diff --git a/luprex/core/Makefile b/luprex/core/Makefile
index dfc3dc2a..4a9009eb 100644
--- a/luprex/core/Makefile
+++ b/luprex/core/Makefile
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ CPP_FILES=\
 	cpp/gui.cpp\
 	cpp/luasnap.cpp\
 	cpp/animqueue.cpp\
+	cpp/packer.cpp\
 	cpp/source.cpp\
 	cpp/world.cpp\
 	cpp/textgame.cpp\
diff --git a/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.cpp b/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.cpp
index 6c9b81a3..1ee7836d 100644
--- a/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.cpp
+++ b/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.cpp
@@ -26,39 +26,8 @@ LuaSnap::~LuaSnap() {
     std::cerr << "LuaSnap destructor not implemented yet" << std::endl;
 }
 
-bool LuaSnap::have_snapshot() const {
-    return !snapshot_.empty();
-}
-
-static int oss_writer(lua_State *L, const void *p, size_t sz, void *ud) {
-    std::ostringstream *oss = (std::ostringstream *)ud;
-    oss->write((const char *)p, sz);
-    return 0;
-}
-
-// Convert a C++ string into a lua_Reader.
-class StringReader {
-public:
-    const std::string &str_;
-    bool done_;
-    StringReader(const std::string &s) : str_(s), done_(false) {}
-    
-    static const char *fn(lua_State *L, void *data, size_t *size) {
-        StringReader *sr = (StringReader*)data;
-        if (sr->done_) {
-            *size = 0;
-            return nullptr;
-        } else {
-            sr->done_ = true;
-            *size = sr->str_.size();
-            return sr->str_.c_str();
-        }
-    }
-};
-
-void LuaSnap::snapshot() {
-    // Snapshot and the lua stack should both be empty.
-    assert(snapshot_.empty());
+void LuaSnap::serialize(Packer *pk) {
+    // Lua stack should be empty.
     assert(lua_gettop(state_) == 0);
 
     // lua variables that we'll need.
@@ -93,24 +62,26 @@ void LuaSnap::snapshot() {
     LS.result();
     assert(lua_gettop(state_) == 2);
 
-    // Call eris to dump the state to an ostringstream,
-    // then save the result.
-    std::ostringstream oss;
-    eris_dump(state_, oss_writer, (void *)&oss);
-    snapshot_ = oss.str();
-    std::cerr << "Eris dump is " << snapshot_.size() << " bytes." << std::endl;
+    // Write dummy length, use eris to write data, then overwrite length.
+    pk->write_int64(0);
+    size_t tell = pk->tellp();
+    eris_dump(state_, pk->lua_writer, pk->lua_writer_ud());
+    pk->overwrite_int64(tell, pk->tellp() - tell);
     lua_settop(state_, 0);
+    std::cerr << "Eris dump is " << (pk->tellp() - tell) << " bytes." << std::endl;
 }
 
-void LuaSnap::rollback() {
-    // Snapshot should have data, lua stack should be empty.
-    assert(!snapshot_.empty());
+void LuaSnap::deserialize(Unpacker *unpk) {
+    // Lua stack should be empty.
     assert(lua_gettop(state_) == 0);
 
+    // Get a reader subsection containing the eris data.
+    size_t len = unpk->read_int64();
+    Unpacker subsec = unpk->read_section(len);
+
     // Call eris with the permanents table and passing the snapshot as a lua_Reader.
     lua_getfield(state_, LUA_REGISTRYINDEX, "unpersist");
-    StringReader sr(snapshot_);
-    eris_undump(state_, StringReader::fn, &sr);
+    eris_undump(state_, subsec.lua_reader, subsec.lua_reader_ud());
     assert(lua_gettop(state_) == 2);
 
