Jason Carr Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Hello all, we're looking to tackle the Retro Achievements additions item from the poll, but we need to do some brainstorming to decide what should and should not be added directly into LaunchBox and/or Big Box. Here are some general thoughts that I have: It's relatively pointless for us to build a popup window of sorts in LaunchBox, when we can just link to the retroachievements.org website. This should be considered throughout all brainstorming. It's super easy for us to provide a link in a menu somewhere in the app to link to a particular page on the site (such as showing the leaderboard for a particular game from the right-click menu in LaunchBox). It makes slightly more sense to put more time into leaderboards and such in Big Box, since the web cannot be as easily browsed using Big Box controls. That said, we could use the integrated Chromium engine like we do for PDFs, which should allow for controller navigation pulling up the retroachievements.org website from within Big Box, which is an option that should be considered because we could integrate a lot more of it in a lot less time. The main thing I think that would make sense to implement directly into LaunchBox would be anything that we want to display *all* the time, when available, such as profile stuff, gamer score, etc. We could display this stuff in the game details sidebar, but I'm looking for brainstorming as to what we should consider showing directly in the LaunchBox window and where. Let me know your thoughts, guys, as well as the specific features your looking for related to Retro Achievements integration. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zombeaver Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 I definitely think there needs to be some kind of Retro Achievements friend integration. Half the fun of achievements is comparing them with other people in your friends list. If you could hover over specific achievements and see something like "Earned by blahblah" (pulled from other people in your friends list) that'd be cool too, though some way to do some kind of score comparison (per-game and overall) at the very least would be appreciated. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charco Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 I'd like to be able to see my profile on the sidebar as it shows your Retro Achievements score and the last games played etc. Definitely if friends list integration were possible I'd love that too. A link to the news page would also be nice as you can see what new achievements are added. I often have a look at this in the Retro Achievements Discord so it'd be handy to have access from LB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charco Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 Oh and also an FYI that Retro Achievements are currently not populating for Master System games in LB so maybe the API integration needs to be looked at too @Jason Carr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 38 minutes ago, Charco said: Oh and also an FYI that Retro Achievements are currently not populating for Master System games in LB so maybe the API integration needs to be looked at too @Jason Carr Unfortunately that would be an issue with the retroachievements.org API. I guess we need to contact those guys again. All makes sense; thanks for those thoughts guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FistyDollars Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 I'd like an option to not have to scroll all the way down the game details page, past any images and the game description, just to see the achievements. Also, an option to not have it say "No Achievements Available" for systems that Retro Achievements doesn't support would be nice. I just got started messing around with Retro Achievements and am having a blast, it's super nice to have this feature already built into Launchbox. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoshi278 Posted May 3, 2018 Share Posted May 3, 2018 Ideally for me its integrated in a way that requires no fiddling around with as it needs to be simple for a front end. Basically how a console would work with achievement unlocked notifications and a integrated menu to view achievements but then if need be can be accessed online via LB or web browser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 3, 2018 Author Share Posted May 3, 2018 21 minutes ago, yoshi278 said: Ideally for me its integrated in a way that requires no fiddling around with as it needs to be simple for a front end. Basically how a console would work with achievement unlocked notifications and a integrated menu to view achievements but then if need be can be accessed online via LB or web browser. Sadly the API does not allow for notifications to be displayed. That would be nice but it's also quite difficult for the retroachievements.org folks to implement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALIE Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 I would like to see a section in BB where achievements for games you have played could be viewed (like the Xbox one in the picture).. And as others mentioned the whole idea behind profiles and friends list like Xbox, Steam and Playstation would be a perfect match and benifit the achievement system. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultra God Azgorath Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 Got a question about a small problem. I noticed that with some games BigBox says no achievements available but when i select the game, retroarch says there are achievements and vice versa happens as well. What could be the cause of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charco Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 This is where the game title might not match the one in the Retro Achievements API, although when you launch the game in RetroArch, the rom name probably does match. I guess it is both LaunchBox/Big Box and RetroArch pulling info differently from the same source. I have found that if I update the title of the game in LaunchBox to match that of the one on the Retro Achievements website, it then displays the achievements in LaunchBox/ Big Box. