Lesson 10 of 11 · Advanced

Save progress (DataStore)

So far the coins are gone as soon as a player leaves the game. With the DataStore, Roblox remembers the progress – for the next visit too.

What you’ll learn

open a DataStore
save when leaving and load when joining
catch errors with pcall

Preparation

DataStores only work in a published game. To test in Studio, switch on Enable Studio Access to API Services under Game Settings → Security.

Load and save

Extend your leaderstats script from lesson 9. As the key you use the player’s UserId – a number that never changes. pcall catches errors when Roblox is not responding, so your script doesn’t crash.

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local DataStoreService = game:GetService("DataStoreService")
local store = DataStoreService:GetDataStore("Progress")

Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
  local leaderstats = Instance.new("Folder")
  leaderstats.Name = "leaderstats"
  leaderstats.Parent = player
  local coins = Instance.new("IntValue")
  coins.Name = "Coins"
  coins.Parent = leaderstats

  local ok, saved = pcall(function()
    return store:GetAsync("Player_" .. player.UserId)
  end)
  if ok and saved then
    coins.Value = saved
  end
end)

Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
  local value = player.leaderstats.Coins.Value
  pcall(function()
    store:SetAsync("Player_" .. player.UserId, value)
  end)
end)

Good rules

Only save game data (coins, stage, unlocked items) – never personal data like names or age. Don’t save every second, but when leaving and at most every few minutes, because Roblox limits the requests.

🛠️ Try it

Save the coins from lesson 9. Test: start the game, collect coins, stop, start again – are they still there?

🧠 Mini quiz

Which key is best for saving?

What is pcall for?

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