     // Set up a stack frame.
@@ -127,6 +98,47 @@ void LuaSnap::rollback() {
     }
     LS.result();
     assert(lua_gettop(state_) == 0);
+}
+
+// Snapshot and rollback can trivially be implemented on top of serialize and
+// deserialize.  However, it's also possible to implement snapshot and rollback
+// using an alternative technique:
+//
+// 1. When constructing the lua interpreter, use a custom memory allocator that
+//    keeps track of all the memory blocks used by lua.
+//
+// 2. Snapshot simply copies all the memory blocks used by lua into a buffer.
+//
+// 3. Rollback restores lua's memory blocks back to their previous state.  This
+//    has the effect of restoring lua's state.
+//
+// A proof-of-concept implementation of the memory-snapshotting design was
+// created, and it worked. It is probably faster than using serialize and
+// deserialize.
+//
+// Note: even if we implement this alternative design, we still need to keep
+// serialize and deserialize around in order to implement the save-game
+// functionality. So for now, we're sticking with this design, which doesn't
+// require us to maintain any additional code.
+
+bool LuaSnap::have_snapshot() const {
+    return !snapshot_.empty();
+}
+
+void LuaSnap::snapshot() {
+    assert(snapshot_.empty());
+    std::ostringstream oss;
+    Packer pk(&oss);
+    serialize(&pk);
+    snapshot_ = oss.str();
+}
+
+void LuaSnap::rollback() {
+    assert(!snapshot_.empty());
+    Unpacker unpk(snapshot_.c_str(), snapshot_.size());
+    deserialize(&unpk);
     snapshot_.clear();
 }
 
+
+
diff --git a/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.hpp b/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.hpp
index d8794c34..3e85051d 100644
--- a/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.hpp
+++ b/luprex/core/cpp/luasnap.hpp
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #ifndef LUASNAP_HPP
 #define LUASNAP_HPP
 
+#include "packer.hpp"
 #include "luastack.hpp"
 
 class LuaSnap {
@@ -29,6 +30,14 @@ public:
     //
     lua_State *state() const { return state_; }
 
+    // Serialize the state of the lua interpreter.
+    //
+    void serialize(Packer *pk);
+    
+    // Restore the the lua interpreter given a serialized state.
+    //
+    void deserialize(Unpacker *unpk);
+
     // Return true if there's a saved snapshot.
     //
     bool have_snapshot() const;
@@ -44,6 +53,7 @@ public:
     // If there is no snapshot, this panics.
     //
     void rollback();
+
 };
 
