Working with assets
When we develop a game, we load files. We probably load a lot of images too. These images are displayed on the screen and are the graphics of any 2D game.
We will also need to load sound files for playing music and sound effects. Other general purpose files include text files that are either localization or game information files, such as hit points for enemies, attack strength, or similar data that affects the gameplay of the game.
Game-relevant data may include saved games and level data. This gameplay-relevant data may not always be plain text; in some cases, they are binary files or they use a markup language such as XML or JSON. In the iOS and Mac world, the PLIST file format is very common and contains a specialized kind of XML format.
In some games, game engines and game frameworks go a step further when dealing with gameplay-relevant data in order to be more dynamic. They allow scripting through languages such as Lua and JavaScript. These scripts are loaded and executed...