It took almost a year, and what was supposed to be a minor update become a major overhaul of almost the whole site. Hopefully I've learned my lesson and the next updates will be smaller and come faster.

Since this is the biggest change ever done to the website, I thought it was worthy of re-branding it as version 2.0 and removing the BETA label. Are we on time? Probably not, and there's no cake either. But at least its done!

Anyway, onwards to our

New Features

• Game Glossary

Some games have really dense vocabulary or lore, but often explanations on these are short, vague, maybe tucked away on a auto-dismissing dialog that can never be seen again, or just plain don't exist. This feature will hopefully help you get up-to-speed on the game's lingo.

Accessible on the sub-menu of any game's page.

• Gamelist Filters Persistency

You can now save filter options and values for your gamelist. This allows you to quickly create dynamic collections of your games, such as "Games I Rated Higher Than 9", "Full Completions", "Borrowed Games" and so on and so forth. Improvements

The Saved Filters menu can be found in the Action Bar of your gamelist page.

• Grid view-mode for Gamelist, Wishlist, Playthroughs and Sessions pages.

One of the themes of the version 2.0 update is moving away from using tables for everything. These 4 pages have received a completely redesigned visual, with a larger focus on big, easy to understand images. If you liked using tables (I sure do!), don't worry, you can change modes at any time, and your preference will be remembered when you return.

You can find the change view mode button in the Action Bar of their respective pages.

• Stacks

Stacks are essentially arbitrary lists of games. They are meant to help people discover new games, but you can also use them as whatever kind of list you want. Each item in the Stack can have a description, and they also can be custom-ordered. The Stack itself can have a thematic tag to help with discoverability, as well as being dedicated to a single platform. Hiding them is also an option, if you want to write all about your love for horse games but doesn't want to share with the community.

Since Stacks are focused on discovery, they have their own page under the Community item in the main navigation menu.

Fun fact: Why Stacks have that name? For one, they can't be called "Game Lists" (which is a much more descriptive and intuitive name) because, well, there already exists a feature called "Gamelist". So I just straight-out lifted the name (and a lot of visual inspiration) from myanimelist.net. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all.

• User Activity

This new feature records various significant activities performed by the user, such as adding a new game to their gamelist, starting a new playthrough or befriending someone in the website. This feature has its own privacy control, and can also be turned off completely on the user settings page.

After activities are recorded, they can be viewed, sorted and filtered, as well as manually edited or deleted.

Accessible through the user menu.

Fun fact: this feature was initially meant to be called Chronicle, as it was supposed to chronicle your gaming journey, but that felt a little too poetic and not intuitive enough, so it was renamed to the generic-and-boring but user-friendly User Activity.

• User Dashboard

Like the Game Dashboard, the User Dashboard is meant to help you manage your gaming activities at a glance. It includes three sub-pages:

1. Games that you are currently playing
2. An overview of your recent gaming efforts
3. Various statistics about your gaming habits

You can find your Dashboard on user menu.

• User Gaming Statistics

There's now a bunch of statistics about your playing habits. In fact, there's 2 different pages with stats!

The first is inside the User Dashboard, and shows basic information about your playing habits in the past few weeks.

The second was initially conceived as a retrospective feature, but I dislike this kind of time-limited gimmick, so now not only it's accessible at any time, but you can also chose the year (and optionally the month as well) for the stats. This page has a lot more information, such as reviews you made, playthroughs you completed (or failed to), total time played per game, a bunch of graphs and more.

It's accessible from the User Menu > Gaming > Statistics.

Other notable changes

• A new logo! Do you like it? I made it myself, again (unfortunately).
• A shorter, simplified tour for first-time users.
• Added a Navigation Bar in the user's profile to quickly get around.
• Improvements to the layout and style of many, many pages, specially for mobile.
• New fields and statuses for Gamelist entries.
• Revamped Hardware/Rig manager. Now allows duplicate components and extra details, plus improved design and layout.
• Significantly redesigned the game achievements pages.
• Visual overhaul of the browseable API.

