The engineers over at Steam have a proposition for you, Game notes. Somewhat vague, but nonetheless, a leak has revealed Valve is working on a ‘game notes’ system that sources suspect might be a sort of digital sticky note, to help gamers keep track of things while playing.
Discovered by SteamDB creator and prominent dataminer, Pavel Djundick, who says the system will be available for the Steam library and on the web. Additionally, Pavel also discovered that Valve is working on a notifications page, similar to the one used in the Steam mobile app. Interesting stuff, indeed.
Children of the ’90’s, assemble! We all know that back in the day this is a feature we would have absolutely fallen in love with. Have you ever been stumped in a video game? Whether it was attempting to defeat a rather annoying boss, or perhaps you’re an RTS guru and figured out a new strategy, but have nowhere to write it down? Me too, even to this day I get stumped on various puzzle sequences in point-and-click adventures that require me to ‘alt, tab’ and set a reminder in my notepad.
When game manuals were a thing, developers even added extra blank notes in the back for those with the affinity to write stuff down. Especially combos, more so as little reminders; ‘Remember, return to World 2-3’ for that elusive collectable now that you have found the key, or unlocked the ability to do so. Games were tough back then. Don’t get me started on the Monkey Island series of nonsensical head scratchers.
Today, the polygons have dramatically increased, yet there’s but a handful of games that require you to remember a specific corridor, or find a hidden collectable, Ã la GTA. If you recently played a Ubisoft title, you would know that a question mark can be easily clicked on and a ‘GPS’ will lead you to a treasure or hidden quest, which defeats the entire purpose.
I do admit that some games have intuitive virtual diaries. Nathan Drake and Arthur Morgan jot down clues or puzzles as you encounter them. Arthur even draws little figures on the map when you’re out fishing or hunting, or little inscriptions when you discover something new. A neat little touch, though these examples of immersive gameplay features are few and far between. Even so, RTS gamers, MOBA strategists, puzzle aficionados, and Tarnished Elden Ring (offline) players could certainly utilise such a useful third-party mechanic to their advantage.
Still, information is few and far between, and purely speculative for now, so best take this with a grain of salt. I just can’t help but imagine the possibilities if this turns out to be true.
