Add a Timeline View for Browsing Game History

📋 Summary

Add a new Timeline View that lets users browse their game library chronologically by release date.

❗ Problem

LaunchBox can sort and arrange games by release date, but there is not currently a dedicated way to explore a library as a historical timeline.

Users who enjoy seeing the evolution of games, platforms, genres, series, or publishers may want a more visual way to browse their collection across years and eras.

💡 Proposal

Introduce a Timeline View that displays games along a chronological timeline based on release date.

The view could group games by:

Decade
Year
Month, when available
Platform era
Console generation

Users could scroll through time and see which games were released in each period.

The timeline should work like other LaunchBox views, allowing users to apply filters such as platform, genre, series, playlist, publisher, developer, favorites, completed status, or custom fields.

🧩 Display Ideas

Timeline entries could appear as:

Horizontal or vertical chronological rows
Year-based sections with game covers
A zoomable timeline that can move between decades, years, and months
Compact mode for large libraries
Cover-focused mode for visual browsing

Selecting a game would show normal game details and launch options, just like other views.

🧩 Use Cases

Browse the history of a platform from oldest to newest
See how a series evolved over time
Explore games released in a specific year or console generation
View a playlist as a historical timeline
Discover older games that are easy to miss in normal library views

📦 Benefits

Adds a new historical way to explore a library
Makes release date metadata more useful
Improves discovery in large collections
Works naturally with playlists and filters
Creates a more museum-like browsing experience for game history fans

⚠️ Considerations

Games with missing or incomplete release dates should be handled gracefully, such as placing them in an “Unknown Release Date” section. The view should also support large libraries without becoming difficult to navigate.

LaunchBox