Inspired/reminded by this week’s Bombcast, what do you guys use to track your game collection and/or completion? I’ve been partial to www.backloggery.com for a long time now, mostly because it’s an extremely “low tech” solution. There’s no built-in database so you have to manually enter all the information yourself, but it’s very functional and you have 100% control over all the data you put in, including your preferred title rendering and groupings.
I didn’t really put time into it because it mainly depresses me but you can have create a backlog at howlongtobeat and it tells you the time it should take you for each game and the time total for all the games in your backlog. It can either be exciting or terribly depressing.
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Partially why I don’t like hosting my collection at Howlongtobeat!
I just use Backloggery. My backlog is so big (800+ unfinished) that tracking which games I haven’t cleared isn’t super important to me, but having a list of games I own is.
Though I definitely also use Backloggery for its intended purpose of marking which games I’ve finished.
I started programming stuff into backloggery a while back and realized that my list is so big I’ll never get through it. Existential despair inducing
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Here’s mine. I’m a weird stats nerd who likes keeping track of these sorts of things.
I stopped keeping strict track of my Steam/other digital PC games on there and only add them when I start them. I like using my Backloggery to keep track of what I own physically, and it’s not really necessary for my Steam stuff since I can pull that list up on Steam itself.
I used to buy way too many games that I only vaguely wanted to maybe play at some point…maybe. Thankfully I’m better about that now.
I’m the same way with digital. I generally only add things that I’m actively playing now.
I do have a Backloggery, though it hasn’t been updated in a while.
It’s just too depressing!
Was just thinking about if there was something like this for games (like Discogs or Deadformat). Howlongtobeat never even crossed my mind. I can see the dread of seeing how long all of the games you have will take you being longer than you’re going to be alive constantly might be a bit unsettling though.
I use the Comics Collector version of this software and Gerstmann just migrated to their service. It’s pricey, but if you are looking for a robust collection database suite, I don’t think there is any better right now.
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As someone who does most of their gaming on a PC through Steam, I have found that using categories in my Steam library is really useful for this: Haven’t Played, Started, Finished, “No Thank You,” Multiplayer, Session Games (Like Roguelikes or 4X games), etc.
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I was gonna start this very topic earlier, then I got called into work.
Anyway, I keep track of my collection in a Google Spreadsheet. It’s colour coded for file sizes (light green for under 256MB to dark red for over 10GB) and for what platform (Steam, Humble, Itch, PSN, PS+, etc). This allows me to know I have 69GB of Vita games and 73GB in PS4 games, despite not owning a PS4.
I like https://howlongtobeat.com/ since you can also compare times and contribute to it as well.
https://www.grouvee.com/ is also pretty cool and made by a GB community member so the site uses the GB data from the wiki.
My coworker keeps an annual Google Sheet of Played/Finished/Dropped/Should Play.
I thought it was a bit of a weird solution at first but now I do it too.
I guess I find stuff like backloggery/HLTB too all encompassing and distressing.
I’ve been using Backloggery for nearly 9 years now, and I too appreciate how bare-bones it is compared to some of the other services out there. It just gets the job done, and does it in a very simple and lightweight way.
The only major change they had, aside from slight modernization of the layout, is the removal of user listings. Years ago now, you could click on a game name and see everyone else who had it in their Backloggery, along with their comment. I’d occasionally pop in to other people’s profiles and be like “Hey, I see you also beat this very obscure game – how’d you like it?” or whatever. Now it’s just a list for myself and I don’t make any use of its social features. I do kinda miss it.
I also have an HLTB account, but I only use it to to enter games with hour counts that I’ve completed.
I had a Google Doc of all the games I had on disc, but pretty all my games got stolen 2 years back, so I’ve gone pretty much full digital in the interim. I just rely on Steam to keep track of it for me now.
Recently i found a website that really helped me to get all my games in one place. its called GlisterClub
the cool thing about it that i could import my playstation, xbox and steam games automatically, that saved me alot of time.
it still has basic feature and not much , its better than adding games manually…
