Groupfinder: Built by players, for players

As we step away from the summer months, we find ourselves more at our tables. Tables for playing and also working on features and fixes for Groupfinder. And there have been quite a few additions since our last Update log. We'll go over some of the bigger changes and additions. Supporters /images/general-media/1789388957_fqCygV2e.png Some of you may have noticed in the menu dropdown a little page called Subscribe. Worry not, this does not mean, that Groupfinder is going to be pay to use. No, far from it. We are sticking by what we have been saying since the start - Groupfinder will remain free to use. Becoming a subscriber is your way of supporting our ongoing work on the platform. To make sure the lights stay on, the servers buzzing and the licenses get paid, we have to make sure all those costs don't overwhelm us. What does it mean to be a subscriber? As a thank you, for your help and trust in us, your account will have some ease of life perks: Automatic bumping - you can set up automatic bumping for your posts, helping your post stay refreshed. Once you set it up, every 48 hours, the system will bump your post moving it back to the top of the listings. Customized notifications - want to only receive specific notifications and alerts for games and players in a specific region and game system? You can set your specific rules for custom alerts. Colour themes for your posts - Feel a little red? Green? blue? Customize your posts with the colour theme you prefer, make your post stand out with a little cosmetic tweak.  More cover pictures - Supporters will also find that they have access to a whole new set of cover images to choose from. If you are tired of the ones you have seen so far - you will find more from the selection we present the subscribers. Higher limits - If you have more than two games you are looking players for - you will be able to have up to six different active game posts at once. You will also be allowed to send more messages to new users every day. Attach files - perhaps your games have a world map you'd like to show off to make players more interested in it - you can add some files to your post and make it more informative. And various limit increases and customization options for Group Manager and for those who manage a library entry page. You can read more about the subscription here. And if you don't care about those perks - but you think we are doing a neat job - that can be your motivation as well. Messenger On desktop devices, you will find our messenger in the bottom right corner of the page, allowing you to chat with others in a more intuitive manner, just like you may be used to on various other platforms. We will continue to improve the messaging experience as we go forward, but we are very happy with the way it is now. Ofcourse you can continue using messenger, how it was before, as a full-page view. Tiles for Group Manager /images/general-media/1789389492_W7MfXXwR.png In addition to various improvements for the Group Manager, we are happy to announce tiles.  Tiles are small customizeable and editable dynamic elements, that you can add to your Group Manager dashboard to add various features to them.  Add images, spell, item, skill lookup searches, connect your notes to your Obsidian markdown files and keep them synced with what you have on your computer or just add a slideshow to set the mood for the game. Badges /images/general-media/1789389332_qdibSnHO.png Show off your activity and achievements on Groupfinder with the badges you have earned here. There are various ways to earn badges, some you get for reaching out to users on the platform, some you get for bumping. You may be considered a librarian, if you help us improve the library.  And with higher tier badges, you will also unlock unique perks (such as lower daily bumping cooldown, or additional unique cover images). Posts and listings We also took some time to optimize the filtering options on the posts pages. We added additional features to the search, and with that it slowly started getting out of hand. So it was time to take a step back and look at the whole listings filter as a whole and bring it all together, again. Many of these fixes and tweaks have been things you, the users, have asked for. Just like the option to also exclude tags from your search. Don't want to see games that have a "Horror" theme? Take it out and no spooky season for you. We admit that for some time the "Create a post" flow was.. messy. Again the same deal, as with filters - we added fields, elements, options and much more to it. But it resulted in the pages being overly cluttered and some fields may have been accidentally overlooked. Now the flows have been reworked and should make it a lot easier for you to create your player post or add your games to the listings. Also to all of our multilingual friends - you can now write your post description in multiple languages. I mean.. you could also before - but now it is more reasonably separated and structured. Those with a game post will also have access to more detailed analytics about your post. Knowing and understanding more about those, who open your post, can help you tweak and tailor your post in various ways. A more organized library /images/general-media/1789390627_QjshwGXo.png Don't you just hate it when your local library is a mess. Well ours was a bit messy - so we cleaned it up and made it make more sense. The new library home page now offers you a better overview of what is new, what is popular and which events are upcoming. Speaking of events - if you know of any upcoming tabletop events that might interest others - tell us about them and we'll try to get those added to the library as well. And much, much more In addition to all the topics we've covered here, there have been a vast amount of additional changes - not necessarily smaller and less important. We just have to keep these update logs at a reasonable length. If you have any feedback regarding these changes (or lack of an update you were hoping for) - do let us know. Either use the contact us form, or join our Discord server and let us know there. We are always happy to discuss and learn from you. Till next time.

