Hades II introduces a brand new mechanic known as Neglect-Me-Not, which permits gamers to pin recipes they do not have sufficient crafting reagents for. Whereas they’re out on the planet, the trail to these sources will probably be highlighted, making it simpler to maintain observe of what you want. I like this characteristic, in no small half as a result of I have been making my very own model of it for different video games for years. It is simply one of many some ways I exploit spreadsheets to enhance my gaming.
To be clear, I’m not recommending that you just observe in my footsteps and create a spreadsheet for each sport you play. I’m deeply unwell, the world is on hearth, and creating little charts and tables is how I exert some semblance of management over a chaotic world. Additionally, not each sport wants a spreadsheet.
For some video games, although, it is simply extra useful to have your individual objective tracker. Particularly in sandbox video games, the place the search markers are solely the beginning of what you are able to do. For my functions, I will both use a typical Google Sheet, or if I am feeling actual spicy, I will department out to one thing like Notion for some extra versatile instruments. Listed below are only a few examples of what I do.
Monitoring Tears of the Kingdom armor upgrades
There are such a lot of armor units in Tears of the Kingdom, and monitoring down each piece is tremendous rewarding each when it comes to exploration and the powers you get from completely different units. What’s much less rewarding is upgrading those you have already got. You could go to Nice Fairies with the correct quantity of substances, a few of that are tremendous uncommon or solely drop from particular enemies. A few of which you would possibly’ve in any other case walked proper previous for those who did not know you wanted them. (Taking a look at you, Lizalfos tails.)
That is why I made this armor improve tracker. I gave myself sections to mark off which units I am most concerned about gathering, what number of items I nonetheless have left to assert, what improve stage every of them is at the moment at, and whether or not there is a set bonus I have not unlocked but. Most of this information is technically seen within the UI, however this manner I haven’t got to dig by means of menus to see whether or not I’ve completed upgrades on the Froggy armor earlier than I am going acquire a bunch of sticky lizards.
I additionally gave myself house to put in writing down what substances I want for an improve, which is low-key probably the most useful half for me. Virtually every part in Tears of the Kingdom is used to improve some armor set or one other, however I do not all the time keep in mind which of them I care about. And the one approach in-game to see what substances are wanted for an improve are to go to the Nice Fairy instantly.
This saved me tons of wasted effort as a result of, once I’m out adventuring, I can rapidly take a look at my notes to see whether or not I nonetheless want a selected merchandise once I come throughout it. Not solely is that this helpful as reference, however it saves me from having to go on a farming run later for the 5 Thunderwing butterflies I walked proper previous hours earlier.
Working an outpost empire in Starfield
Credit score: Eric Ravenscraft
I’ve my complaints about Starfield, however that did not cease me from spending dozens of hours constructing outposts to farm as many sources as attainable. Is there some extent to this? Probably not. Most sources you want in Starfield, you’ll be able to both purchase or farm simply. However I like constructing my very own mini-economies. The one hassle is, the sport is not constructed to be the overseer of dozens of outposts.
Enter my Notion desk. For this one, I gave myself at-a-glance reference factors for the sources every planet has, which of these sources can be found at my outpost, and which of these I am at the moment harvesting. Because you get a bonus if you’ve totally surveyed a planet, I’ve additionally marked whether or not I’ve accomplished that planet’s survey. (Word: I wasn’t in a position to simply make this right into a template, so you will must make your individual model from scratch. This web page from Notion will enable you perceive the fundamentals, however there are many different YouTube tutorials to take a look at for those who want extra steerage.)
Granted, that is my very own private Sisyphean boulder, because the solely cause to spend this a lot effort organizing Starfield outposts is for the enjoyment (?) of outpost organizing. Nonetheless, I’ve finished related issues for video games like Stardew Valley, that are a bit extra objective-oriented.
I used Notion for this one as a result of I favored its strategy to databases a bit of higher than Google Sheets. You’ll be able to create a full database with entries for all the info you want, however then create alternate views that solely give attention to a number of the knowledge you’ve got created. For instance, I additionally tracked what natural world grew on every planet, however since I did not want that whereas managing my outposts, I made a decision to create a view that did not embody it.
What do you suppose to this point?
Quantifying my time wasted in Overwatch 2
Of all of the spreadsheets I’ve made for the video games I play, few have introduced me as a lot ache as this one. Overwatch 2 switched to a battle move system, with rewards that may disappear for those who do not declare them by the top of the season. I play a whole lot of this sport already, however I wished to know simply how a lot time it will take to finish sure rewards.
So, I made myself a bit of calculator. I began by monitoring the typical period of time it took to finish a sport and the way a lot XP I obtained for every sport. Then I gave myself a couple of bins that calculate how a lot time it will take to succeed in a reward tier, primarily based on how a lot XP I might earned to this point. I obtained it down to some extent the place I solely needed to fill in three blocks (highlighted in blue within the sheet) to see how far more time I used to be planning to waste in a sport for a beauty reward I would not even use.
Now, I do not have to be informed to play Overwatch 2. I like enjoying it with my mates, and I will gravitate to it no matter how a lot it mistreats me. The true worth right here is that, typically, this spreadsheet discourages me from enjoying. If the sport says “You are simply 50,000 XP away from getting a reward!” it would appear to be a good suggestion. The sport needs you to maintain enjoying in spite of everything. As a substitute, my spreadsheet says “You’ll have to play 41 extra hours of this sport to succeed in that stage. So I sigh and shut the sport.
This has truly helped me kick a few of that “Only one extra sport” behavior that is really easy to fall into. Each on-line sport lately has a litany of rewards and factors and blips and bloops designed to provide you only a little dopamine each time you resolve to maintain enjoying. My calculator instrument wasn’t designed to save lots of me time, however it did find yourself being extra trustworthy about it than Blizzard would ever be.
Different spreadsheet concepts
These are only a few of the various examples I’ve made through the years. I’ve made sheets that calculate how a lot my Stardew Valley crops will yield over time, taking the guesswork out of shopping for from Pierre’s retailer. (I am additionally removed from the primary with this concept.) I’ve additionally made sheets just like my Tears of the Kingdom tracker for upgrades in video games from Skyrim to Horizon Forbidden West.
Even for those who’re not into making your individual, there’s an opportunity some enterprising gamer on the market has made arcane spreadsheets for issues like how a lot an armor buff impacts your favourite hero. Any time there’s some math I need to do this the sport would not do for me, or useful resource necessities I am sick of Googling again and again, I will flip to my trusty spreadsheets—and now you’ll be able to (ought to?) too.
