Maybe we will come up with a better name prior to release but it made me laugh, and the GIMP is still going strong so, meh.

Anyway, I've been thinking about all these awesome projects that everyone is doing and it has occured to me that there is a way to make the most of all this knowledge and hard work. When people discuss builds it's often looking at a particular platform e.g. 386, 486, Time Machine, Pentium III, etc. but actually, the first question people get asked when they request advice on a build is 'what games do you want to play?'.

Imagine a tool where anyone into retrocomputing (specifically retrogaming) can provide a list of games (validated against a list of games e.g. mobygames) that they want to play. An algorithm then interacts with the database of compatability and decides whether you can run all your games on one platform or a number of platforms. This would then consult the top hardware database and put together a build or builds for the user based on optimum components. Then there was another database we had an idea for a while back (which is massively ambitious on its own and would be difficult to get off the ground) which has a list of all components and who owns them. This can obviously point a user in the direction of people who own these components and can sell you them. Or you can find them yourself through other channels.

It would be a really useful tool to quickly answer a lot of the questions that people ask frequently and might help some of us to make a bit of money on this hobby - I know there are a lot of hoarders out there. And I know this raises issues about equipment then being disposed of when people lose the retro bug, but then they could come back to the database and list their retro system for sale and this could get picked up by someone who wants to get into it.

Call me crazy, but I love this idea. And if it's going to happen I reckon it would require one person to champion it i.e. me 🤣. I don't care if its too ambitious - I think it's worth sharing because I like hearing other people's thoughts, even if they're negative 😀