Tagging instead of playlists?

[davyfreeman]

So, since the thread about the current feature poll is closed, I thought I'd quickly write a few words about that playlist feature, that is being considered.

I don't know how difficult it would be to implement that, so my idea could just be an additional thing that goes alongside that playlist feature. And it's also pretty self explainatory: A tagging feature.

I imagine it like this: Edit a game, there's a field for tags, much like the genre field etc., type in a few tags and save it. The tags you already used will now be listed with boxes that can be ticked (again, like the other fields)

It could be used to sort games by artstyle for example with tags like "pixel" "low-poly" "realistic" or atmosphere with "colorful" "spooky" "sad". Or the style of game like "cineastic/narrative" "casual" to better differentiate between games with strong focus on story and games that are more score-based.

Evenutally "Tags" would be another way to sort your games by, much like Genre, Platform, Developer, Publisher, etc. It's similar to the custom fields, I know, but I believe the way I imagine it, it would be easier to use and when the nesting feature is realized it could be beautifully combined with it. A silly example: Filter games that are single player, feature dragons (tag: dragons) and have pixel art.

 

Technically it's a request I guess, but I'm interested to heart what you have to say about it. I for one would find a feature like that incredibly useful.

[Jason Carr]

Hi @davyfreeman, that actually sounds like nearly the same thing as what we envision for playlists. A tags-style approach does sound like a good approach.

[ckp]

I have been dying for this since I started using Launchbox. Vote vote vote:

Playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, playlists, and finally playlists, 

[zaozabot]

This would be a great feature! With a huge library of games it would be much easier to search specific games without overpopulating launchbox with playlists and scrolling through categories

[Wally]

Whatever helps searching (which is Launchbox weakest part) would be appreciated

[polygonslayer]

Yep, this would be great! Reminds me like how on MobyGames there are fields for Perspective/Visual/Gameplay/Interface/Setting etc. The more fields like this that help create cool playlist and searching for similar games the better

Gets my vote!

[ci2own]

Is this feature finally implemented? 

 

[Mr.Laor]

I feel like ive already been doing this with the custom fields. Wouldn't it be similar, 

[Jason Carr]

Yes, everything requested in this thread can be done already. If you want to tag certain games with something (anything, really), use a custom field.

Then there's also auto-populate playlists.

[ci2own]

5 hours ago, Mr.Laor said:

I feel like ive already been doing this with the custom fields. Wouldn't it be similar, 

 

4 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Yes, everything requested in this thread can be done already. If you want to tag certain games with something (anything, really), use a custom field.

Then there's also auto-populate playlists.

This is what i was looking for  

Is there a way to distinguish between a "normal" play list and a Smart play list? In Apple Music App they have different icons before the name:

My other question about Custom Tags (And favorites too) is: How could i save this custom fields when i update a Platform. For example if download new Romset for SNES, remove the old one from LB and import the new one. Would this fields be saved somewhere?

 

[davyfreeman]

Imo, what's a major inconvenience in using the combination of custom fields and nested playlists in the way I envisioned it, back when I created this topic, is the lack of drop down menus on those custom fields. As of right now the user has to type every value out by hand and that is a lot of work, not to mention the potential for misspelling. Sure, the drop down menus were added to the bulk edit, but that is only moderately helpful. It negates the option to properly edit games on an individual basis.

 

5 hours ago, ci2own said:

My other question about Custom Tags (And favorites too) is: How could i save this custom fields when i update a Platform. For example if download new Romset for SNES, remove the old one from LB and import the new one. Would this fields be saved somewhere?

Going by your example, the easiest way would be to keep the game entries as is and only change the path to the game files. That way all the values you entered for your games will stay intact.

Edited February 6, 2021 by davyfreeman

[ci2own]

Yes, you're right. Also i can't add a row in List View to see the created Custom Fields.

Would be interesting the posibility to see in the same place all Custom Fields created by the user too.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by ci2own