If you're one for details, here are the full

Patch Notes

New

• Added notes and relation fields to game Staff objects.
• Added start_date and end_date for Playthroughs.
• Added 5 new fields to Gamelist entries: box type, media type, price, currency and extra data.
• Added a no redirect option when searching.
• Added a CName field to game editions to make it easier to set them in the bulk-adder (this affects the Releases, Gamelist and Wishlist bulk-adders).
• Added a custom, more helpful HTTP 404 page (that's the error when a page cannot be found).
• Added a Glossary feature to games. You can see the glossary for the whole franchise on the franchise page.
• Added a grid view mode for the gamelist page.
• Added a grid view mode for the gaming sessions pages.
• Added a grid view mode for the playthroughs pages.
• Added a grid view mode for the wishlist pages.
• Added a new date and time handling system that automatically converts the time to the user's local timezone.
• Added a new status option to the Gamelist: never, meant to mark games you'll probably never play.
• Added a new status option to the Gamelist: next, meant to mark games you're planning to play soon.
• Added a page to the Help / Miscellaneous section containing all supported currencies.
• Added a page to view detailed info about a Rig, making the user rigs list much more clean.
• Added a table view to a game's credits/staff page, and button to toggle between view types.
• Added an Endorsed Reviews page on the user's reviews page, listing all reviews they endorsed.
• Added an Updated On column to the gamelist table.
• Added dynamic help to some forms. Now, on inputs with multiple choices, selecting one choice might show additional information about it (only implemented in some forms so far).
• Added Htmx support to the website. For now, support is quite limited, but will increase in later updates.
• Added Stacks features: allows users to create and explore lists of games using various options.
• Added the User Activity feature
• Added the retrospective feature.
• Added the User Dashboard, where you can get a summary of your gaming activities.
• Added User Filters to the gamelist: this means you can now quickly save and load your most used filters.
• Added user personal Playtime Stats to the Game Dashboard.
• NEW LOGO! It's not a huge improvement, but at least it's different. Yes, I made it myself - again.

Improvements

• Changed how Rig / User Hardware components are handled. Now its possible to add multiple copies of a hardware Component piece to a Rig, each with its own (optional) additional information.
• Changed the Retrospective feature into a more broad Gaming Statistics feature. Can now be accessed by anyone (with privacy control) at anytime, and the time period can be set to any year and (optional) month.
• Creating or editing a review will now redirect to the review's details page, instead of the list of reviews for the game.
• Emphasized the announcements in the home page's sidebar.
• Game alternative names now can support multiple regions per name.
• Game Edition names now must be unique amongst all Editions of the game (but not globally).
• Improved how notifications are handled. Now they will automatically delete themselves if the content or action that generated it no longer exists.
• Improved the gaming sessions table view (added boxart and link to game-specific sessions, removed comments).
• Improved the layout of the statistics in the game-specific gaming sessions page.
• Improved the style of tables that explicitly show row numbers.
• Improved visibility of links in tables when using the dark theme.
• Redesigned the gamelist form - fields are now grouped in similar sections.
• Removed the redirect field from the game sessions form; will now automatically redirect to its associated playthrough if it has one, otherwise will redirect to the user's sessions list.
• Standardized how Game Editions should be named for improved consistency.
• Update the contents layout in the game mode details page.
• Updated currencies to be sorted by name.
• Updated datetime inputs on forms to have a reset button.
• Updated game Staff objects to allow for empty company fields, since some staff, like freelancers, can be independent.
• Updated how achievements are displayed, they now look much better and consistent!
• Updated how duration are displayed, now the hours aren't padded with zeros.
• Updated how game images are displayed, transparent ones now have a checkered background.
• Updated how notes are displayed in some tables.
• Updated how reviews summaries are displayed.
• Updated how Ri
• Updated HTML element highlighting with more subtle colors and ability to dismiss the highlighting by moving the mouse over it.
• Updated images to avoid shifting the layout of the page when loading.
• Updated links on gaming sessions table to redirect to the detailed sessions page (instead of the game's page).
• Updated many pages to have a more modern layout, with less text and tables and more images.
• Updated modal dialogs to not be scrolling, since in some occasions they could have problems showing dropdown boxes.
• Updated modal dialogs with colored scrolling bars, should be easier to see them now.
• Updated most images with their width and height, the layout should now be displaced less due to images being loaded.
• Updated multiple tables (gamelist, playthroughs, wishlist) with improved layout.
• Updated playthrough icon to a play button (was a set of 4 expanding arrows).
• Updated realtime filtering to allow multiple filters at the same time.
• Updated relative date and times (like "10 minutes ago") to update itself in every minute.
• Updated Rigs page with dynamically sortable table.
• Updated some game-related URLs to be more consistent and intuitive.
• Updated the "Add Gamelist/Wishlist/Playthrough" dialogs to automatically focus on the game name input when they're show.
• Updated the Boards breadcrumbs navigation to link to all parent boards.
• Updated the boards main page with minor layout changes.
• Updated the boards to show the absolute date and time when a comment was posted when hovering its relative time.
• Updated the Gamelist and Wishlist edit pages with images of the game being edited.
• Updated the Gamelist edit form to have tabs. This should make finding the field you're looking for.
• Updated the Gamelist filters with an initial ordering field.
• Updated the gamelist page status to use a monospaced font.
• Updated the gamelist page's action buttons into a menu, to reduce visual clutter.
• Updated the gaming sessions filter with order field.
• Updated the gaming sessions page with the ability to create a new session with a single click.
• Updated the header of a game's page to display its contents in 5 columns (used to be 4).
• Updated the Home Page for games to show if they are a DLC and Stacks in which it was featured.
• Updated the home page game carousels with a hover effect.
• Updated the icon of user reviews to a full star (was a half-star).
• Updated the journal page with improved layout.
• Updated the layout of the privacy form, it's now categorized into profile, gaming and community sections.
• Updated the main link on the user's gamelist page to redirect to the game's dashboard (instead of the game's page). Also updated the menu, removing the dashboard and game link, and making more obvious which items are sub-menus.
• Updated the navbar and footer of the light mode with a dark color. Looks a bit nicer, doesn't it?
• Updated the notifications menu to show at most 5 items (was 10), also changed the style of the "Mark All As Read" button.
• Updated the per-entry menu on the gamelist page to have sub-menus, should now be less cluttered.
• Updated the personal recommendation details page with improved layout (specially on mobile).
• Updated the Playthrough details page layout and links.
• Updated the Playthrough Details page with more dynamic content: you can now add and remove sessions without reloading the page.
• Updated the Quick Menu to show its contents when mouse-hovering it, also updated its style a bit.
• Updated the review details page with better layout (specially on mobile), also now shows if a review is hidden.
• Updated the Review form to only show platforms in which the user played the game instead of all platforms the game is available on.
• Updated the Rig edit page with a delete button.
• Updated the search to only automatically redirect to a game on an exact match (previous redirects would occur on 98% or better matches).
• Updated the statistics on the detailed gaming sessions page with improved layout.
• Updated the style and plugins of the selectize library, it should now be a bit easier to use.
• Updated the style of the side-bar in the home page.
• Updated the titles of multiple pages.
• Updated the user menu: added the Activities item, and moved the Dashboard item to the first level.
• Updated the user navigation bar to allow hiding it.
• Updated the User Profile page with a new, improved layout.
• Updated the user profile page.
• Updated the user rigs list page with a much cleaner and minimalistic style, moving most detailed info to the "Rig Details" page.
• Updated the user's playthroughs page default ordering to most recently modified first.
• Updated the website style with a background pattern! Did you notice, senpai? (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) A friend of mine told me it looks like the background of Master System game boxes. Not intentional but kinda neat.
• Updated the website to be more mobile-friendly.
• Updated the Wishlist form with a delete button.
• Updated time durations with color-coded units.
• Updated timezone inputs to sort them by name.
• Updated user achievement pages action buttons with a link to the game's achievement list.
• Updated user-related pages with a navigation bar that links to various sub-pages in their profile.
• Updated user's playthroughs page, now the link in each table row redirects to the playthrough's details page (instead of the game's page).
• User Hardware is now referred to as "Rigs" - this is the same name we use internally.
• When opening the search box, if it already contains a search term, the text will now be selected. This makes easier to search new terms from the search page.

