Hmmmmmmmm, if it were me I think I'd be wondering if the trick to making it easy is in choosing the right data format to load the initial game state from... I am pretty sure there are easy ways to convert XML and JSON straight into a hierarchy of loosely-typed PHP objects... Hmmmmm.... Or maybe I am overthinking things, hehe. I am always making things too complicated. >_> Lol.

I hope to keep up with your project as you work on it, but tomorrow is the first day of our small game hunting season for this year... so I know I will be in the woods at least part of the day. :3