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Most matches end and are gone. A persistent World is a place players come back to, such as a shared base, a farm or a realm. Your game’s server saves it while people play. When nobody is playing, Summer can let the World sleep, and the next time someone joins, it wakes up and restores from its last save.

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Games like this

Minecraft Realms

A world your friends keep building in for months.

Valheim

A small group’s world that’s still there next weekend.

Stardew Valley co-op

A shared farm that keeps its crops and buildings.
If players should find the world the way they left it, this is the page for you. If each match starts fresh, use matchmaking on its own.

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What your players get

Four steps for one World: players play and build, the World is saved at checkpoints, it sleeps with no server running while nobody plays, and it wakes up restored from its save when a player returns. Four steps for one World: players play and build, the World is saved at checkpoints, it sleeps with no server running while nobody plays, and it wakes up restored from its save when a player returns.
  • The world as they left it. Walls they built, chests they filled and crops they planted are all still there.
  • Their own Worlds, one tap away. Players find the Worlds they’ve played under My Worlds in Summer Games, and your game can offer a “Return to my World” button.
  • A warning before planned restarts. When a World is about to restart or sleep for maintenance, your game can tell players in advance, and the World saves before it stops.
  • Worlds that survive updates. Publishing a new version of your game doesn’t touch existing private Worlds: they keep their saves and the version they started on. New Worlds use your newest version.

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What to save where

A World save holds what belongs to the place. What belongs to a player, such as their level or the coins in their pocket, goes in player progress, so it follows them to every World. The World save belongs to the place: walls, chests and crops. Player progress follows the player to every World: level, unlocks, coins and settings. The World save belongs to the place: walls, chests and crops. Player progress follows the player to every World: level, unlocks, coins and settings. Your game decides what goes in a save, and the save is always one consistent moment. If a player moves an item from a chest into their inventory, the chest and the inventory are saved together.

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Pick your setup

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A private World for a group

Each group gets its own World that only its players return to, like a Realm or a co-op farm. Players come back to it from My Worlds or from your game’s menu, and a sleeping World wakes up and restores before they’re let in.

Make my World persistent. It saves while people play, sleeps when empty, and players come back to it.

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Shared Worlds anyone can join

Players who search for a game join an existing World that has a free seat, waking it up if it’s asleep. Summer starts a new World only when none has room. Good for public servers that grow a community over time. A searching player skips a full World and joins a sleeping World with a free seat, which wakes up. A new World starts only when no existing World has room. A searching player skips a full World and joins a sleeping World with a free seat, which wakes up. A new World starts only when no existing World has room.

Add shared Worlds. Players join an existing World with room before a new one starts.

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Warn players before a planned restart

Before Summer restarts a World or puts it to sleep for maintenance, your game gets notice in advance. Use it to warn players and wrap up anything in progress. Gameplay then pauses for a final save, and the World comes back exactly as it was. A timeline: the World gets a notice, the game warns players that the server restarts in 5 minutes, gameplay pauses for a final save, and later the same World comes back restored. A timeline: the World gets a notice, the game warns players that the server restarts in 5 minutes, gameplay pauses for a final save, and later the same World comes back restored.

Warn players before a restart and make the final save.

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Not sure which fits?

Plan persistent Worlds for my game. Your agent reads your project and proposes what to save and how players return. No code.

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Testing it on your machine

Local Play runs your persistent World with saves kept in memory. Every run starts with an empty World, saving works and returns a confirmation, and nothing is kept after the run ends. That’s enough to check that your World saves while people play and restores before anyone joins. Coming back to the same World after a real restart happens in the hosted game.
Does this not help you? Reach out on Discord!