize().

Classes inheriting from abstract classes will implement Deserialize() and return their own object type as an ISerializer. The class that calls Deserialize() must cast it to the correct type. Example:

CharacterEnemy enemy = new CharacterEnemy();
enemy = (CharacterEnemy) enemy.Deserialize(data);

Format

The data will be stored in a textfile inside a hidden .data folder in the game's directory. The data file will have the following format:

Key=Value;Key=Value1=|Key=value|,Value2;Key=Value1=|Key=value1,value2|,Value2;

The key for this is as follows:

Symbol	Meaning
|	Object or group
=	Key is equal to a value
,	Separates list of values in a key
;	Seperates keys in an object

Example data file (pending model implementation):

PlayerCharacter=CharacterPlayer.Scout;Characters=|Character1=CharacterPlayer.Scout|,|Character2=CharacterPlayer.Scout|,|Character3=CharacterPlayer.Scout|;

Links

Game class with Load/Save

Unit Tests