Topic
Basically I want to know if there is an app for the iPhone or pc perhaps that you guys use to keep track of all the games you have in your collection. I know things exist for NES games but do they for famicom? Or in English menus? At the point where I have bought doubles and would like a comprehensive list. I could create an Excel sheet but meh :/ anything cooler? Or a well pre-established one?
I use the "meh" method of an Excel document with one sheet for Famicom games and one for FDS. It's pretty neat actually and has a lot of power when you use the sorting methods. I fill in the lines with lots of data. Here's a screen...
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/75294758/Capture%20-%20Copy.JPG)
I have this sorted by release date, but you can also sort by model number, Japanese title, English title (if an English release exists), then I have how many copies in the collection (boxed first, then loose), if I've beaten the game, and then on the right is the price I paid for my copy. At the top of the document (not shown) I have running counters that show total number of games, total cost, and average cost per game.
previously i'd use excel sheet which was not handy at all.
now i use simple plaintext cvs list to keep my entire collection.
then JSON database is being generated from this list and improved by obtaining the information from bootgod site by simple python script. And the result you can check out in my signature ^_^
my list and scripts are stored in git repo on github. Geek way!
Quote from: lobdale on June 19, 2012, 10:20:50 pm
I use the "meh" method of an Excel document with one sheet for Famicom games and one for FDS. It's pretty neat actually and has a lot of power when you use the sorting methods. I fill in the lines with lots of data. Here's a screen...
(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/75294758/Capture%20-%20Copy.JPG)
I have this sorted by release date, but you can also sort by model number, Japanese title, English title (if an English release exists), then I have how many copies in the collection (boxed first, then loose), if I've beaten the game, and then on the right is the price I paid for my copy. At the top of the document (not shown) I have running counters that show total number of games, total cost, and average cost per game.
I would possibly do this but I've forgotten my excel skills back in college :/ had/have a database for anime discs when I used to do that. (over 3,000 so was necessary to log what I had and where)
Is excel viewable on an iPhone? One that syncs with ur pc would work great. I'm surprised there's no app for this. Gotta search with Japanese later.
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:21:35 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 10:44:37 pm
Is excel viewable on an iPhone?
don't be an iPhone slave!
Do you want to buy me another smartphone? Cause I got my current one free. And it was the easier contract here in Japan. I use my phone a lot when game hunting to look up titles I may not know of etc. if I could have an app or list to catalog my collection that can work on it it'd make my life a lot easier. I'm not gonna bring around a printed sheet of my stuff wherever I go.
I have some Office programs on my Android, reads excel files just fine. Honestly a spreadsheet like this is the best way for me to do it, I have the document in my Dropbox so it's always up to date whereever I am. I add the games to the list whenever I get something new, and all the extra information is actually useful and fun to use in sort.
I created a simple website with small photos of my carts (check my signature). I like to see the labels, not only a text list...
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 11:32:33 pm
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:21:35 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 10:44:37 pm
Is excel viewable on an iPhone?
don't be an iPhone slave!
Do you want to buy me another smartphone? Cause I got my current one free. And it was the easier contract here in Japan. I use my phone a lot when game hunting to look up titles I may not know of etc. if I could have an app or list to catalog my collection that can work on it it'd make my life a lot easier. I'm not gonna bring around a printed sheet of my stuff wherever I go.
i'd never used any smartphone, and don't know why some people can't imagine their life without it. They are slaves of their smart
phonetoys!
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:53:16 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 11:32:33 pm
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:21:35 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 10:44:37 pm
Is excel viewable on an iPhone?
don't be an iPhone slave!
Do you want to buy me another smartphone? Cause I got my current one free. And it was the easier contract here in Japan. I use my phone a lot when game hunting to look up titles I may not know of etc. if I could have an app or list to catalog my collection that can work on it it'd make my life a lot easier. I'm not gonna bring around a printed sheet of my stuff wherever I go.
i'd never used any smartphone, and don't know why some people can't imagine their life without it. They are slaves of their smartphonetoys!
Oh please.
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:53:16 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 11:32:33 pm
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:21:35 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 10:44:37 pm
Is excel viewable on an iPhone?
don't be an iPhone slave!
Do you want to buy me another smartphone? Cause I got my current one free. And it was the easier contract here in Japan. I use my phone a lot when game hunting to look up titles I may not know of etc. if I could have an app or list to catalog my collection that can work on it it'd make my life a lot easier. I'm not gonna bring around a printed sheet of my stuff wherever I go.
i'd never used any smartphone, and don't know why some people can't imagine their life without it. They are slaves of their smartphonetoys!
Not sure if you are trolling now. Being a slave to technology? Then why don't you look up your information through books and not use the Internet? It's called convenience. ;)
I wish I could remember who it was on here that an awesome way of keeping track...
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 20, 2012, 02:26:02 am
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:53:16 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 11:32:33 pm
Quote from: famifan on June 19, 2012, 11:21:35 pm
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 19, 2012, 10:44:37 pm
Is excel viewable on an iPhone?
don't be an iPhone slave!
