The idea is to have a common/shared filesystem folder where multiple applications could possibly store information, in addition to 'personal folder' of a game.
That could be useful for scenarios like shared characters information (nickname), or saves converting/reusing from previous games.
I'm personally thinking about creating small books reader app, but currently that would mean that any text file/book must be embedded in the app.
The book file could be stored in /Data/, see the datastore functions in the docs. This allows user-added content.
Thank you Matt, but the idea is shared storage, accessible between different games (with different bundleID).
Game 1 saves something about the progress, then Game 2 can read save file from Game 1 and for example use player's decisions from previous game to shape the world accordingly.
Docs describe filesystem logic the following way:
Behind the scenes, there are two directories your game has access to: the root of your app bundle (read-only), and a Data directory unique to your game (readable and writeable) where you can store your game’s saved state or other data.
and a Data directory unique to your game
It seems like data directory is unique for the game, game 1 can't read data from game 2.
At least it works this way within emulator:
playdate.datastore.write(testTable, "test-cross-write")
local testTableInDiffGame = playdate.datastore.read("test-cross-write")
-> nil
On the other hand, there is a note about simulator logic:
When running in the simulator, all Playdate file operations will happen in the SDK’s Disk/Data/(bundleID) folder. bundleID is as specified in your project’s metadata file.
Does the real device behaviour differ?
You are not permitted access to files outside of these two directories.
I was under impression that each game can only read/write it's own files
Ah! OK. I missed this.
You're correct this isn't possible right now.
