Persist and resume in-progress cutscene via save slot; add species stub

Save slots now track the currently-active cutscene file (defaulting to a
new placeholder new_game.jsonc intro) so loading a save resumes it;
cutsceneSystemStartCutsceneWith persists this on every cutscene start, and
a cutsceneSystemLoad ordering bug (loadedFile stamped after starting) is
fixed so the persisted path is always correct. Also adds a
battlefighterspecies_t/battlespeciesid_t stub for upcoming species data.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>

assets/cutscenes/new_game.jsonc

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+  // Placeholder for the new-game intro flow - just shows a modal for now.
+  "items": [
+    {
+      "type": "MODAL",
+      "title": "New Game",
+      "message": "This is a placeholder for the new game intro.",
+      "blocking": true
+    }
+  ]
+}

assets/party.jsonc

@@ -1,16 +1,22 @@
 {
-  // Starting party roster, loaded by partyInit into a fresh save slot.
-  // Each key is a stable identifier cutscene content can reference
-  // directly (see PARTY_ADD_MEMBER/PARTY_REMOVE_MEMBER/PARTY_HEAL_MEMBER's
-  // "key" field) instead of a fragile positional index.
   "members": {
     "hero": {
-      "attack": 10, "defense": 5, "magic": 0, "speed": 10, "luck": 0,
-      "healthMax": 30, "mpMax": 10
+      "attack": 10,
+      "defense": 5,
+      "magic": 0,
+      "speed": 10,
+      "luck": 0,
+      "healthMax": 30,
+      "mpMax": 10
     },
     "companion": {
-      "attack": 8, "defense": 6, "magic": 4, "speed": 8, "luck": 1,
-      "healthMax": 25, "mpMax": 15
+      "attack": 8,
+      "defense": 6,
+      "magic": 4,
+      "speed": 8,
+      "luck": 1,
+      "healthMax": 25,
+      "mpMax": 15
     }
   }
 }

src/dusk/rpg/battle/fighter/battlefighterspecies.h

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 Dominic Masters
+ *
+ * This software is released under the MIT License.
+ * https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+#include "dusk.h"
+#include "rpg/battle/fighter/battlefighterstats.h"
+
+#define BATTLE_FIGHTER_SPECIES_NAME_MAX 16
+#define BATTLE_FIGHTER_SPECIES_COUNT_MAX 250
+
+typedef uint8_t battlespeciesid_t;
+
+#define BATTLE_SPECIES_ID_NULL ((battlespeciesid_t)0)
+
+typedef struct {
+  char_t name[BATTLE_FIGHTER_SPECIES_NAME_MAX];
+  battlefighterstats_t baseStats;
+} battlefighterspecies_t;

src/dusk/rpg/cutscene/cutscenesystem.c

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "util/string.h"
 #include "assert/assert.h"
 #include "ui/overlay/uifatalerror.h"
+#include "save/slot/saveslot.h"
 
 cutscenesystem_t CUTSCENE_SYSTEM;
 
@@ -84,6 +85,8 @@ void cutsceneSystemStartCutsceneWith(
   );
 
   cutsceneSystemPrepare(cutscene, interact, interacted);
+  saveSlotSetCurrentCutscene(CUTSCENE_SYSTEM.loadedFile);
+
   cutsceneSystemNext();
 }
 
@@ -160,8 +163,14 @@ void cutsceneSystemLoad(const char_t *file) {
     return;
   }
 
-  cutsceneSystemStartCutscene(&CUTSCENE_SYSTEM.loadedScene);
+  // Stamped before starting (not after) - cutsceneSystemStartCutsceneWith
+  // reads loadedFile to persist the in-progress cutscene to the save (see
+  // saveSlotSetCurrentCutscene), so it must already be correct by then.
+  // Safe: cutsceneSystemPrepare (called from within Start) only clears
+  // loadedFile when switching away from loadedScene entirely, which this
+  // isn't.
   stringCopy(CUTSCENE_SYSTEM.loadedFile, fileCopy, ASSET_FILE_NAME_MAX - 1);
+  cutsceneSystemStartCutscene(&CUTSCENE_SYSTEM.loadedScene);
 }
 
 void cutsceneRestart(void) {

src/dusk/save/slot/saveslot.c

@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ errorret_t saveSlotInit(saveslot_t *slot) {
   // Set the default party.
   errorChain(partyInit(&slot->party));
 
+  // Set the default current cutscene.
+  stringCopy(
+    slot->currentCutscene, SAVE_SLOT_CUTSCENE_DEFAULT,
+    sizeof(slot->currentCutscene) - 1
+  );
+
   errorOk();
 }
 
@@ -41,6 +47,15 @@ errorret_t saveSlotNewGame(void) {
   errorOk();
 }
 
+void saveSlotSetCurrentCutscene(const char_t *file) {
+  assertNotNull(file, "File cannot be null");
+
+  stringCopy(
+    SAVE.slot.currentCutscene, file, sizeof(SAVE.slot.currentCutscene) - 1
+  );
+  SAVE.slotDirty = true;
+}
+
 bool_t saveSlotInUse(saveslotcache_t *slot) {
   assertNotNull(slot, "Slot cannot be null");
   return slot->name[0] != '\0';

src/dusk/save/slot/saveslot.h

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "rpg/battle/party.h"
 #include "rpg/story/story.h"
 #include "time/timeepoch.h"
+#include "asset/assetfile.h"
 #include "yyjson.h"
 
