In testing, it appears that you may have 9 save files per device.
From a design standpoint, it seems that most information is saved on the client device, so increases of data storage/management are not going to be part of server-side overhead. Doubling the amount of save files shouldn't cause any significant increase in performance, and the save file size difference (given with our limited testing) does not appear to be significantly impacted on a per save basis. Having ~18 save files should not provide a significant decrease in performance, even on the lowest spec supported devices. Obviously, I don't have the data you do available to assess this, so if I'm wrong, then so be it.
The reason I push for more saves is related to the handling of the "box ~ save file" discussion in another thread. If we play with one party, as players, we do not always want them to share the same box. I know MANY PACG purchasers, and you'd be surprised how many purchased a second (or more) copy of any given set just to manage this. Our passion + disposable income = many Paizo children having the financial option of Ivy League education. I can see how the multiple parties, and even multiple versions of the same characters, may be fine, and even largely unnoticed by casual players - admittedly a large portion of your target audience. However, this is also being looked at with a high degree of anticipation and potential scrutiny by those of us that already love the game and will be enabled to play in a much more convenient fashion than we're used to (though, have already come to terms with).
There are a great many of the longtime players who also play it as a personal challenge to solo characters through the game. Having this affected by the game states of other parties nullifies this experience. You've already noted that these hardcore experiences are worth considering by including the Permadeath function as being available, but not default (if it were just because it were in the rules, the default would be permadeath on). This would require 11 save files per set for JUST the solo characters, plus the actual parties we might play. I concede that you can't add an infinite amount and there is a point where performance will take a hit that becomes preventative in nature; but I'd be hard pressed to believe it's any number under 20. Then, once you have other base sets, people will want to play through that, and from experience in other games, they won't necessarily be ok with having to delete other saves to play new ones; given that the shared boxes per save won't actually affect cross-base-set games, this will be moot, and a matter of perception, so the max amount of save games won't really need to increase here.
Though, there's also the perspective of the amount of data in any one given save having far more of an effect in performance than multiple independent saves will... which actually supports increasing the max amount of saves as expansions are released anyway...
TL;DR - 15 saves is a more reasonable amount of saves for more thorough players (which will be a significant portion of your player base); 20 would be even better.
Question
Deekow
In testing, it appears that you may have 9 save files per device.
From a design standpoint, it seems that most information is saved on the client device, so increases of data storage/management are not going to be part of server-side overhead. Doubling the amount of save files shouldn't cause any significant increase in performance, and the save file size difference (given with our limited testing) does not appear to be significantly impacted on a per save basis. Having ~18 save files should not provide a significant decrease in performance, even on the lowest spec supported devices. Obviously, I don't have the data you do available to assess this, so if I'm wrong, then so be it.
The reason I push for more saves is related to the handling of the "box ~ save file" discussion in another thread. If we play with one party, as players, we do not always want them to share the same box. I know MANY PACG purchasers, and you'd be surprised how many purchased a second (or more) copy of any given set just to manage this. Our passion + disposable income = many Paizo children having the financial option of Ivy League education. I can see how the multiple parties, and even multiple versions of the same characters, may be fine, and even largely unnoticed by casual players - admittedly a large portion of your target audience. However, this is also being looked at with a high degree of anticipation and potential scrutiny by those of us that already love the game and will be enabled to play in a much more convenient fashion than we're used to (though, have already come to terms with).
There are a great many of the longtime players who also play it as a personal challenge to solo characters through the game. Having this affected by the game states of other parties nullifies this experience. You've already noted that these hardcore experiences are worth considering by including the Permadeath function as being available, but not default (if it were just because it were in the rules, the default would be permadeath on). This would require 11 save files per set for JUST the solo characters, plus the actual parties we might play. I concede that you can't add an infinite amount and there is a point where performance will take a hit that becomes preventative in nature; but I'd be hard pressed to believe it's any number under 20. Then, once you have other base sets, people will want to play through that, and from experience in other games, they won't necessarily be ok with having to delete other saves to play new ones; given that the shared boxes per save won't actually affect cross-base-set games, this will be moot, and a matter of perception, so the max amount of save games won't really need to increase here.
Though, there's also the perspective of the amount of data in any one given save having far more of an effect in performance than multiple independent saves will... which actually supports increasing the max amount of saves as expansions are released anyway...
TL;DR - 15 saves is a more reasonable amount of saves for more thorough players (which will be a significant portion of your player base); 20 would be even better.
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