How I Organize My Gaming Backlog

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say many of my followers here have a pretty large backlog of games that they’ve yet to complete. Tonight I’m doing a quick post of how I organize my battle against that never-ending pile of games.

Before we start, the software I use to organize my gaming backlog (and the rest of my life, really) is called Trello. It’s a to-do list manager that creates a board and card-style system for you to handle your tasks. Each card can have a due date attached to it, as well as images, descriptions, and more. It’s a simple but powerful system, and you’ll see its full use by the end of this post.

First up – don’t try and start from the very beginning of your backlog! It’s just not gonna happen. All that does is make you feel even worse about all the games you’ve yet to complete, or even start. I tried doing this before, so trust me on this one – just trying to catelogue every game I’ve yet to play made me exhausted.

Instead, take a handful of games that you consider the MOST interesting that you’d want to beat at that moment. That’s how I started this year. Then I made a board called “Backlog.” This will most likely be your most filled board, haha…

After that, I made a card for each game I was interested in playing. I also created labels – one for each console I had, as well as for the PC. I attached a label to each game. This isn’t necessary, but it helps me catalogue in terms of where I may be spending my time the most. I also made labels based on rating, from “Awful” to “Fantastic”.

After this was done, I created four more boards: “Want to Play”, “Currently Playing”, “Finished”, and “Quick and Endless”. “Want to Play” houses my wishlist of games I don’t actually own, but plan on owning. “Currently Playing” is self-explanatory – I try to stick to one PC game, one Console game, and one Handheld game. It lets me cover the most amount of ground. “Finished” is my pride and joy, the stuff I’ve completed.

I put checklists for games that are bundles, like the Kingdom Hearts and Metroid Prime collections.

I also comment on each card when I have a particular thought about a game that I don’t want to forget. This is useful for games I plan on reviewing, or writing about.

The last category, “Quick and Endless”, includes games that I’ll go back to now and then that don’t have an indefinite conclusion, or things I’ve beaten before. Multiplayer games, endless simulators, etc. These are low-priority.

With all that done, I have a left-to-right flow for my games. With Trello I can easily drag a game’s card when I’m ready to move it to another section, letting me stay organized and steadily chip away at my backlog!…Whiiiich will have two games added to it tomorrow, when Majora’s Mask and Monster Hunter 4 come out.

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So! How do you keep your backlog organized? Pen and paper? Mental checklist? Do you even have a backlog you think about? Lemme know in the comments below!

The Steam Challenge: Cleaning Out the Backlog

The year is 2013, and I plan on taking the Steam Challenge.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been in this situation. You’ve bought a Humble Bundle…or four. Then the holiday sales start, and all of a sudden, you have eight new games under your belt. The list keeps going and going, and all of a sudden, you have sixty-three games that you haven’t touched!

What? Of course that’s not how many games I have in my Steam Backlog! What are you talking about?

…Er, anyways, this leaves me with a bunch of games that are rusting away, untouched. And that goes against the gaming creed! I paid for these games, the least I could do is spend some time playing them.

Enter the aforementioned Steam Challenge. I plan on playing every game that I own in my Steam Library, top to bottom, by the end of the year. Here are the rules, taken from the Reddit thread created for this challenge:

1. You must beat every single player game from start to finish on any difficulty.

   1a. With large RPG/Sand box games like Skyrim, you must complete the main story line and the main story line in all DLC expansions you own (ie. Dawngaurd).

   1b. In games where there is no ending or main story line (ex. Terraia and Sim City). You must play at least 10 hours.

   1c. If a game is far too difficult for you to complete (Super Meat Boy) you must complete 15 hours before rule 1 is satisfied.

2. You must play at least 7 hours of PvP multiplayer or complete every single co-op mission (ie. Left 4 Dead).

   2a. If a game has both you can either play one or the other (ie. Team Fortress 2).

3. You can either start from ascending or descending order; however, you are not allowed to skip any game except for a few exceptions.

   3a. You can skip a game if playing a game have become impossible in situations like the following:

   .Banned from multiplayer (if the game has single player, you must play single player component)
   
   .An online game (like a MMO) is no loner supported.
   
   .Your machine is not powerful enough to run the game.
   
   .Your OS or chipset is not supported.
   
   .Unresolvable issues that make installation or running the game impossible.
   

   3b. If you already have satisfied rules 1 and 2 on any game then playing that game is optional.

   3c. You may skip a game if there are essentially duplicates in your library (ex. You have both Half-Life and Half-Life: Source), but you must play one or the other. (this also includes Betas (ex., Team Fortress 2 Beta))

   3d. Game Jumping is allowed in situations where you would like to play a series of games in a particular order (such as order of release or in chronological order). In these situations you may jump a head to complete the franchise, once completed you have to go back and continue on as normal.

   3e. If you buy a new game, you must go back and satisfy rules 1 and 2.

   3f. If it is in your library, you have to play Amnesia to the end you fucking baby. Nut up man, it’s just pixels.

This challenge comes with another: With every game that I complete on the Steam Challenge, I will write a review of the game afterwards. So, I get both my gaming value, as well as writing practice. Win win!

I’ve changed the rules a bit, however. I have given myself three games to play and jump around from. As of now, its Bastion, Mass Effect, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This lets me keep from being bored of one particular game.

I’m ready to do this. To empty out my backlog, get out of my comfort zone, and play some games!

Are you willing to commit to the challenge? Let me know!