[*Updated Jan '24* | 714 Platforms | 701 Playlists | Over 880,000 Games & More | with Updated Zipped Platform & Playlist .xml folders and Platform Icons. Will this ever end?]

8 hours ago, -McFly- said:

I like your question, it's one of those 'should i / why do you / how about this' questions, one that ultimately comes down to personal wants and needs. Mine changes all the time. For instance I have many Playlists for the ZN-1, System E and more which I could have as a platform instead. Why do I have some that are Platforms and others that are Playlists... is a question I can't really answer tbh as I make it up as I go along. Will I change some platforms to playlists and vice versa? Probably. I might even change them back. 

Your .xls spreadsheet is interesting, I see what you're getting at there. You could just plop them all under Sega, or you could spread them out over platforms, playlists or both. How much time do you want to spend on everything? That's the question. If you don't mind spending more time than most then make everything as granular as you want. If you don't like them later you can always change them to someting else. I do have a fairly small Platform Categories list I sometimes play with which may take more of my time later, if I want to get more granular. I don't think anyone will mind how you do yours, I expect everyone does them differently. I do have a bunch of Platforms and Playlists that only have 1 game though. You could have a 'Boards' category that has specific board types in there if you preferred, it sounds like a good idea that I might think about doing myself... Several of my platforms and playlists are in more than 1 category as well.

Keep doin' what you're doin, make up your own rules and go for it, it's your collection

Yeah, it's only a matter of preference but opinion (or other ideas) are always welcome!

I think that's a good idea, a category for the "board", I haven't thought about that. It's a huge work, and I don't have so much time, but I have no need to finish it in a day as my childrens are only 4 years old and I want to be ready when they can appreciate the retrogaming (if they do!)...  My dream is to make a cabinet (actually I'll order it I'm not able to do it) with a coin machine!

I guess for the sake of the knowledge I'll separate each developer with the system name > board name > cpu name, then I'll work on the playlist.

Thank you for your sharing!

[*Updated Jan '24* | 714 Platforms | 701 Playlists | Over 880,000 Games & More | with Updated Zipped Platform & Playlist .xml folders and Platform Icons. Will this ever end?]

Good job, I'm very interested as I'm a bit "maniac" too!

I'd like a comprehensive platform list too, so I want to ask: what do you think about a more arcade specific systems? I mean... I found on "System16" a very large list of famous arcade developers board systems, many of them with a very small games list (Capcom ZN-1, Konami Bubble System, Sega System E only for example) and I see you haven't other developers like Data East, Seibu or Taoplan.

I'd attach the file I'm working on, if you want to take a look to understand what I'm saying, that I'll need to store the ROM path and create a .bat to xcopy the files when new romset will be released.

One of my concern is: should I put the boards with >5 games in a separate folder (and system) and the smaller (or the board created for a specific game as I don't like the name "Contra based" for example) in a generic "Arcade - Capcom/Namco ..." or create a platform based on the main CPU and not the board? In that last case, I should have all the developer games in a specific folder like "Capcom Z80, Capcom 68000..." but I should also eliminate the CPS systems/System 16/... too because they refere to a board name. I thought to an hybrid system but, well, not correct to mix board and cpu!

I know it's only a matter of personal taste and my hypothetical setup maybe is only a waste of time, so I'd like to hear an opinion from another that like me likes to have many many platforms (it's just too simple to say "put all in the arcade folder"!).

Cartel1.xlsx