Oh boy. This is going to be a lot of things to talk about. We have been busy and productive. But, as is tradition - here is an update on the updates we have added - We have Group manager, post listings updates, library redesign, timezone filtering, game applications and some more. So here we go. Group manager We'll start with the biggest new feature on Groupfinder. The Group manager. This has been something we have been working on since the start of the year and now finally got around to releasing it.  /images/general-media/1786708533_fHKbu2AS.png What it is, is the logical next step from Groupfinder's core function. Once you find a group, you can move everything to the manager and keep track of your players, your documents, notes, maps, images, links, polls, timefinder polls and session notes. As an integrated part of the platform it will help you keep everything organized and in one place. You can read more about the manager on this info page we created.  But to break it down simply, here is a list of all the base functionalities: /images/manager-info/group-overview.png Manager dashboard As a group owner/GM, you can create a manager group within moments - Enter the game's name, add some illustrative images and the group is created. On the dashboard you can start adding images, organizing documents and inviting your players. Asset management All documents most likely should not be visible to all members. You can set different view and edit permissions for each category. For example, create a separate category for "The Goblin Boys" and let only your goblin players see the contents. You can share forbidden goblin knowledge with only them. Or create a category, that everyone can see for your worldbuilding lore bits. The map of the world, the overall history of the campaign or an illustration of the tavernkeeper that already hates your PCs. We cannot describe all the possibilities and approaches, as we imagine you will all find a different way to interact and organize your games. And more power to you - this is your group manager, we only provide the framework. Player folders To keep specific assets private, you can find a folder on the right side of every member. This is a folder that only the group owner and that specific user can see - no external prying eyes allowed. Timefinder Scheduling is the biggest boss of tabletop gaming? Pretty much. While we cannot create a tool that completely solves it - we have timefinder - a scheduling poll system to settle on the next date that works for everyone. Session notes Players forgetting what happened last time, only to be reminded moments before the session starts that they are about to fight the BBEG? Write a session note after the last game and make it easier for your players to remember what happened last time and what the current direction is. Session notes can also be useful when trying to go back in time to know where the downward spiral of your campaign began. In addition players can leave session feedback. Things they liked and things they didn't. This will help any GM improve by focusing more on aspects the players enjoyed and cut back or rethink parts that didn't really jive with them. Polls, questionnaires and safety tools Group manager has interactive assets for you to use to settle on a specific question, understand the players' preferences and make sure everyone is enjoying the game, by having everyone fill a safety tool questionnaire. You never know if you don't ask. And there is more to discover. You will get the best idea of what and how the manager works by just tinkering and trying it out on your own. You can switch over to (and from) the manager by interacting with the finder/manager button in the menu. /images/general-media/1786709626_5gGr5AH5.png Post listings update We updated both the player and games listings pages. With added subcategories to quickly filter and find specific types of posts, you should find it easier to only find what you are looking for. /images/general-media/1786709750_LLT1IETF.png With this update, Groupfinder is now welcoming all West Marches games, when before we were rather hesitant about groups with no fixed amount of seats. Library redesign The library has slowly grown into one of our core elements. And the library, while practical, was due some attention. And boy - it definitely got some. With this update, the entries have a more logical layout. The tabletop community has tons of interesting games, projects and creators. We are all about empowering and helping you spread the word. /images/general-media/1786710068_3ifxmq5c.png If we created an entry for you in the past - be sure to visit your page and claim it. Once we approve your claim, you will have access to editing and improving it. And if one of your favourite creators, projects or game systems is in the library, be sure to pop over and click that "Recommend" button - this will help them a lot, as they will become more visible in the library. Timezone filtering Timezones and filtering by time and day were a thing many of you had asked for throughout many months. While we understood the need for such filtering options, we couldn't pin down exactly HOW the filtering should work. Well, now we did - now you can either look games by selecting your timezone (and the deviation) or by selecting specific weekdays and expected game starting times. /images/general-media/1786710633_01LM4ygV.pngYou should be able to use the filters to find games that work with your schedule. Game applications Want your potential players to fill out an application, to make sure they are a good fit for your game? You can build a game application that users can fill out. If they seem like a good match - get in touch with them and invite them to the group you created via group manager (See how this all ties together nicely?). /images/general-media/1786710844_lwLsPRj0.png And many other smaller updates This update log is long enough as it is - but there are many other smaller updates and improvements to discover and utilize. But hopefully we are steering Groupfinder in the right direction to make it even better for everyone to use and eventually start playing. If you have any feedback or critique - we welcome it all. Either use the Contact us button, or join our Discord server and we can chat there. The team is there ready to listen and help. Be sure to try out our new Group manager and share your feedback and ideas with us. Till next time.

Hope you are all having a nice summer. While we haven't been bombarding the site with massive updates these past few months, we have been working on things in the background. Just to keep you all somewhat updated and ensured, that we are still actively working on the platform - here is a brief update and check-in. Minor improvements Every now and then we have pushed new and small updates to the platform. Just today, we finally got around to implementing the time & day scheduling to the game posts. So if you have a game post running, be sure to edit it and add the days you are planning on running the game, and at what time the session would be starting. Players looking for games will be also able to filter the groups based on those parameters. Do keep in mind that since the feature is new, almost all of the games listed at the moment are still without a preferred day and time - so they will not be shown to you when you use the filter. But as time goes on and games update their listing, more and more will have those elements. Additionally a few updates were added to the game post creation process - nothing gamebreaking or -changing. Just some convenience factors. .gg We have officially shifted to a new primary web address (although you are free to keep using whichever domain ending you have before - nothing should be negatively affected. But Groupfinder can now be also accessed via groupfinder.gg Even though the platform is global - having the .eu ending seemed to cause more confusion than we had anticipated. But this is more of a cosmetic change - nothing in our core values or goals has changed as a part of this shift. Library evergrowing The library is rapidly growing - every week new entries are added. Some thanks to the help of a few volunteers, to whom we are extremely grateful. It is becoming a proper tabletop gaming resource now. But it will never be complete - we are seeing new tabletop projects and creators pop up all the time - and we would love to be a gateway between them and you. Group Manager This is the biggest element we have been working on since the start of the year (and even before). While not ready to go live - we are anticipating that the day is drawing ever closer by every week and testing cycle. Group manager will be a parallel mode to Groupfinder - a system to manage your.. well.. group. Keep track of timefinder polls to schedule the next session. Share files with your players - or make them private, so that only you can see them - or only some of the players. This will make it easier to keep track of various notes, lore and character backstories. Or just share gifs.. Also a viable approach. But until we have anything more substantial to report - I will be signing off for now. But will keep a watchful and helpful eye on the platform. And if you have a friend or a group that could benefit from using Groupfinder - be sure to tell them about the site - it will be a win-win situation. The more people know about Groupfinder, the faster your games get filled - and the faster you find a group to join. Till next time.