EmulationStation idea: a game ToDo list

jdoolin

So I see that ES has lost support of its primary developer and folks around here are looking at a fork for RetroPie. I would definitely like to see it continue to be supported for RetroPie as it's one of the best parts. I MAY even be able to help with that myself. I'd have to brush up on C++ just a tad.

So, my idea is a ToDo list, or a game backlog or whatever you want to call it. In my mind I imagine a new item in the main ES list that just has a list of all games you tag as being something you want to get around to playing. I already manage a list like this on my laptop but it would be handy to have in ES. I imagine highlighting a game in ES, pressing Select and above or below the Edit Metadata option is a simple "Add to Games I Want to Play" or something along those lines.

What got me thinking about this was running across an article on Golden Axe Warrior for SMS, something I have on my gaming ToDo list. It reminded me I even had the list in the first place.

Anybody think this would be useful?

backstander

Hey @jdoolin

You should check out this post:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3121/emulationstation-mod

Maybe you could work together on this one!

Zigurana

I think something like this would be really easy to do once a db for gamelists and tagging is properly implemented.
Then, it would be nothing more than 'generate list' for the tag 'todo' or somesuch.
Now, how to implement that in the UI using a controller shortcut, thats a different matter. You would quickly run out of buttons, if you would have multiple tags to assign.
Plus, ES would need some kind of dynamic tag-button assignment menu, as (not all) tags are known beforehand.

Not impossible mind you, just something that would need to be planned.

But first and foremost, we would need to switch to a db approach to store gamelists.

lilbud

I'd love to see integration with backloggery

mattrixk

@Zigurana This probably belongs in the other thread too, but it was this comment that sparked the idea so I'll put it here first:

Your Child-Friendly ES uses the X and Y buttons as shortcut keys for favourite and kid-friendly... I'm wondering if there is a way (once the tagging system is working) to specify what the buttons do within ES.

Say you've created a few tags:

favourites
2_player_brawler
games_to_play
best_vert_shmup

You could then go into Tag Settings and choose which Tag to attach to the 2 spare shortcut buttons (X and Y).

Zigurana

@mattrixk :
Yes, this was what I meant by "some kind of dynamic tag-button assignment menu". Sorry for being cryptic.

Zigurana

See also this issue for more on this topic.
Tldr: assigning more buttons will need changes outside the ES scope as well, as Retropie hooks into this when propagating the controller config to Retroarch etc.

mattrixk

@Zigurana said in EmulationStation idea: a game ToDo list:

Yes, this was what I meant by "some kind of dynamic tag-button assignment menu". Sorry for being cryptic.

Ahh... turns out I only made it halfway through your comment when I got the idea, and went straight to typing my comment without first finishing reading yours. If I had finished yours first I would have seen that you had already mentioned exactly that, albeit much more succinctly. My bad.

jdoolin

I saw in another thread that you were looking at SQLite as a possible database. Off the top of my head this seems to be the ideal way to go. The data would be simple, mostly text based and would actually allow some nice little touches to be added now that I think about it. I've used SQLite on a fair number of projects, including some smartphone apps.

In terms of UI, I would be content using a context menu. Highlight the game, press "Select" and then go to the "Manage tags" option. At least that's how I saw it in my own mind. Then you could customize the main ES menu by allowing users to create a new menu based on certain tags. This would also simultaneously create the feature I was already thinking about, a way to have a menu that displayed all games in a particular series but that span multiple consoles. Final Fantasy would be a great example here. You could use tags for that.

jdoolin

And now that I think about it, I could pretty easily write the XML -> SQL conversion tool to update the old gamelists to an SQLite database. I did that sort of thing for a living for a few years.