Game Collector Manual
for Windows edition
Welcome to Game Collector Download and Install Navigating the Main Screen Adding and Editing Games How to search your Collection Adding Games Automatically Adding Games Manually Barcode Scanning Importing from text Adding Hardware Managing your wish list Field Defaults Editing Multiple Games Editing Games List Items and more Find Cover Image Update File Links Adding a box set Managing Loans Customizing Game Collector Sorting your Collection Custom Field Names Custom Views Edit, Merge List Items Activating Connect Sync & Share Synchronize with Connect Linking your games for Connect CLZ Games for iPhone/iPod CLZ Games for Android CLZ Games HD for iPad Printing a Simple List Using the Filter screen Updating Game Collector The Statistics Screen Print screen Keyboard Shortcuts Creating a Backup Import From Text Data Submission Guidelines Validating Game Collector
Linking your games for Connect
Before uploading your games to Connect from the Windows or Mac software, you need to "link your games". Let me explain what linking is exactly, and why you need to do it.
Game Collector Connect and Linking
Game Collector is built around the Collectorz.com central online games database. For the online user databases in Connect, all factual game details (like publisher, developer, description, etc...) and cover images are used and shown directly from that central, shared database.
This factual game data is not stored per user. Instead, it is stored only once, in the central database, then linked to for every Connect user that owns that game.
This factual data is not uploaded to Connect when you sync your data from Game Collector. It only uploads your personal data fields like Collection Status, Purchase information, Notes, Rating, etc...), plus the link to the corresponding entry in the central database (basically just the CLZ Game ID of the central entry).
So in order to see full Game details and cover images in Connect, it is essential that your local game entries are linked to the corresponding entries our central database.
Without linking, your game entries will show up as simple Title / Platform entries, with just your personal data. No cover image, no publisher/developer data, no game description.
How to link your games
First, if you have been using the Add Games Automatically screen to catalog your games, selecting and downloading the data from our online game database, then most of your games will already be linked.You will only need to link the games that you added manually.
The fastest and easiest way to link your games is to use the Link Games screen in your Game Collector program for Windows or Mac. It has been designed to let you link many games quickly. Read the Sync with Connect topic for more information.
Alternatively, you can link while in the Connect online software, by clicking the little link icon. However in Connect, linking can only be done one-by-one.
The advantages of the Linking and Data Sharing system
This system of linking and sharing central data has many advantages:- Automatic Updates: When our content managers update the game information in our central database (e.g. to add a better cover image, to improve the credits list, or to fix a typo), you will immediately see those changes in your online collection.
No need to "Update Games Automatically". You online collection always automatically shows the latest and greatest version of the data and cover art.
- It's FAST: Sharing the factual game data means that its retrieval can be optimized (e.g. by caching), resulting in a smooth experience when browsing your online game collection. Also, uploads from your desktop software are lightning fast, because only your personal data and a simple ID value needs to be uploaded.
- It's efficient: Shared factual game data is only stored once, which means our servers are not clogged by duplicate copies of data and images (that are all the same for every user anyway). This made it possible for our systems to make daily backups of your collection data.
What if a game is not in the Collectorz.com central online game database?
Hopefully this won't happen too often, but here's what you can do to handle this situation and to help us improve our central online game database:
- First, you can upload and keep un-linked games in your Connect collection. Unlinked items will show up online with just Title and Platform information. Plus your personal data of course. And if your local entry had a cover image, it will even be uploaded to Connect automatically.
TIP: For games not available in our central database, make sure to include the barcode in your unlinked entry, so that our Content Team can spot popular "un-linked" barcodes and add them to the central database. As soon as they do, your entry will automagically be transformed into a full entry with all game information. - Also, if you *do* have full information for that game, maybe even scanned the cover image, then please Submit it to us for inclusion in our database. You can do this from the Windows edition of Game Collector using Edit / Submit to Collectorz.com.