Godot Character Customization Tutorial #8: Save & Load Character with JSON

Godot Character Customization Tutorial #8: Save & Load Character with JSON 💾 JSON Serialization, Persistent Data, and FileAccess (Godot 4.5.1) In Video 7, we brought our character to life with top-down movement controls. Now, in Video 8, we are completing the series by adding the final essential feature: Save & Load functionality! We will build a system to serialize our character's customization data (Name, Hair Color, Skin Tone, Equipment) into a JSON file using Godot's FileAccess class. We will also implement the logic to parse that JSON back into a Dictionary to restore the character's exact look when the game restarts. New to the series? Get caught up on the essential character setup, layered structure, and animation sync from Video 1 here: https://youtu.be/PILg5fXuYow We are using Godot Engine 4.5.1 for this entire series! ⚙️ What You Will Learn in This Video: - FileAccess API: How to open, write to, and read from files in the user's system using FileAccess.open() and store_string(). - JSON Serialization: Using JSON.stringify() to convert our character Dictionary into text, and JSON.parse_string() to convert it back. - Data Architecture: Implementing get_ and set_ functions in every UI panel (Name, Color, Selection) to cleanly extract and inject data. - Color Conversion: How to convert Godot Color objects to HTML Hex strings (and back) so they can be saved in a JSON file. - Signals & UI: Creating a reusable "SaveLoadPanel" and connecting its signals to the Main script to trigger the save logic. - Persistence: Calling the load function inside _ready() to automatically restore the player's character every time the game launches. 🎬 Video Timestamps: 0:00 Intro and Goal 0:12 Creating the Save/Load UI Container 1:36 Scripting the Panel Signals 2:11 Writing the Save & Load Functions (Main Script) 4:09 Adding Getters & Setters to UI Panels 5:31 Handling Color Serialization (HTML Strings) 5:46 Final Testing 6:16 JSON File Inspection 6:23 Auto-Load on Startup 6:33 Conclusion 💻 Source Code https://github.com/richardgameworks/godot-character-customization-tutorial The character sprites used in this tutorial are a modified version of the free Swordsman 1–3 Level Pixel Top-Down Sprite Character Pack from CraftPix.Net. The original assets have been adapted and restructured to work with the modular character customization system demonstrated in this tutorial. 🔗 Download the original assets: https://craftpix.net/freebies/free-swordsman-1-3-level-pixel-top-down-sprite-character-pack/ #godot #godot4 #savegame #json #serialization #gdscript #fileaccess #gamedev #tutorial #charactercreator