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IDEA: PC game launcher/organizer/frontend
wraith808:
Some of what you say is true... while some you can actually do with Game Explorer. But I guess the basic thing is that you are not satisfied with it. But my questions were more about what you actually want? You name a few things... but what you want seems more than just a few basic things, but more of a full fledged game management/launcher system... and no matter what is done, it won't have everything that you want. If QuickPlay does what you want, but just not for PC games- what are the features that it has that you'd want (1) at a bare minimum to start and (2) overall?
garbanzo:
Sorry, I guess I'm so familiar with apps like this that I forget not everyone else is :)
It should be stand-alone, self-contained and portable. ZIP distribution, relative paths, and all the rest.
It should be based around some sort of database where all information is stored - something that can be backed up, and maybe even manually edited if mass changes need to be made.
The GUI should be tripartite, taking the form of FOLDER TREE - DETAILS LIST - SCREENSHOTS. Tree doesn't really need custom icons like QuickPlay has, but it should offer folders for each of the default columns in the details view (name, date, publisher, distributer, genre, rating, playcount, etc), along with the ability to create custom folders based on user-defined queries.
The details list should offer an icon column (preferrably 32x32 rather than just 16x16), followed by all preset and any custom data fields present. Columns should be moveable and sortable. In-line editing of data would be nice.
A "new game" dialog should let users easly add a new executable, and to designate any command line switches and/or helper apps to launch with the game. By default it will choose the EXE's icon, but users should be able to choose an alternative icon if desired. Ideally most data would be scraped from MobyGames - I'm sure their API is published someplace. DOSBox Game Launcher even pulls screenshots from there, it's very handy!
The screenshot window simply displays all images in the directory associated with the selected game.
This is pretty much the minimum - though the MobyGames scraping is just an added perk. Later could come things like local links to files such as manuals, walkthroughs and maps, mounting of CD images for launching game backups, GUI customizations, and more.
I'm probably asking for a lot - oh how I wish I knew how to write this app myself!
Deozaan:
Well, I just use Steam as my game launcher. Even for non-Steam games. But that probably won't be useful for games that require DOSBox.
kamahl:
I use XFire for my game launcher, although I'm currently also playing the Raptr, which is quite similar.
wraith808:
Well, I just use Steam as my game launcher. Even for non-Steam games. But that probably won't be useful for games that require DOSBox.
-Deozaan (May 05, 2011, 09:48 PM)
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I use XFire for my game launcher, although I'm currently also playing the Raptr, which is quite similar.
-kamahl (May 05, 2011, 10:21 PM)
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I didn't suggest that either b/c if he wasn't satisfied with the game explorer, he definitely wouldn't be satisfied with steam or xfire or raptr. They have even *less* customization options.
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