[Feature] Import/Sync Collections from IGDB Lists

[Djiit]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I'd like to be able to import (once) or better, keep in sync IGDB lists and RomM collections.

Describe the solution you'd like
simple version: allow a user to create a collection from a IGDB list csv export
more complete version: allow user create a collection from a IGDB list, with 2 ways sync.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I'm just not using Collections now as i like IGDB for keeping my lists tidy.

Additional context
For now, there is no official API endpoint for user lists on IGDB :/ So we might be stuck with a import button to upload the CSV from the export button on IGDB.

[gantoine]

This is a cool idea, but we're not going to implement it until IGDB add it to their API. A CSV import is clunky and will be harder to maintain.

[Perrylicious]

Can I tack onto this feature request with another related request? I put that into the old collections feature request but that was closed right after so maybe wasn't seen.

Option to import curated game lists

There's well known rom collections out there curated by people who go for very broad interests and "best of" experiences.

Examples here include "Tiny Best Set Go", the "Done" sets (1 and 2), the Retro Roms Best Set, Godhand, Pungent, the Platform Explorer Pack etc.

These can currently be found on Archive.org. The problem here is that if at any point archive.org loses its special status for copyright matters, these collections will be nuked from orbit by the Mario Company at the very least.

If someone were to compile them into individual, romless CSV files (or, I guess, something like public IGDB collections if such a thing exists?) and ROMM users were able to import them as collections that match them to existing rom entries in your ROMM, then you could have these very collections stored locally and build off of them:

Say you load up a collection like Tiny Best Set Go, then modify it to your liking (remove fan translations, add gems from your youth that don't meet the mainstream "best games" canon, slap in some more fighting game roms, sky's the limit) and save it as, say, "Collection: For The Commute To Work" or "Archival: Tiny Best -PSX +fullset NES,SNES").

Super plus bonus feature would be then being able to download the entire collection as a ZIP file (instead of individual roms).

File format to reuse the API

If you don't want to use CSV as the import format, then maybe if you can define an import format somehow along the lines of your API and would allow people to feed it a file format of your choice, then someone (like me) could take these collection lists and transform them into your preferred import format. If you were to set a JSON data scheme that would allow you to treat the uploaded file just like the result of an API call, that might let you reuse that entire import system.

If a rom can have infinite collections, then you could also use this file format (once properly documented) to have people (like me) pull lists from more obscure sources, such as "best of the year" / "worst of the year" lists by certain critics or publications which could then inform a game's perceived importance and weight in the world by means of metadata.

How these list files would get to the end user is a matter of how broad this feature should be; if you have like an "upload" option that says "upload collections in the .romcol format" and then the user would have to source these files themselves (e.g. from a satellite repo run by a different entity), I think that could be a very neat extension for archivars like me.

If collections could include a placeholder for "rom referenced in collection but not stored locally", that'd be super neat. Alternative would be an import log saying "the following roms and platforms could not be found locally: GB/The Smurfs, GBA (platform), SNES/Wall Street Kid (...)" to inform the user which of his legally owned copies of games he still needs to dump.