Managing the collection(s)

[obnoxious | 107]

How do you keep track of cartridges, devices and whatever you collect?

 

I'm beginning my studies on front-end development and wondering if there's a demand for such kind of software.

[fcgamer | 4,719]

11 hours ago, obnoxious said:

How do you keep track of cartridges, devices and whatever you collect?

 

I'm beginning my studies on front-end development and wondering if there's a demand for such kind of software.

I just use a series of spreadsheets, and I log everything in that I plan to keep before moving it to my game room.

 

[Gloves | 11,759]

I made my own: http://glovesoffgames.com/

[nrslam | 474]

I just use a spreadsheet. Difficult to set up for a 30+ system collector, but easy to maintain now that the initial work's done. It's full of cryptic codes so useless to others, but I know what it all means.

[obnoxious | 107]

I'm considering building a system focused on hardcore collectors. Cartridges would have information like seal type (the round/oval thing), hangtab, 3/5 screws and so on... Maybe a nice data base with the title's/system's release date, publisher and so on.... Also some financial history like how much was paid for the item and whatever people think it's worth maintaining for later reference.

But it's more of a personal project while I learn this stuff (I always hated frontend development but I gotta catch up).

Edited November 5, 2021 by obnoxious

[fcgamer | 4,719]

It needs to be heavily customised, or else it's useless to me.

I generally track the item, status (box, manual, etc), where I got it, date i got it, price paid, etc.

But as I collect for obscure machines and unlicensed carts and stuff, general NES full set databases and stuff like that are useless to me, especially as they're western centric

[RH | 4,895]

Regrettably, GVN still. I'd move to price charting but my attempted import only brought in about 75% of my collection and I'm not interested in entering the hundreds of others it misses.

[obnoxious | 107]

5 minutes ago, RH said:

Regrettably, GVN still. I'd move to price charting but my attempted import only brought in about 75% of my collection and I'm not interested in entering the hundreds of others it misses.

What GVN lacks that made you try exporting it to price charting? What feature neither have that you'd need/like?

[RH | 4,895]

27 minutes ago, obnoxious said:

What GVN lacks that made you try exporting it to price charting? What feature neither have that you'd need/like?

GVN would still be fine with me if they cared about the service. Alas, their pricing data is broken and they rarely update their game database. I won't say it's perfect but back when it was owned and managed by a NA local, it was a fantastic site.

Also, if you make another competitive service a real killer feature would be a spreadsheet importer that shows you the failed inserts in a grid and a way to search line by line to find the right game for the title. A fuzzy search suggestion would send it over the top. That's my biggest issue with most catalogs. Importing lists is less than perfect and most won't even present a failed entry list, so you have to guess or check line by line. Ugh! Make importing from other tools super-easy and you'll be on a good path.

Edited November 5, 2021 by RH

[T-Pac | 7,513]

After nearly a decade of collecting, I just started a basic spreadsheet this summer to track my games.

I feel really bad about it, though. I've always held the standard that "if I can't remember whether or not a given game is in my collection, then I'm collecting too much or playing too little."

Sorry for the "games are meant to be played" elitism - I mean it as a personal gripe against my own collecting habits, not a projection onto anyone else.

-CasualCart

[Philosoraptor | 468]

6 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

After nearly a decade of collecting, I just started a basic spreadsheet this summer to track my games.

I feel really bad about it, though. I've always held the standard that "if I can't remember whether or not a given game is in my collection, then I'm collecting too much or playing too little."

Sorry for the "games are meant to be played" elitism - I mean it as a personal gripe against my own collecting habits, not a projection onto anyone else.

-CasualCart

Don't feel bad about it. I made an Excel spreadsheet probably ten years ago. Over that time, I've found that it does occasionally prevent me from buying duplicate games, but 99% of the time I use it to keep track of my wish list, games I've yet to receive, and condition issues of games I'd like to replace.

[Renmauzo | 1,196]

I have an Excel spreadsheet, but I started it not out of concern that I might otherwise buy a duplicate or to keep tabs on the numbers, but just because I'm the type of person who likes to itemize things and keep things orderly.

I remember every game I have and every story of how it came to me; besides playing the games, that's what resonates with me the most: the stories behind how a game came to me.

I suppose you could say that I have a spreadsheet for the sake of making a list. 

[a3quit4s | 4,091]

Excel is my main go to. I have most of my collection in GVN too but that is more of a way to ballpark the value for fun. I was going to move over to Google Sheets but Excel and OneDrive has been working for the better part of 6 years, besides for a few hiccups of buying doubles. A lot of people talk about needing a database to track their stuff but I’m not as anal about the details. 

