title: How do games handle saved content?
body: <p>I don't see an answer to this question here on SO which makes me afraid that it's incredibly simple and I'm just missing something but here goes.</p>
  
  <p>Background, feel free to skip:  I need a single course for my bachelor's degree that I skipped out on years ago.  Theoretically it's Computer Graphics, but since I left it has become more Game Development.  And that's great because to me it's more interesting than the fill algorithms and translations and whatnot that it used to be.  It's a 4th year course only offered every other year, but I've managed to talk the department into letting me take a 4th year independent study on the same topic and call that good enough.</p>
  
  <p>The prof "running" the independent study doesn't teach the actual Computer Graphics course so while he's a smart guy this isn't really his field.  So most of my questions are left to me, a text book and the internet.  You know...like an independent study should be.  :)</p>
  
  <p>/Background</p>
  
  <p>I've got a buddy that likes to develop game systems for fun.  I plan to take one of his table top games and make it into a computer game using XNA.</p>
  
  <p>I don't foresee any insurmountable challenges with the game mechanics but one thing I'm curious about is how do most games save their content?  I mean that in a couple of ways and hopefully I can express them clearly.  </p>
  
  <p>Take the case of any RPG you've ever played.  You can hit the "Save" button and save the world, your character's information and whatever other information is necessary.  Then later on you can hit the "Load" button and bring it back.</p>
  
  <p>Or the case of NPC dialogue.  When I bump into Merchant #853 he randomly spits out one of 3 different greetings.</p>
  
  <p>There are others that I can think of but they're really just variations on the same theme.  Even with those two examples it seems to me the same mechanic could be used, but what is that mechanic?</p>
  
  <p>I've been doing web development for years so my mind automatically jumps to "databases!".  A database is the solution to any problem.  And I can see how it could work here but the overhead seems pretty steep.  "Here's my 6mb compiled game...oh and 68mb MySQL installation."  Or even worse since I'm using XNA, maybe I'd need to find a way to bundle SQL Server.  :)</p>
  
  <p>I thought maybe XML but that doesn't feel right to me either.  How would it work if I wanted to run on the XBox?  Or Zune?  (Those aren't necessary for what I'm doing, but there must be a solution somewhere that takes them into account.)</p>
  
  <p>Anyone know the secret?  Or have some ideas anyway?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks
  Jeff</p>