Manually adding achievements

[Xamantu]

So, this is a probably a controversial idea and it's not really a suggestion - at least yet. I just want to hear everyone's thoughts about it.

There are many older games, mostly last-gen ones, that released on pc but never had achievements. Think Assassin's Creed from 1 to Revelations), Mass Effect 1 and 2, Dead Space 1 and 2, Mirror's Edge, BF Bad Company 2, and many others. All of these offered achievements on other platforms but not on PC. At least not officially: Bad Company 2 had it all registered and needed a 3rd party to display it: http://bfbcs.com/stats_pc/Xamanz

How would it be if we had a system that allowed us to manually select those we THINK we have achieved? I'm sure it could lead to abuse by some people - but does it matter? It could be a differente category with no leaderboard. I personally think it would be awesome if we could do that.

 

[Arthefran]

Hi, to elaborate on this suggestion which I understand is questionable, I have a more limited proposition:

Could we implement manual addition only for PC games that have in-game achievements? (for instance, the Microsoft Store version of Machinarium has in-game achievements, not Xbox ones, while the Steam version has proper Steam achievements. Or the PC version of AC Brotherhood has in-game achievements that are identical to Xbox or PS ones)

A specific "in-game" "platform" could be created and it wouldn't give any EXP points or count in leaderboards, since it is managed manually.

It could also provide a temporary solution to PC Uplay achievements that can't be added on Exophase without API.

On the technical side, it wouldn't be very complicated since the in-game achievements list is generally identical to the Xbox/PS/Steam one (minus the Platinum Trophy on PS of course).

 

[YouGotHitByGunner]

I like this idea. Would be cool to be able to track your own progress in games with no trackable achievements (like Uplay or in-game achievements). I personally use Backloggery / or a spreadsheet to keep track of games like that, since no achievement tracker currently supports it.

Would probably need some hard work to add a functional system for it though. What do you have in mind? Maybe a system in which users could edit game pages and need an admin to approve the changes before actions take effect (so it doesn't become chaos)? Similar to what you can find in game database websites. And then being able to add it to your profile and tick/untick the achievements you have unlocked so far.

 

[Arthefran]

I actually have no idea of the number of such games (except for Uplay games that have achievements, that must be a few dozens), but I guess the modus operandi would depend on it...

What I had in mind was kind of a curated way:

- first step : make an inventory of such games - maybe make a poll or sth among Exophase users on the forum & Discord to confirm that such game has in-game achievements

- second step : create the achievements lists for these games (by copy/pasting the achievements list on other platforms)

- third step: each user can manually add the game and the achievements they unlocked - if there's an inconsistency in the created achievements list, users can report it to the staff in a dedicated forum thread/discord channel

 

[tyl0413]

Just beat Mass Effect 1 on PC which shows achievements in the menu, would be great if those could be added to exophase.

 

[Gabrieludens]

I like the idea. In general terms, it would be fantastic to just be able to keep track of the completion of games without objectives / trophies, being able to mark objectives / milestones universally shared among all the games (such as story completed, hard mode completed, 100% activities completed etc.)

It would give a sense of universal and total progress to all the games in the library. It would be great.

Furthermore, thinking about Nintendo Switch games, it is curious to note how many of the exclusives of this console contain an internal achievement system, complete with a list. For example Luigi's Mansion 3, Xenoblade Chronicles and Super Mario Odyssey itself have an internal objective list. It would be cool to be able to manually track these targets on Exophase.

 

[CaptainScarLeg]

I think I've suggested this sort of idea in other threads before, but I missed this thread, so just throwing in my support here too.

Obviously I don't know how the site works exactly, but I feel like most of the necessary framework must already exist on the backend for adding achievements to a game page manually, I imagine an admin could probably do it easily enough themselves, there's just no achievement editing/submission system for regular users right? And no "checklist" system for users to then select which achievements they've earned in such a game.

If that's the case perhaps you guys could set up a thread for user-submitted achievement lists for games? Kind of similar to the game icon submission and database correction threads. I know it would be impractical in the long term to have admins enter it all manually every time and check off achievements for individual users, but maybe it would be a good way to trial run the idea, gauge interest, and test different things out?

Aside from PC games that are missing achievements already available on other systems (as described in the OP) which would be easy enough to copy over from existing lists, I've been itching to whip up achievement lists for games on systems with no achievements at all like the Switch and Wii U, or that awkward group of systems too old to have official achievements but too new to have sets on RetroAchievements. Wii, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Dreamcast, etc. Of course we'd need to design little achievement icons, names and descriptions for custom lists like that, but that would all be part of the fun!

I've always wanted this site to be an all-encompassing progress tracker for all games and it's always bothered me that there's this sizeable portion of systems in-between the retro stuff covered by RA and the 360/PS3 era that just aren't covered anywhere. Sites like backloggery are probably the closest thing but... it's just not the same.

Something like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would be a great game to test this out with. Super popular game, easy to make achievements for all the stats tracked in-game (races completed, cups earned, karts unlocked, etc.) - I'd be happy to work on that list.

 

[Gabrieludens]

Several games already have an internal achievements list, or something very similar such as completion markers, maps etc. I especially think of Switch games like Xenoblade Chronicles, Super Mario Odyssey (moons, purple coins, achievements in the castle), Animal Crossing New Horizons, Mario Kart 8, Zelda Breath of the Wild.

For similar games it would be very easy to add manual achievements. Not forgetting the idea (already reported by several users) to mark the games as "story completed" when the main mode is completed.

There are many ways to keep track of your progress in all games that don't have a global achievements system. It would be great to be able to do this for our entire library, regardless of whether or not a game has achievements / trophies.

 

[REDFOX02051978]

Several games already have an internal achievements list, or something very similar such as completion markers, maps etc. I especially think of Switch games like Xenoblade Chronicles, Super Mario Odyssey (moons, purple coins, achievements in the castle), Animal Crossing New Horizons, Mario Kart 8, Zelda Breath of the Wild.

For similar games it would be very easy to add manual achievements. Not forgetting the idea (already reported by several users) to mark the games as "story completed" when the main mode is completed.

There are many ways to keep track of your progress in all games that don't have a global achievements system. It would be great to be able to do this for our entire library, regardless of whether or not a game has achievements / trophies.

Love that idea