Game Bundle database plans

[elf]

I'm working on a database for the itch.io megabundles and other bundles I've bought. I have a spreadsheet! I have Google sheets! I have lists! I have something like 10,000 games I have acquired through bundles.

...I need help figuring out how to collect all the info into useful database categories.

I would love to brainstorm with someone(s) who
1. Has something like database experience
2. Has some understanding of video games
3. Has played some TTRPGs; has some idea of the TTRPG industry/hobby area
4. Ideally, has bought at least one bundle and browsed the contents.

(If you haven't, I can suggest the currently-active Palestinian Relief Bundle, 373 items for $8, or TTRPGs for Trans Rights - West Virginia, 529 items for $5.)

Notes & more details:
1. I am doing this in MS Access. There's a vague idea of porting to MySQL later, but I don't speak SQL and couldn't figure out how to get started with it. (I can only work with Access because it mostly looks like Excel. I am not a database person.) A couple of decades ago, I had some basic training with Access queries; I am somewhat aware of types of data fields but it's very very beginner. I do not need a database expert but I need help figuring out how to set up the many-to-many tables.

2. Probably everyone here has enough video game experience. My main focus for this is the TTRPGs; I might like to eventually expand the "video game" category into things like RPGMaker, Visual Novel, Action Platformer, etc. but that's all distant and vague; I just need someone who knows the difference between "this is a video game" and "this is fun software" (e.g. Electric Zine Maker) so I can make the labels accurate.

I do not need someone(s) to sort through the games and figure out which is which - I need help establishing categories and noting what the edge cases are. Help figuring out exclusive video game categories would also be awesome.

3. TTRPGs are the reason I'm making this, with a strong sub-focus on solo TTRPGs. I can figure out how to deal with the games - it's the "not actually a game but definitely TTRPG content" I'm having trouble with.

Should adventure modules be tagged as TTRPGs? What about classes or playsheets? System-agnostic lists of monsters? And so on.

4. It'd help if people had acquired a bundle or two and then tried to find out "what the hell did I just purchase? What is all this stuff?" so they'd understand the scope of the problem. (Multiply by about 40; I have purchased 42 bundles to date.) (Okay, let's call it 35; some of those are basically "developer put their 4 games on sale together.")

I would love to chat, either in comments here (although that's very slow) or on Discord where I can screenshare and say "this is the main spreadsheet... here's my 350 edge cases which are too many..."

Comments

[packbat]

Some disorganized thoughts to mine for ideas:

• It's definitely possible to classify most TTRPGs within existing storytelling genres. Is there any kind of standard list of genres that appeals?
• A lot of TTRPGs are based on specific systems - e.g. Wretched & Alone SRD, Carta SRD, Peregrine SRD, Princess with a Cursed SRD - and tagging this systemic origins can be helpful for finding specific kinds of games.
• When we were trying to do this, we also tried to tag games by number of players. We never finished structuring things or making a form for adding and editing games, though.
• URLs change, but it still might be good to include them.
• Special equipment - conspiracy boards, tumbling block towers, Tarot cards, etc. - were another thing we were tagging.

[melannen]

I have been (very slowly) still going through the ones I've bought and am very interested in your project! Unfortunately I am not a TTPRG person; in my personal half-finished spreadsheet everything tabletop has been getting put in the same category (which it sounds is what you're doing with the video games.)

What's the audience of this database? If it's mostly for you, my advice would be different than if it was for a limited group of indie TTRPG fans than if it was meant for a broad audience of everyone interested in itch.io bundles.

For the sorting I've done, for not-actually-a-game content I ended up with three fairly broad categories of "tools for making games"; "supplements to specific games"; and "tie-ins that aren't game content (for things like soundtracks and comic book adaptations.) There's definitely overlap even there, though, a book of monsters might be a prose tie-in, a player's supplement, and a game-making tool all three. For tabletop games you might also want to distinguish between software and static content.

I haven't used Access in about ten years though; how gracefully does it do multiple tags of the same type? I would be tempted to do a "tabletop" tag for everything tabletop related, and then subtags for complete playable games + my three categories, and a tag for software/static, and then maybe look at going more fine-grained with the games/systems/genres they're associated with. In my messy Excel spreadsheet I am using columns but that gets annoying fast if you get too complicated, and I think Access has better options? The categories you want to use are going to depend a lot on the options you have for structure, and how you're planning to search/filter once it's done.

[got_quiet]

Are you familiar with https://randombundlegame.com/ ?

It's a manager and search engine for megabundle games. I find it to be relatively accurate, with a few exceptions. I believe it relies on drawing tagging and genre data from the game listings on itch.io. There's no ttrpg genre but there is a preset tag for it.