GameCache
A cross-platform mobile app for tracking, reviewing, and discovering video games — co-founded with Dylan Kupper as GameCache LLC. Currently in TestFlight beta with 50+ users, launching on the App Store and Google Play.
React Native
TypeScript
Express.js
Firebase
MongoDBThe Team
GameCache is a two-person project built in our free time as college students. My best friend Dylan Kupper and I co-founded GameCache LLC together, splitting the work across mobile, backend, and product, and pushing the project forward around classes, internships, and everything else that comes with being in school.
The Problem
I've been using Letterboxd for years to track and review movies. It's clean, social without being overwhelming, and makes logging a film feel genuinely satisfying. I always wished something like it existed for games.
The apps that do exist for game tracking are mostly web-only, visually dated, or obsessed with completion stats rather than the experience of wanting, playing, and remembering a game. Nothing felt made for mobile. Nothing felt like it belonged in the same decade as the games it was tracking.
Dylan and I decided to build what we actually wanted to use.
The Solution
GameCache is a mobile-first game library app built around three actions: add a game, track where you are with it, and leave a review when you're done. Discovery is powered by an official IGDB API partnership — 300,000+ titles, updated automatically.
React Native lets a single codebase ship to both iOS and Android. Firebase handles auth and real-time sync. The game data layer runs on Express.js and MongoDB, hosted on Render.com, with nightly enrichment scripts keeping the database fresh. TypeScript runs end-to-end.
Architecture & Key Decisions
Both Dylan and I had existing TypeScript/React experience, so React Native had near-zero ramp-up cost. One codebase ships to both stores with native-feeling UI on each platform.
IGDB is the most comprehensive public game database available — 300,000+ titles across every era and platform. The official partnership unlocked production-rate-limited endpoints and gave the app a legitimate data foundation.
Firestore's real-time listeners map cleanly to React state — a user's library and play status update live without polling. Firebase Auth handles session security with minimal boilerplate.
Rather than hitting IGDB on every request, nightly enrichment scripts ingest and normalize game records into MongoDB. Hosting on Render.com keeps the backend simple to deploy and scale without managing infrastructure ourselves.
Key Challenges
- Securing the IGDB partnership
IGDB (owned by Twitch/Amazon) requires a formal application for production API access. Getting approved meant demonstrating a legitimate product with a real use case — which pushed us to formalize GameCache LLC early and commit to the project seriously.
- Enriching 300,000+ game records
Raw IGDB data needs normalization to be useful — cover art at the right resolution, genre tags cleaned up, release dates unified across regions. Custom enrichment scripts now run on a schedule to keep the database current as IGDB adds new titles.
- Real-time state without over-fetching
Firestore's real-time listeners pair naturally with React state, but keeping play status, reviews, and library state in sync across sessions without over-fetching required deliberate data modeling and careful listener management.
- Two stores, one codebase
React Native handles the cross-platform story well, but App Store and Google Play have meaningfully different review guidelines, IAP rules, and screenshot requirements. Submitting to both means treating each platform as its own product at the distribution layer.
Timeline
- The Idea
Dylan and I kept coming back to the same frustration — Letterboxd is perfect for movies, but nothing like it exists for games. We decided to build it ourselves.
- IGDB Partnership
Applied for and secured an official IGDB API partnership (Twitch / Amazon), granting production-level access to a database of 300,000+ game titles.
- Founded GameCache LLC
Formalized the company to support the IGDB application and give the project a real foundation.
- Backend & Data Pipeline
Built the Express.js API and MongoDB schema. Automated enrichment scripts pull from IGDB, normalize game records, and keep the database current. Hosted on Render.com.
- Mobile App
Built the React Native app with Firebase Auth for secure session management and Firestore for real-time play status and user reviews.
- TestFlight Beta
Running multiple TestFlight rounds with 50+ users. Collecting feedback, iterating on UX, and fixing edge cases ahead of the full launch.
- Launching May 2026
App Store and Google Play submissions underway. Final polish on onboarding, notifications, and discovery features.
Current Status
- Official IGDB API partner (Twitch / Amazon)
- 300,000+ game titles in live database, updated automatically
- Backend live on Render.com — Firebase Auth + Firestore handling real-time session and library state
- Multiple TestFlight beta rounds completed with 50+ users
- App Store & Google Play submissions in progress — launching May 2026