New here... and what's your opinion on including GOG with backups?

[Mantis]

Hi there. I registered over a year ago and I've been thinking about doing this thing for longer than that. I don't live in a huge home so collecting games has been an issue for me. It's why I find Steam a godsend I guess. Having said that, it's the game consoles, controllers and accessories (I used to have a lot of them) that take up the most room and I would like to build my own collection of Steam games (already ordered a good printer that has a disc tray!) and future-proof many of my purchases.

Unfortunately, as we all know that might not be the case forever. Even with Steam backups it's possible that eventually it may be difficult to restore our backups without using an old version of Steam if Valve drops the feature. Obviously I am speaking very much hypothetically, but Steam's doors will inevitably close one day. For true future-proofing, if the option is available I think bundling a DRM-free version is the answer. Obviously, that would usually mean buying a game twice in the case of GOG. I happen to have the Leisure Suit Larry games on both platforms so I'll use those to test out this idea.

I'm building my own custom collection of all the Leisure Suit Larry game and I'm currently creating the cover for it. I know your site is only for more "official" single game covers so this is more of a private project. It will have the Steam backups and where possible GOG versions bundled. (I guess I'll get a printable DVD9 if I can't fit them on a normal DVD.) I'll share a new template with the GOG icon like other users did for uPlay and Origin. (Though I do want the case to make it clear that it's a Steam backup, just with the DRM-free as an extra. Hmmm.)

Finally (already long enough for an intro thread) I'm making a program. It's mostly for my own purposes but if you guys like the sound of it I'd share when it's in a working state. I know something like this might already exist. It's called Steam Backup Installer. It's intended to be used for autorun, just a small installer screen with buttons to restore the Steam backups (not got around to working that out yet), as well as additional optional buttons to load DRM-free installers, load manuals, guides, etc. Everything will be easily swappable. (That would include the background, button graphics, background music for installer, logo, so forth.) Early days but I'll keep you posted when I have something worth showing.

[calculon559]

Unfortunately, I think adding any other service to this site, even something as benign as GoG, would just lead to an avalanche of "Can you add X?" requests e.g. "Can you add Origin?" or "Can you add Uplay"? Not to mention all the other stuff you mentioned which I think is way beyond the scope of this website.

Also, I'm 99% certain someone else on the site has done the "Steam Backup Installer" idea of yours already. Not sure who or when, but I definitely remember ready about that. Might be worth a search on the forums, idk.

[Mantis]

You probably skimmed my OP. I said three or four times that I am speaking of GOG as an extra on Steam backup discs. I will not be backing up any games I do not own on Steam. Yes, I searched for that. I found others but they don't meet my requirements so I'm making my own.

[PieMonster]

Hello @Mantis, you bring up some good ideas. Let me answer a few.

It sounds to me like you want to create a template with the GOG logo similar to our official Uplay/Origin/etc... templates. You're totally free to modify the template for your own "personal/private" use. Anything that you upload here, however, must use an unmodified template. That being said, create your own version of your cover for yourself, then upload another "official" version version for us.

Regarding your GOG template idea, I don't think it will become an "official" template however, you are free to upload it to another site and share the link with us. Maybe someone else might want to use your template.

We had another user create an auto launcher for their backups too. You can check out the thread here:

http://forums.steamgamecovers.com/viewt ... ?f=6&t=606

Feel free to create another one if you like. One day I'll get these up on the resources page.

Just my personal opinion, if Steam does happen to go under one day, I believe someone, a team of modders, will create an emulator that will play your Steam library. Your Steam game data shouldn't be affected at all so hopefully your backup will still be good forever.