Question should I save levels as json or in a script?

hey, in my game i have a level class which has a status property (completed/unlocked/locked) and a board property (which is basically the level itself, which does not need to change)
my dillema is, should i save the entire level in a json file or should i have a json array for the statuses and a hardcoded array for the boards? because the board is a 5x5 2d array of another class and i think serializing it will probably take too much time, however it feels wrong to just hardcode it in a script.. thoughts?

 

Only serialize what you need. Everything else is a source of bugs and inconsistencies.

Unless the player can change that 5x5 grid as part of the saved game state, don't save it.

Load/Save steps:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/save-system-questions.930366/#post-6087384

An excellent discussion of loading/saving in Unity3D by Xarbrough:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/save-system.1232301/#post-7872586

Loading/Saving ScriptableObjects by a proxy identifier such as name:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/use...lds-in-editor-and-build.1327059/#post-8394573

When loading, you can never re-create a MonoBehaviour or ScriptableObject instance directly from JSON. The reason is they are hybrid C# and native engine objects, and when the JSON package calls

new

to make one, it cannot make the native engine portion of the object.

Instead you must first create the MonoBehaviour using AddComponent<T>() on a GameObject instance, or use ScriptableObject.CreateInstance<T>() to make your SO, then use the appropriate JSON "populate object" call to fill in its public fields.

If you want to use PlayerPrefs to save your game, it's always better to use a JSON-based wrapper such as this one I forked from a fellow named Brett M Johnson on github:

https://gist.github.com/kurtdekker/7db0500da01c3eb2a7ac8040198ce7f6

Do not use the binary formatter/serializer: it is insecure, it cannot be made secure, and it makes debugging very difficult, plus it actually will NOT prevent people from modifying your save data on their computers.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/serialization/binaryformatter-security-guide

 

thank you very much!