Introduction to Cloud Save

Last updated on 9/21/2023, 11:56:45 AM

Overview

AccelByte Cloud Save is a service that provides storage for arbitrary game data, in JSON format. The game data can be updated, replaced, retrieved and deleted from your game client, game server or Admin Portal.

By utilizing Cloud Save you can store:

• game theme configurations
• the event configuration
• game info/news
• player save game data
• player character attributes
• player game settings

The Cloud Save service supports many different storage scenarios, giving you multiple options for your games storage needs.

In this section, you will learn about the key concepts of the Cloud Save service, supported features, and best practices to utilize the service.

Key Concepts

To make your integration as seamless as possible, it is important to understand some of the key concepts that are used in the design of this service.

Record Type

Game data can be stored in one of two types of record:

1. Game Records: used to store game data for global title uses (at the Game Namespace level). For example, theme configuration, event configuration, game info/news, and similar global data.
2. Player Records: used to store game data for a specific player's uses (at the user level). For example, player save game data, player character customization, and player game settings.

Record Key

You can use a Record Key as an identifier or title for your records. Game and Player record keys should be unique.

Metadata

Metadata allows game clients, or game servers, to define the behavior of the Cloud Save records. Record metadata is defined in the request body with the field name __META. Metadata is assigned with a default value, if not otherwise defined. Game clients support a limited range of Cloud Save records, but the game servers are able to define everything available in __META.

Record Write Permission (set_by)

This metadata indicates which party can modify the record. This metadata is available only in admin endpoints. The possible values are:

• Server: the record can only be modified by the server.
• Client: the record can be modified by either the client or the server. This is the default value.

Record Read Permission (is_public)

This metadata indicates whether the record is public or not, and is available in both admin and public endpoints. The possible values are:

• Public: the record is accessible to other players. The value displayed in the is_public field is True.
• Private: the record is not accessible to other players. The value displayed in the is_public field is False.

Cloud Save Service Extra Validation

This section explains how the Cloud Save service record can be created, updated, and deleted, both from the game client and game server. You can choose to add extra validation using the set_by and is_public fields explained in the previous section. Understanding the extra validation below will make it easier to understand behaviors and how to best utilize the Cloud Save service.

Base on Read Permission (is_public)

	Admin	Record Owner player	Other players
Public	Read	Read	Read
Private	Read	Read	n/a

Base on Write Permission (set_by)

Game Records	Player	Admin
Server	n/a	Modify
Client	Modify	Modify

Player Records	Admin	Record Owner player	Other players
Public	Modify	n/a	n/a
Private	Modify	Modify	n/a

Best Practices

The best scenario to use the Cloud Save service is when you need to store additional information for your game, that can be retrieved or updated from the game client/server.

You can utilize public player records in Cloud Save if you have a use case that requires you to store specific player information.

You might not need to use Cloud Save if you require to store only numerical values, perhaps needed for further integration. This is because you can utilize the values in Statistics, and these values can be integrated with the Leaderboard, Achievements, Matchmaking, among other services.