There’s one interesting tidbit missing here, which is how deletion (SCI1 and later) is implemented. Namely by manipulating the .DIR file in the script, and not – as any sane person would do – with a kernel call.

So wrote Iskovlun in a comment some time back. Let’s see exactly how insane it really is.

; First we open up the directory file.
; Confusing, I know, to call it a directory file. Perhaps
; "catalog" would be better considering a directory is
; already something else. And in SCI32, they did!
((= fd (File new:))
  name: (DeviceInfo diMAKESAVEDIRNAME @str (gGame name?))
  open: fCREATE
)
 
; The format of a save game directory is pretty straight-
; forward -- a word for the index, then the name, terminated
; with an $0A, repeat until done, end with $FFFF.
 
; (File write:) requires a pointer to the data it is to write,
; so we need to put values into variables, rather than just
; passing them immediately. Well, unless you have SCI11+ with
; the extra file kernel calls I nabbed from SCI32 and a matching
; File class, in which case you could just do (File writeByte:
; $0A) if you were so inclined!
(= ret $0A0A)
 
; Now we write the number and name of each saved game, EXCEPT
; for the one that was selected for deletion.
(for ((= i 0)) (< i numGames) ((++ i))
  (if (!= i selected)
    (fd write: @[nums i] 2)
    (fd writeString: @[names (* i COMMENTBUFF)])
    (fd write: @ret 1)
  )
)
 
; Now we write the terminating $FFFF to finish the catalog
; I mean directory off.
(= ret -1)
(fd
  write: @ret 2
  close:
  dispose:
)
 
; Now that that's done, we can safely delete the actual
; save game file.
(DeviceInfo diMAKESAVEFILENAME (gGame name?) [nums selected])
(FileIO fiUNLINK @str)

I almost feel like doing the so-called sane thing and adding a DeleteGame kernel call to SCI11+.

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