Do you want to buy me another smartphone? Cause I got my current one free. And it was the easier contract here in Japan. I use my phone a lot when game hunting to look up titles I may not know of etc. if I could have an app or list to catalog my collection that can work on it it'd make my life a lot easier. I'm not gonna bring around a printed sheet of my stuff wherever I go.
i'd never used any smartphone, and don't know why some people can't imagine their life without it. They are slaves of their smartphonetoys!
Not sure if you are trolling now. Being a slave to technology? Then why don't you look up your information through books and not use the Internet? It's called convenience. ;)
I'm not a smartphone slave. And happy enough without it.
also, if i have a smartphone and not the shitty ihpone, i beleive i can make the convinient app for keeping track of my collection from scratch. But the slave to technology can't! Feel the differencies!
Post Merge: June 20, 2012, 11:25:37 am
Quote from: lobdale on June 19, 2012, 11:36:39 pm
I have some Office programs on my Android, reads excel files just fine. Honestly a spreadsheet like this is the best way for me to do it, I have the document in my Dropbox so it's always up to date whereever I am. I add the games to the list whenever I get something new, and all the extra information is actually useful and fun to use in sort.
did you enter all the information to you spreadsheet manually?
even in the 21st century...
Did you never imagine about some possible automation, such as obtaining some information from bootgod or other online-databases?
i'm only entering the cart ID and the title to my list and all other information is being added automatically.
Saying you can and actually doing is different. I could out together some simple script but an actual program is different. if you can then please share the app, even a windows program then. Have you seen the gba or wii managers that exist? Or Nes? Those type of programs are wha I'm looking for. Not a simple one.
I suppose I will do an excel database. There is no need to type out most information as all carts/dates/companies are listed. They are on this sites main games page as well as Wikipedia. However they do not list the Japanese names(not in Japanese only romaji). I'd like a database that lists that as well (I'll have to enter the names) and shows box art. If I remember later ill link to the gba manager to give an idea. But it seems like it doesn't exist as I searched in Japanese as well.
An MS Access database would probably work well, too. It'd be better than Excel.
I have mine in an online database.
Databases are superior to an excel document if you know how use them
I have my sorted first by year, and then by the order it was release in.
The columns are:
state of game -- order it was released in that year -- Japanese name -- other names -- region code -- date (it got a bit incorrect), publisher / developer (not quite organized) -- genre (based on Japanese classification) -- commentary -- my grade (1-5) -- year published -- short game description
Nice! Mods if you can should make a database that is linked to our profiles! We could check off ones we have, etc and others could see. Also could mark what we want or selling perhaps? That would be awesome!!!
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 20, 2012, 09:28:40 pm
Nice! Mods if you can should make a database that is linked to our profiles! We could check off ones we have, etc and others could see. Also could mark what we want or selling perhaps? That would be awesome!!!
I have an Excel file. Too lazy to make a database and I think it is enough for my 100 games :D
I made an XML file and a shell in Flash for my carts.
http://oreanor.narod.ru/
this is quite enough for me.
PS: can tune it for everyone who wants like I did for Masterdisk
http://www.masterdisk.byethost15.com/collection/index.html
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 20, 2012, 05:21:39 pm
Saying you can and actually doing is different. I could out together some simple script but an actual program is different. if you can then please share the app, even a windows program then. Have you seen the gba or wii managers that exist? Or Nes? Those type of programs are wha I'm looking for. Not a simple one.
for me the script is better than some app. The data format is human-readable and easy editable by your favourite text editor (vim or emacs) because it is a plain text, and the data consistency is ensured by version control system and stored at the remote git repo.
i prefer a bunch of simple adjustable scripts, thas is always better than one huge overcomplicated buggy application.
so, my typical workflow is like that:
1) add new title with id to the list by hand
2) run script that generate JSON database (yeah, it hardly depends on bootgod; so if bootdog went to deaf i can modify it for using another database)
3) upload 2 files (database, and the html that will view the database content properly) on a web-hosting (well, i'm doing that manually, but that can be automated easily for a proper web-hosting)
Remember not to use any shitty unknown binary data formats like MS Excel and so on, because nobody guarantees that new version of excel app will read previous data format properly. The history proves that. Want to save your database over the time just use simple plain text format. Or don't cry when new M$ excel 2025 has nothing to do with your old database format.
Quote from: DowntimeinJapan on June 20, 2012, 05:21:39 pm
However they do not list the Japanese names(not in Japanese only romaji). I'd like a database that lists that as well (I'll have to enter the names) and shows box art.
bootgod is doing the first and partially doing the second. Well, it depends on database content.
Why not just use RF Generation? www.rfgeneration.com
It's free, user supported and maintained, and there is a free Android app. A great community to boot.
Quote from: Duke.Togo on June 21, 2012, 09:51:40 am
Why not just use RF Generation? www.rfgeneration.com
It's free, user supported and maintained, and there is a free Android app. A great community to boot.
This is what I use too, aside from the fact I happen to be a staff member there!