[Tyree_Cooper | 741]

i don't, which is a problem

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

When I had a reason to collect video games I used my old checklist format. This had me categorize everything I had, wanted, and even hoped to get. Ironically, though, it was by far easier to do it for video games than it has for everything else. With my current example being the sub-focus end of what I am currently collecting. 

[Foochie776 | 1,051]

I have a large spreadsheet I use. It has individual pages for consoles I collect and then it has a page for all of the consoles/etc that I don’t plan on getting more than a handful of games for. 
 

my nes sheet has specific spots for all the variants I plan to collect as well as it’s own page for just the last few carts I need, I delete them out one by one as I obtain them now 

[obnoxious | 107]

The next few weeks I'll be busy but I already found a game database and I'm collecting (damn) all the information you're giving me.

Up to now, the primary need is avoiding buying duplicates, followed by metadata (where it was bought, how much was paid, variation specific info) and then collection value.

Maybe, I'll add a ordering generator: it will suggest how you should order them in your shelf, by title, year, publisher, genre and so on. In my mind it would be awesome

The most difficult would be fcgamer's use case but I think it's doable.

Edited November 6, 2021 by obnoxious

[a3quit4s | 4,091]

2 hours ago, Foochie776 said:

I have a large spreadsheet I use. It has individual pages for consoles I collect and then it has a page for all of the consoles/etc that I don’t plan on getting more than a handful of games for. 
 

my nes sheet has specific spots for all the variants I plan to collect as well as it’s own page for just the last few carts I need, I delete them out one by one as I obtain them now 

I should have done separate sheets for console games. I do have my handheld and console games separated by sheet but inside the sheet has a table for each consoles games in my collection. I also have a sheet for consoles and handheld consoles themselves. 

[a3quit4s | 4,091]

52 minutes ago, obnoxious said:

The next few weeks I'll be busy but I already found a game database and I'm collecting (damn) all the information you're giving me.

Up to now, the primary need is avoiding buying duplicates, followed by metadata (where it was bought, how much was paid, variation specific info) and then collection value.

Maybe, I'll add a ordering generator: it will suggest how you should order them in your shelf, by title, year, publisher, genre and so on. In my mind it would be awesome

The most difficult would be fcgamer's use case but I think it's doable.

Probably just make the schema flexible using JSON with the ability to add metadata as needed. Or just out of the box have 10 or so customizable attributes. 

Edited November 6, 2021 by a3quit4s

[obnoxious | 107]

3 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Probably just make the schema flexible using JSON with the ability to add metadata as needed 

I'll use json, for sure. Amazing spec. The hardest part is making a "build system" for free form inputs. Totally doable at a later time.

 

I'll begin with adding items to the collection and go from there.

Edited November 6, 2021 by obnoxious

[Foochie776 | 1,051]

4 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

I should have done separate sheets for console games. I do have my handheld and console games separated by sheet but inside the sheet has a table for each consoles games in my collection. I also have a sheet for consoles and handheld consoles themselves. 

I did separate sheets because originally I’d only intended on really tracking my NES set, but as goals changed and games kept coming in I found it necessary. I’m constantly updating my non nes stuff now but I’m glad to have some lists of games I’d like. 

[DorkOverlord | 679]

I use PriceCharting, VG Collect, and Game Value Now. I'm paranoid, so I replicate my data in three different places. A spreadsheet would probably be easier. 

[Sumez | 2,930]

This

https://www.playright.dk/samler/profil/sumez?sort=1&locale=en

[Trifecta | 235]

I use www.vgcollect.com like DorkOverlord. It's the best video game database website that I've found. You can create collection, wish, sell and now playing lists. If a game you have is not in the database, you can create an entry for it. You can write notes about your items, date purchased, cost, and it has a checkbox you can use to designate if you have the cart, case, manual and other inserts. And once you created a list on the website, you can export that data into .csv format. It also has a forum for discussion or questions on how to use the database.

My collection is here so you can get a feel for how it looks. I like the interface more than any other database site I've seen.

If you can beat vgcollect, then I'd say you would have one of the best game databases around.

[Tanooki | 4,929]

Originally a text file in notepad/txt format, then rolled it up to a simple frames style HTML page like 20 years ago which I just keep online as it's easy and more versatile and less obnoxious compared to the totality of the webpage and mobile app trackers I've looked into.

Sure those other tools list legit games well enough, at least for ones own region, but when you get into weird region games, regional systems, one offs, private releases, random branded items, they all turn to utter annoying crap and after wasting hours on a few to erasing them in annoyance I just don't bother anymore.