 
diff --git a/luprex/core/cpp/packer.cpp b/luprex/core/cpp/packer.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a1405c18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/luprex/core/cpp/packer.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+#include <packer.hpp>
+#include <cassert>
+
+void Packer::write_int8(int8_t v) {
+    oss_->write((const char *)&v, sizeof(v));
+}
+
+void Packer::write_int16(int16_t v) {
+    oss_->write((const char *)&v, sizeof(v));
+}
+
+void Packer::write_int32(int32_t v) {
+    oss_->write((const char *)&v, sizeof(v));
+}
+
+void Packer::write_int64(int64_t v) {
+    oss_->write((const char *)&v, sizeof(v));
+}
+
+void Packer::overwrite_int8(size_t tell_after, int8_t v) {
+    oss_->seekp(tell_after - 1);
+    write_int8(v);
+    oss_->seekp(0, std::ios_base::end);
+}
+
+void Packer::overwrite_int16(size_t tell_after, int16_t v) {
+    oss_->seekp(tell_after - 2);
+    write_int16(v);
+    oss_->seekp(0, std::ios_base::end);
+}
+
+void Packer::overwrite_int32(size_t tell_after, int32_t v) {
+    oss_->seekp(tell_after - 4);
+    write_int32(v);
+    oss_->seekp(0, std::ios_base::end);
+}
+
+void Packer::overwrite_int64(size_t tell_after, int64_t v) {
+    oss_->seekp(tell_after - 8);
+    write_int64(v);
+    oss_->seekp(0, std::ios_base::end);
+}
+
+int Packer::lua_writer(lua_State *L, const void *p, size_t sz, void *ud) {
+    Packer *pkr = (Packer *)ud;
+    pkr->oss_->write((const char *)p, sz);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+Unpacker::Unpacker(const char *d, size_t s) {
+    assert(d != nullptr);
+    assert(s >= 0);
+    data_ = d;
+    size_ = s;
+}
+
+int8_t Unpacker::read_int8() {
+    assert(size_ >= 1);
+    int8_t result;
+    memcpy(&result, data_, 1);
+    data_ += 1;
+    size_ -= 1;
+    return result;
+}
+
+int16_t Unpacker::read_int16() {
+    assert(size_ >= 2);
+    int16_t result;
+    memcpy(&result, data_, 2);
+    data_ += 2;
+    size_ -= 2;
+    return result;
+}
+
+int32_t Unpacker::read_int32() {
+    assert(size_ >= 4);
+    int32_t result;
+    memcpy(&result, data_, 4);
+    data_ += 4;
+    size_ -= 4;
+    return result;
+}
+
+int64_t Unpacker::read_int64() {
+    assert(size_ >= 8);
+    int64_t result;
+    memcpy(&result, data_, 8);
+    data_ += 8;
+    size_ -= 8;
+    return result;
+}
+
+void Unpacker::skip(size_t n) {
+    assert(size_ >= n);
+    data_ += n;
+    size_ -= n;
+}
+
+Unpacker Unpacker::read_section(size_t n) {
+    assert(size_ >= n);
+    const char *d = data_;
+    data_ += n;
+    size_ -= n;
+    return Unpacker(d, n);
+}
+
+const char *Unpacker::lua_reader(lua_State *L, void *ud, size_t *size) {
+    Unpacker *unpk = (Unpacker *)ud;
+    const char *retval = unpk->data_;
+    *size = unpk->size_;
+    if (unpk->size_ == 0) retval = nullptr;
+    unpk->data_ += unpk->size_;
+    unpk->size_ = 0;
+    return retval;
+}
diff --git a/luprex/core/cpp/packer.hpp b/luprex/core/cpp/packer.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6f462c8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/luprex/core/cpp/packer.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+#ifndef PACKER_HPP
+#define PACKER_HPP
+
+#include "luastack.hpp"
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <string>
+#include <sstream>
+#include <cassert>
+
+class Packer {
+private:
+    std::ostringstream *oss_;
+
+    // Packer is not copyable.
+    Packer(const Packer &other) { assert(false); }
+public:
+    using fixhandle = size_t;
+    Packer(std::ostringstream *s) : oss_(s) {}
+
+    // Get the current file position.
+    size_t tellp() { return oss_->tellp(); }
+    
+    void write_int8(int8_t v);
+    void write_int16(int16_t v);
+    void write_int32(int32_t v);
+    void write_int64(int64_t v);
+
+    // Sometimes, you want to write a length followed by a block of data.
+    // Sometimes, you don't know the length until after you've written the block
+    // of data.  To help with this situation, we provide the overwrite_int
+    // functions.  Here's what you do:
+    //
+    // 1. write a dummy length into the stream.
+    // 2. use 'tellp' to fetch the stream position *after* the dummy length.
+    // 3. write the block of data.
+    // 4. use an overwrite function below to overwrite the dummy length.
+    //
+    void overwrite_int8(size_t tell_after, int8_t value);
+    void overwrite_int16(size_t tell_after, int16_t value);
+    void overwrite_int32(size_t tell_after, int32_t value);
+    void overwrite_int64(size_t tell_after, int64_t value);
+
+    // The packer can be used as a lua_Writer.
+    static int lua_writer(lua_State *L, const void *p, size_t sz, void *ud);
+    void *lua_writer_ud() { return this; }
+};
+
+class Unpacker {
+private:
+    const char *data_;
+    size_t size_;
+
+public:
+    Unpacker(const char *d, size_t s);
+    const char *data() { return data_; }
+    size_t size() { return size_; }
+    
+    int8_t  read_int8();
+    int16_t read_int16();
+    int32_t read_int32();
+    int64_t read_int64();
+    void skip(size_t n);
+    Unpacker read_section(size_t n);
+
+    // The unpacker can be used as a lua_Reader
+    static const char *lua_reader(lua_State *L, void *ud, size_t *size);
+    void *lua_reader_ud() { return this; }
+};
+
+
+
+#endif // PACKER_HPP