Quote from: Duke.Togo on June 21, 2012, 09:51:40 am
Why not just use RF Generation? www.rfgeneration.com
It's free, user supported and maintained, and there is a free Android app. A great community to boot.
3 questions about it:
does it support exporting to a regular file?
can i edit this file with my favourite editor?
can i upload edited file back?
Yes, you can export your collection data to a .csv file.
Of course you can edit a .csv in any editor you like since it is plain text.
No, they do not support upload for data integrity reasons.
Quote from: fredJ on June 20, 2012, 06:24:53 pm
I have mine in an online database.
Databases are superior to an excel document if you know how use them
I have my sorted first by year, and then by the order it was release in.
The columns are:
state of game -- order it was released in that year -- Japanese name -- other names -- region code -- date (it got a bit incorrect), publisher / developer (not quite organized) -- genre (based on Japanese classification) -- commentary -- my grade (1-5) -- year published -- short game description
Nice you are using Msql ;D so you have a php page with search and everything?
So I went with excel since it can be imported into google documents and be viewable through that. Links in my signature :) I gotta get around to doing my super fam and genesis games but the famicom one took so damn long so x.x
There is a thread, I just use it and list new games when I buy them. And when I sell one, I remove it from the list. Simple as that.
That works well for reselling purposes I suppose :) or of you want a simple list that's good~
Yea, it's efficient enough to keep me on track of what I own. If the cartridge is a Multicart I always list what games it contains.
Quote from: The Uninvited Gremlin on July 02, 2012, 07:37:10 am
Yea, it's efficient enough to keep me on track of what I own. If the cartridge is a Multicart I always list what games it contains.
Same here. :) Personally, I always specify whether the game I have is on a single cart, multicart or both.
As I'm a web development student, for my major assignment I'm making a retro video game collectors site. Allowing users to log in and view others and there own collection and wishlist.
Awesome!!! If you want help with Japanese listings I'm in :)
Sounds great, but that's an awful lot of work. :o
I stand by my Excel sheet over a database, it's fun to look up each game and manually put the information in. Makes it feel more personal.
I personally would also say an Excel sheet is best.
I should make one, too, because I keep buying dupes of games I already have. :'(
@manuel
If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right. :) It's codenamed Famicom64 as a way to mock Nintendo for there inconsistent Japanese system release names. :P
@DowntimeinJapan
That would be awesome, thank you. But it would be for quite a while before it's done. I'm making it 99% dynamic (no further coding after released, all generated from a database) and not to mention it's less than a week in development. For now I'm making all the databases and structuring the admin backend to generate all the public content.
User's that I've flagged as administrators have the ability to approve games that user's submit in (won't show up to public til approved). Of course administrators can add a game without approval. I actually never intended for anyone to use it, but if people do I won't complain. :P
@lobdale:
Well I can't please everyone. ;P
Quote from: Cheetahmen on July 02, 2012, 08:47:42 am
Quote from: The Uninvited Gremlin on July 02, 2012, 07:37:10 am
Yea, it's efficient enough to keep me on track of what I own. If the cartridge is a Multicart I always list what games it contains.
Same here. :) Personally, I always specify whether the game I have is on a single cart, multicart or both.
I do that same thing! Fantastic!
Quote from: theamity9 on July 03, 2012, 01:01:58 am
As I'm a web development student, for my major assignment I'm making a retro video game collectors site. Allowing users to log in and view others and there own collection and wishlist.
requesting export to .csv and RESTfull API
what engine will it use? rails or smth else?
Quote from: famifan on July 03, 2012, 10:07:42 pm
Quote from: theamity9 on July 03, 2012, 01:01:58 am
As I'm a web development student, for my major assignment I'm making a retro video game collectors site. Allowing users to log in and view others and there own collection and wishlist.
requesting export to .csv and RESTfull API
what engine will it use? rails or smth else?
Yeah I planned on importing it once all the coding was done. And I'm not using a framework, I'm making it all from scratch.
Quote from: theamity9 on July 03, 2012, 10:46:52 pm
Quote from: famifan on July 03, 2012, 10:07:42 pm
Quote from: theamity9 on July 03, 2012, 01:01:58 am
As I'm a web development student, for my major assignment I'm making a retro video game collectors site. Allowing users to log in and view others and there own collection and wishlist.
requesting export to .csv and RESTfull API
what engine will it use? rails or smth else?
Yeah I planned on importing it once all the coding was done. And I'm not using a framework, I'm making it all from scratch.
and what language do you use?
One thing I really liked about NAge was the collection database and you could add games and such it was a killer database. Then you could view on whatever device you wanted or export to multiple formats like excess etc. That is the only thing I miss I wish we had here.
All that aside I have a printed list of all releases and highlight them as I acquire them and then make note if the label is jacked or something that way if I see a better copy I can upgrade, but even thoug I have around 600 NES GAMES I know what I have and don't have and have only bought a game I already had once.
For me fami is easy cause I only have 20ish games (cart and FDS together)
Quote
and what language do you use?
PHP and MySQL.