3 posts tagged with "features"

Hey everyone!

In our last post we mentioned the challenges we've been facing with the videogame metadata database we've been using, rawg.io. Unfortunately, it's become an unmaintained abandonware, causing frequent downtime and issues like incorrect search results and registration problems. The situation peaked on May 5th when the service went down completely for a day.

GameVault's new metadata provider strategy​

To address these issues, we're making significant changes to GameVault's metadata system. Our goal is to make GameVault metadata provider agnostic, allowing users to seamlessly plug in their preferred metadata provider.

We're also excited to announce our official partnership with IGDB (twitch.tv), a trusted video game database. Going forward, GameVault will primarily use IGDB's APIs out of the box.

More details on our plans can be found in this GitHub ticket. We also plan to continue supporting the use of your own API keys and other vendors.

However, as decided in our recent poll, we will be removing all support for RAWG.

Temporary solution: Implementing a RAWG replacement​

However, implementing these changes will take time, and we are both currently busy with work commitments and travel plans. So what happens if RAWG suddenly stops working while we're away? To address this concern, Toylerrr, one of our most valuable community members, had a great idea. He began developing a solution that would be a drop-in replacement for RAWG. An application that mimicked the behavior of RAWG, but fetched data from Steam instead. All you have to do is replace the url in the RAWG_API_URL environmental variable.

We loved the idea and built on it. Introducing rawg-to-steam-redirect.

The link above explains how it works and how you can use it today.

What we liked most about it is that it required minimal backend changes to integrate. We have already tested this solution on our 667 games server and it works great. The quality of box art for example is much better. One drawback is that Steam does not have a lot of tags in its API.

While https://api.rawg.io/api will remain the default RAWG_API_URL for now, you can switch between RAWG and the new solution at any time. Just make sure your GameVault backend is updated to at least v12.1.0.

Exciting new features​

In addition to these changes, we're excited to introduce you to some new features that were recently released:

• 🔖 Bookmarking Video Games: You can now bookmark your favorite games within GameVault.
• ⏯️ Download Management: GameVault now supports pausing, auto-resuming, and resuming downloads.
• 🔒 Encrypted Archives: GameVault now supports password protected archives.

We hope these updates will make your experience with GameVault even better as we move through this transition period.

Supporting GameVault​

Finally, we want to thank all of you for making all of this possible. If you have not already done so, please consider upgrading to GameVault+ to flex with animated profile pictures on your server. We would really appreciate it. Bet you can't find the GameVault+ easter egg though... 😉

With love,

Phalcode

Hey everyone!

We're thrilled to announce that the early access phase of GameVault+ has concluded, and we're officially launching it today! It's been an incredible journey from the inception of GameVault to where we are now, and we couldn't have done it without your amazing support.

GameVault+ is our way of saying thank you to our dedicated supporters while also ensuring the sustainability of our platform. For a small monthly fee, you'll gain access to premium features designed to enhance your gaming experience within GameVault. We're starting with features like animated profile pictures, custom themes, and activation of the GameVault Client API, with more exciting additions planned for the future.

But our work doesn't stop here. We're committed to refining GameVault+ based on your feedback, as well as addressing key areas of improvement in the platform. This includes exploring partnerships with reputable video game databases to enhance our data offerings and refactoring our client application for optimal performance.

And most importantly, we want you, our community, to have a say in the future direction of GameVault. That's why we're opening up the floor for feature suggestions through our Discord channel. Your input will help shape the next big updates to GameVault.

Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm. We're excited to continue this journey with you and to make gaming even more enjoyable for everyone. Stay tuned for more updates, and happy gaming!

Hello everyone!

We hope you're all doing well. We wanted to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for the flood of feature requests and bug reports that have been pouring into our issue trackers. Your enthusiasm and dedication to making GameVault even better are truly inspiring to us.

As many of you may already know, GameVault is a passion project for us, and while we are mostly convinced by your fantastic ideas, it may take some time for us to implement them. Our team meetings happen in our free time, and although we genuinely want to incorporate your suggestions into our roadmap, we are limited by the time and capacity we can dedicate to the project. Moreover, we want to ensure that the features we develop are refined, polished, and also the most desired in the users' opinions, which adds to the timeline.

We believe that collaboration with our incredible community is the key to success, and that's why we want to introduce you to our Roadmap. It displays all new issues, planned tasks we want to work on, and all the ongoing work in a well-organized Kanban Board. You can find it right here.

To ensure that GameVault's development aligns better with your needs, we kindly request your active participation. By voting on GitHub with a Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down on new and planned issues, you can help us prioritize them effectively. We value your opinion: What features do you feel are most crucial? What aspects of the platform do you find most bothersome? What issues do you see as unnecessary or bloated? Your input will mainly shape the direction we take.

If you're eager to go the extra mile and actively contribute to shaping GameVault further, we invite you to join our Discord community and becoming a "Council Member". By becoming a "Council Member" and enabling Poll Notifications under "#Channels & Roles", you will have a direct say in the future of GameVault because you will get notifications about opinion polls we run from time to time.

We cannot stress enough how much we appreciate your involvement in our endeavor to create the ultimate gaming experience for all of you. Your passion and feedback are invaluable, and we are committed to making GameVault the best it can be, together.

Thank you for being part of this amazing journey with us!