discussion Keeping track of games

[NumberZZZ]

How do you keep track of games you want to play in the future or are currently playing on LC?
Right now, I'm using bookmarks, but it's becoming messy as I add more games. Any better suggestions?

 

[Rads95]

My case is similar, the backlog is getting bigger every day . I have a list but I don't follow any order. Just play what I see more interesting in that moment

 

[NumberZZZ]

My case is similar, the backlog is getting bigger every day . I have a list but I don't follow any order. Just play what I see more interesting in that moment

Yeah, but it can be exhausting to check out a game only to realize you've already played it

 

[Kernist]

I am checking daily for new completed releases. If something interests me then I am downloading it. Unfortunately interesting games are released faster that I can complete them so my backlog is steadily growing.

 

[rocketsheep]

I have a text file with one line per game that I have played or that I am planning to play. For games that I have already played, it starts with 3 characters for the following 3 criteria:

• Immersion: How well does the story work as a story and draw me in?
• Porn: How well do the images appeal to me?
• Content: How much content is there?

The grading scale is "-" / "o" / "+". E.g. for "content", "-" means barely worth downloading/playing, "o" means the equivalent of a short story, and "+" means the equivalent of a novella or longer. If I stopped playing very early, some of the characters may be "?" because I don't know yet or don't care. Here are four lines that show how it works:

+oo Bondage Island (1.0) - short but nice
+++ Eternum (0.7.5 -> 0.8.5) - VR of an MMORPG may turn out not to be virtual, after all
Flowers
Him (0.2.1)

Bondage Island is a short game that I played once in version 1.0, which is also the version stored on my external drive. No use spending much time on a description as it was quite memorable and the title is sufficient to remember which one it was.
I last played Eternum in version 0.7.5, but I already have version 0.8.5 on my external drive. For me it doesn't need a description, but for illustrative purposes I added one in this post. (It's a borderline spoiler if you never played Eternum before.)
Flowers looks interesting, but I haven't even downloaded it yet. Maybe when I get around to trying it, there will be a newer version anyway.
I downloaded Him in version 0.2.1, but haven't tried it yet.

Sometimes, to save effort I use a single line for a series such as Ecchi Sensei, or for a game along with its specials and spin-offs. For one developer who puts out lots of short stories of very consistent quality, I also use a single line and store his games in a subdirectory on the external drive.

 

[NumberZZZ]

I am checking daily for new completed releases. If something interests me then I am downloading it. Unfortunately interesting games are released faster that I can complete them so my backlog is steadily growing.

Completed? Oh man, I feel like that hardly ever happens. Most games just seem to go on forever, and eventually, they get abandoned before reaching the end.

 

[NumberZZZ]

I have a text file with one line per game that I have played or that I am planning to play. For games that I have already played, it starts with 3 characters for the following 3 criteria:

• Immersion: How well does the story work as a story and draw me in?
• Porn: How well do the images appeal to me?
• Content: How much content is there?

The grading scale is "-" / "o" / "+". E.g. for "content", "-" means barely worth downloading/playing, "o" means the equivalent of a short story, and "+" means the equivalent of a novella or longer. If I stopped playing very early, some of the characters may be "?" because I don't know yet or don't care. Here are four lines that show how it works:

+oo Bondage Island (1.0) - short but nice
+++ Eternum (0.7.5 -> 0.8.5) - VR of an MMORPG may turn out not to be virtual, after all
Flowers
Him (0.2.1)

Bondage Island is a short game that I played once in version 1.0, which is also the version stored on my external drive. No use spending much time on a description as it was quite memorable and the title is sufficient to remember which one it was.
I last played Eternum in version 0.7.5, but I already have version 0.8.5 on my external drive. For me it doesn't need a description, but for illustrative purposes I added one in this post. (It's a borderline spoiler if you never played Eternum before.)
Flowers looks interesting, but I haven't even downloaded it yet. Maybe when I get around to trying it, there will be a newer version anyway.
I downloaded Him in version 0.2.1, but haven't tried it yet.

