We need to talk about save game practices.

Since the public release is very soon to be upon us, here a short little rant about how to properly handle saves in Light of my Life, or any ren'py game for the matter.

Get that chip off my shoulder
Let me start of by saying I never really got why anyone'd want to get a random stranger's save game when starting a new chapter. Unless you care absolutely nothing about all the choices you made in the previous chapters (what are the pet names you are called or call people, what fetish did you encourage or discourage, when you had that heart-to-heart, did you comfort them, or relate to them by you struggle with that too, are you afraid of heights, and the list goes on and on and on), but you know, hey, that's up to you.

If you can't wait to click trough the text as fast as possible to see some lewd, who am I to wag a finger at you over this? Well, actually, it turns out I do have a reason, but more on that later.

But if you're invested in the storyline at all, and you used someone else's save game, just know that all those times something came up that made you scratch your head a little, those weren't continuity errors or wonky writing or the game being weird or buggy, that were choices that other person made that are playing out, and not your choices.

It's so much worse though.
But that's not really what this is about. Coming in this version of the ren'py engine, some additional safety features are implemented. Basically what it comes down to is that when you load a save file that was not created on the device you are playing it on now, it'll warn you about it, and you need to confirm that you do.

Why was that added? Well, it turns out that ren'py saves are actually software, and someone can quite easily insert their own payload to execute arbitrary code on your computer (that vid is hilarious btw). I'll wait a sec or two for that to sink in.

So for the love of Macy, don't ever ever ever download and use a save file from a source you don't trust. And let's be honest, do you really trust ilickchihuahuas69 over at that forum you visit sometimes, even if they do post all those funny memes? And do you trust the guys he gets his saves from?

Note: you won't get this "are you sure" question loading external saves with Light of my Life immediately: saves made in chapter 6 will not trigger this in chapter 7. But saves made in the upcoming release of Light of my Life will trigger it, and it's a small step in the right direction.

My personal advice is: don't ever use a ren'py save you did not create yourself. Ever.