 #define SAVE_SLOT_NAME_LENGTH 8
@@ -19,6 +20,8 @@
 #endif
 
 #define SAVE_SLOT_MAP_NAME_DEFAULT "overworld"
+#define SAVE_SLOT_CUTSCENE_NAME_MAX ASSET_FILE_NAME_MAX
+#define SAVE_SLOT_CUTSCENE_DEFAULT "cutscenes/new_game.jsonc"
 
 typedef struct {
   char_t name[SAVE_SLOT_NAME_LENGTH + 1];// 8 characters + null terminator
@@ -34,6 +37,10 @@ typedef struct saveslot_s {
   saveslotcache_t cachedData;
   party_t party;
   storyflagval_t storyFlags[STORY_FLAG_COUNT_MAX];
+  // Asset path of the cutscene currently in progress for this slot (e.g.
+  // resumed on load) - defaults to SAVE_SLOT_CUTSCENE_DEFAULT on a fresh
+  // slot (see saveSlotInit).
+  char_t currentCutscene[SAVE_SLOT_CUTSCENE_NAME_MAX];
 } saveslot_t;
 
 /**
@@ -59,6 +66,16 @@ errorret_t saveSlotInit(saveslot_t *slot);
  */
 errorret_t saveSlotNewGame(void);
 
+/**
+ * Sets the current save slot's (SAVE.slot) in-progress cutscene and
+ * dirties the save (SAVE.slotDirty), same as storySetFlagValue - so the
+ * next save write persists it. Use this (not writing SAVE.slot.
+ * currentCutscene directly) anywhere gameplay needs to change it.
+ *
+ * @param file Asset path of the cutscene now in progress, or "" for none.
+ */
+void saveSlotSetCurrentCutscene(const char_t *file);
+
 /**
  * Checks if the save slot is in use, this is determined by checking if the
  * player name is set or not.

src/dusk/save/slot/saveslotcurrent.c

@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ errorret_t saveSlotCurrentWriteJSON(
 
   memoryCopy(ver1.storyFlags, slot->storyFlags, sizeof(ver1.storyFlags));
 
+  stringCopy(
+    ver1.currentCutscene, slot->currentCutscene, sizeof(ver1.currentCutscene)
+  );
+
   errorChain(saveSlotVer1WriteJSON(&ver1, doc, object));
   errorOk();
 }
@@ -66,5 +70,10 @@ errorret_t saveSlotCurrentReadJSON(saveslot_t *slot, yyjson_val *object) {
 
   memoryCopy(slot->storyFlags, ver1.storyFlags, sizeof(slot->storyFlags));
 
+  stringCopy(
+    slot->currentCutscene, ver1.currentCutscene,
+    sizeof(slot->currentCutscene)
+  );
+
   errorOk();
 }

src/dusk/save/slot/saveslotver1.c

@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ errorret_t saveSlotVer1WriteJSON(
     );
   }
 
+  writeString("currentCutscene", slot->currentCutscene);
+
   errorOk();
 }
 
@@ -94,5 +96,10 @@ errorret_t saveSlotVer1ReadJSON(saveslotver1_t *slot, yyjson_val *object) {
     }
   }
 
+  readString(
+    "currentCutscene", slot->currentCutscene, SAVE_SLOT_VER1_CUTSCENE_DEFAULT,
+    SAVE_SLOT_VER1_CUTSCENE_NAME_MAX - 1
+  );
+
   errorOk();
 }

src/dusk/save/slot/saveslotver1.h

@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
 // bump instead.
 #define SAVE_SLOT_VER1_NAME_LENGTH 8
 #define SAVE_SLOT_VER1_MAP_NAME_MAX 10
+#define SAVE_SLOT_VER1_CUTSCENE_NAME_MAX 128
+// Own frozen copy of save/slot/saveslot.h's SAVE_SLOT_CUTSCENE_DEFAULT, for
+// the same reason as the sizes above - never reference the live constant.
+#define SAVE_SLOT_VER1_CUTSCENE_DEFAULT "cutscenes/new_game.jsonc"
 
 // Independent from saveslotcache_t (save/slot/saveslot.h) by design - this
 // is what version 1 actually put on disk, frozen forever. saveSlotCurrent
@@ -52,6 +56,8 @@ typedef struct saveslotver1_s {
   uint8_t partyOrder[PARTY_ACTIVE_SIZE_MAX];
 
   storyflagval_t storyFlags[STORY_FLAG_COUNT_MAX];
+
+  char_t currentCutscene[SAVE_SLOT_VER1_CUTSCENE_NAME_MAX];
 } saveslotver1_t;
 
 /**

src/dusk/ui/screen/mainmenu/uimainmenu.c

@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ void uiMainMenuSelectSaveResult(const uint8_t slotIndex, void *user) {
   }
 
   sceneSet(SCENE_TYPE_OVERWORLD);
+
+  if(SAVE.slot.currentCutscene[0] != '\0') {
+    cutsceneSystemLoad(SAVE.slot.currentCutscene);
+  }
 }
 
 void uiMainMenuOpenSelectSave(void *userData) {