That's not a bad idea. I believe Excel could be useful here for sorting and stuff.
On the other hand, that's still a lot of maintenance, some graphical interface is always better imo

 

[User_111574]

Elementary. 1. Bookmarks. This function is in any browser.2. Games in development and which I follow are present on my hard disk. There are not so many of them and they take up little space on HDD.

 

[rocketsheep]

That's not a bad idea. I believe Excel could be useful here for sorting and stuff.
On the other hand, that's still a lot of maintenance, some graphical interface is always better imo

I strongly prefer plain text files for this kind of thing. Much faster than a spreadsheet. The games are sorted alphabetically, and I see no reason to ever rearrange them.
The maintenance effort is negligible compared to playing a game like Eternum. For very short games I sometimes feel that even a line in my file is too much, but it saves me time later on when encountering an obscure game and I am not sure if I have seen it before / what I thought of it.

Since I normalize the file names of downloaded games anyway -- e.g. "Eternum (0.8.5).zip" -- I could easily write a little python script that updates the text file. But so far I didn't bother because it's really not that much work.

The other (main) part of my system is an external 2 TB SSD with a subdirector for each letter of the alphabet. All games I have played are _installed_ there. (That's why it has to be an SSD. I found all ordinary external HDDs too slow for the purpose.) For the others I store the archives. E.g. in directory "E" I currently have a subdirectory "Eternum (0.7.5)" containing the installation of the last version of Eternum that I played, and a file "Eternum (0.8.5).zip".

The text file is on my main computer so that I can look things up without connecting the SSD.

 

[NumberZZZ]

I strongly prefer plain text files for this kind of thing. Much faster than a spreadsheet. The games are sorted alphabetically, and I see no reason to ever rearrange them.
The maintenance effort is negligible compared to playing a game like Eternum. For very short games I sometimes feel that even a line in my file is too much, but it saves me time later on when encountering an obscure game and I am not sure if I have seen it before / what I thought of it. Since I normalize the file names of downloaded games anyway -- e.g. "Eternum (0.8.5).zip" -- I could easily write a little python script that updates the text file. But so far I didn't bother because it's really not that much work.

After a second thought, you might be right that a simple text file works better in this scenario. However, I’m curious how would it feel to manage over 100 games, including those you’ve started and plan to play in such file

 

[rocketsheep]

After a second thought, you might be right that a simple text file works better in this scenario. However, I’m curious how would it feel to manage over 100 games, including those you’ve started and plan to play in such file

My file currently has over 400 lines = games but isn't complete yet as I started only recently. Not sure how to describe how it feels. "Normal"?

 

[Rads95]

Yeah, but it can be exhausting to check out a game only to realize you've already played it

Well, I mark the games that I have played and add a mark if I liked it, for futures upgrades. If I have doubts about having played the game I just check to see if I marked it.

 

[Magooo]

Not limited to LC: I keep my archive and backlog on external storage and select from that, check for updates, play, archive. That's pretty much the workflow. Sometimes I create an additional readme with info on the source, additional patches etc.

 

[Gamer X]

That's not a bad idea. I believe Excel could be useful here for sorting and stuff.
On the other hand, that's still a lot of maintenance, some graphical interface is always better imo

I tried to keep up to date using excel. But you need to keep on top of it and im kinda lazy.

 

[BTS79]

Well, I mark the games that I have played and add a mark if I liked it, for futures upgrades. If I have doubts about having played the game I just check to see if I marked it.

I also use the watch thread function for all the game I play.
For the game I like the most (about a dozen) I keep the game thread tab open and check time to time for any update progression.

I'm too lazy to create an excel or text file to follow the development progress

 

[gambino32]

lol I usually just go off gut instinct. I play a game and if I like it, I look into the dev and see if the game is being worked on. If so, I usually keep the games installed and I'll come across it again eventually, then I look if there were updates.

 

[abooksigun]

i don't keep track at all.
Many times i remember a game when i go to look for new ones.

 

[roux69]

I use the watch feature but it get pretty full at some point... After a while, I just look at the latest updates and see what's new.

 

[TH1987]

I look at the latest updates, and I use the bookmark/watch feature to keep up to date with any new games

 

[TC1316]

Watch/alert functions on forums are big. If I have a game consistently downloaded then that means I really enjoyed it and will take a little more time to double check on them periodically.