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 4, 2018 Author Share Posted May 4, 2018 1 hour ago, Charco said: This is where the game title might not match the one in the Retro Achievements API, although when you launch the game in RetroArch, the rom name probably does match. I guess it is both LaunchBox/Big Box and RetroArch pulling info differently from the same source. I have found that if I update the title of the game in LaunchBox to match that of the one on the Retro Achievements website, it then displays the achievements in LaunchBox/ Big Box. This can be "solved" for other users in the future by adding the name that is used in retroachievements.org to the LaunchBox Games Database as an alternate title. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Keeper86 Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 I was actually thinking about this earlier. I think it would be pretty cool if we could view the achievements in the game info screen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sef Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 On 5/2/2018 at 3:53 PM, Jason Carr said: Unfortunately that would be an issue with the retroachievements.org API. I guess we need to contact those guys again. All makes sense; thanks for those thoughts guys. The RetroAchievements.org website is going to have some changes. Possibly some API changes too. It would be a good idea to contact them to ensure that everyone is on the same page. -------- Regarding the brainstorming: - Display how many achievements is completed/available (For example: 23/40) and a star/trophy near the ones with 100% completion - Filter option to show only games that contains achievements 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultra God Azgorath Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, Sef said: The RetroAchievements.org website is going to have some changes. Possibly some API changes too. It would be a good idea to contact them to ensure that everyone is on the same page. -------- Regarding the brainstorming: - Display how many achievements is completed/available (For example: 23/40) and a star/trophy near the ones with 100% completion - Filter option to show only games that contains achievements Another idea would be to have an option to hide games with 100% achievements unlocked. Edited May 5, 2018 by Shinryu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qzizzleferreal Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Hey all - First I have to say, I'm relatively new to the Launchbox community, and I have to say it's about the coolest thing I've discovered in gaming since I first picked up a controller! I've had such a great time getting my setup running. Thanks to Jason and everyone who contributes! I'm a huge trophy hunter on PlayStation, so I dove right into RetroAchievements as well. Love being able to go back and have a new fun reason to pick up these classic games. A few thoughts: 1. I think the implementation of a profile is the top addition to consider. Having something akin to a trophy card (see mine pictured) from PSNProfiles would be amazing. 2. Love the idea of having a "Platinum" trophy. The one thing I like more about PlayStation Trophies than Xbox Achievements is the final reward for completion. I'm not sure this can be added without permission from RetroAchievements, but a star or some way to show you've 100%-ed a game would be great. 3. Mentioned above, but a way to filter or view your games list would be fantastic - another example from PSNProfiles.com attached - in my mind, they're the gold standard for a trophy or profile format. At minimum, it would display your list of games that support achievements, the total achieved/total available achievements, total points achieved/total available points. 4. Would love to see these changes implemented in Big Box mostly. It already has an amazing Console Dashboard feel, and some of the discussed additions would only take it to the next level! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sef Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 Great thoughts @qzizzleferreal I think a 'trophy card' it's possible. The website completionist.me has a simple profile card regarding RetroAchievements. Like this one: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted May 9, 2018 Author Share Posted May 9, 2018 Thank you all, good stuff here. I'll be back to this thread here soon as we start on some of this. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qzizzleferreal Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 On 5/8/2018 at 11:22 PM, Jason Carr said: Thank you all, good stuff here. I'll be back to this thread here soon as we start on some of this. Just curious - is the further integration of RetroAchievements planned for any upcoming releases, or is this more of a long-term goal? Just trying to get an idea of timing. Really looking forward to it either way! Loving LaunchBox Next so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultra God Azgorath Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 7 minutes ago, qzizzleferreal said: Just curious - is the further integration of RetroAchievements planned for any upcoming releases, or is this more of a long-term goal? Just trying to get an idea of timing. Really looking forward to it either way! Loving LaunchBox Next so far! Probably next 2 or 3 stable releases as Jason wants to fully complete Launchbox.Next and have it replace normal Launchbox first. I'm also looking forward to further retroachievement integration. X-D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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