best practices for preloader and multiple states

[casey 13]

If I have multiple states (say, 30) that are somewhat resource heavy (audio, background graphic, graphics), is it better to run a single preloader at the start and preload everything I'm going to need in the game, or preload the next state ahead in each state? 

 

So if I'm in a room, and can travel to 3 other rooms from my current room, should I be preloading those 3 rooms in my current state while the player is there, etc. or preloading them all in advance? 

 

[samme 722]

I would preload all the common resources at the start, then preload any extras per-room, as needed.

[casey 13]

Thank you, that was my intuition.