Fixes

• Fixed a bug where custom categories in Mode Contents would appear blank.
• Fixed broken game question edit page.
• Fixed duplicated releases on the home page.
• Fixed game boards causing errors under very specific situations.
• Fixed games that are automatically-added to the database having improper capitalization (except roman numbers).
• Fixed gaming sessions being allowed to have their end time before their start.
• Fixed gaming sessions stats breaking on empty values.
• Fixed highlighted page elements sometimes not being properly themed in dark mode.
• Fixed images on tables being tiny on mobile.
• Fixed missing projects in the credits section of the help page.
• Fixed multiple spelling mistakes, like Thurday.
• Fixed opinion averages not being properly displayed in the game details page.
• Fixed overlaid elements (one element on top of another) not displaying properly on mobile by un-overlaying them.
• Fixed playthrough content completion time disregarding timezones.
• Fixed stretched user image in profile page.
• Fixed the review details page showing wrong score on Opinions.
• Fixed the delete account page not being properly themed.
• Fixed the enormous friend pictures on an user's profile.
• Fixed the game achievement form considering the vendors and platforms as required.
• Fixed the gamelist quick name filter not working on mobile.
• Fixed the home page's sidebar getting too small on smaller resolutions.
• Fixed the light theme notifications menu having unreadable text.
• Fixed the playthrough detail page showing action buttons to users other than the page's owner.
• Fixed the review details page being unreachable for reviews of restricted games.
• Fixed the sub-menu in the gamelist page's Action Bar not being themed.
• Fixed the user achievement form using wrong timezone for the date_achieved field.
• Fixed toggle-type checkboxes looking weird in dark mode.
• Fixed unaligned margins of some elements on mobile.
• Fixed unobtained achievements being allowed to have a non-empty Date Achieved.
• Fixed unread notifications in the "all notifications" page not having appropriate colors in dark theme.
• Fixed user warnings page not displaying all received warnings.
• Fixed users being able to edit rig components that belonged to other user's rigs.
• Fixed users not being able to change the score of their game reviews.
• Fixed weird capitalization on some game's titles.
• Fixed wrong reviews average calculation.

API

• Added button to copy API response to the clipboard.
• Added User Filters endpoint. Requires authentication.
• Fixed the /games/game/ endpoint breaking when game_data was not empty.
• Fixed the API /users/username/ endpoint being broken.
• Updated game-related endpoints to include the URL to the game's default boxart.
• Updated the API endpoint pages with a (non-optional) dark theme.
• Updated the gamelist endpoint with the new fields.