Best Game — Find what to stream on Twitch

Stop guessing what game to stream. Best Game reads your Steam, GOG, and Epic libraries, checks which of your games people are watching right now on Twitch, and ranks them by discovery potential—so you always pick the game that gives your stream the best shot at finding new viewers.

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What is Best Game?

You own hundreds of games. At any given moment a handful of them have real audiences on Twitch while most have zero viewers. Best Game answers the question every variety streamer asks before hitting "Go Live":

Which game in my library should I play today?

It works by scanning your Steam library (plus GOG, Epic, and retro consoles if you want), matching every game to its Twitch category, pulling live viewer counts, and showing you a dashboard of game cards sorted by how likely a small streamer is to pick up organic viewers.

It also tracks viewer history over time so you can spot patterns, discover games with proven audiences that happen to have zero active streams right now, and even update your Twitch stream info directly from the dashboard.

Everything runs locally on your PC. No accounts to create, no data leaves your machine.

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Features

• Multi-platform game library — Steam, GOG, Epic Games, and retro consoles (NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, Genesis, N64, and more)
• Live Twitch viewer counts — See exactly how many people are watching each game in your library on Twitch right now
• Discovery score — Each game gets a score based on visibility, demand, audience depth, and competition; games with lower scores are hidden so you only see what's worth streaming
• Historical charts — Line charts and day-by-hour heatmaps so you can see when games peak on Twitch
• Opportunity finder — Games with proven historical viewership but zero active streams right now: the perfect time to jump in
• Update your Twitch stream — Change your game/category, stream title, tags, and language directly from the dashboard
• AI tag suggestions — Optional local LLM (Ollama) generates Twitch-friendly tags tailored to each game
• Current game detection — Dashboard highlights the game you're currently playing (reads Steam + window title)
• Search and filter — Search by title, tags, or description; filter by installed, on-sale, recently played
• Tracking every 15 minutes — Background collector records viewer counts so historical data builds up automatically while the app is running

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Quick Start

1. Download the project

Click the green Code button at the top of this page and select Download ZIP. Extract the ZIP anywhere on your PC.

2. Run the setup script

Double-click setup_windows.bat (or setup_windows_ps.bat if you prefer PowerShell).

The setup script will:

• Download a portable copy of Python 3.13 (nothing installs system-wide)
• Create an isolated virtual environment
• Install all required Python packages
• Install Playwright's Chromium browser (used for fetching game metadata)

Nothing is installed outside the project folder. If you want to remove the app later, just delete the folder.

3. Launch the dashboard

Double-click run.bat. Your browser will open automatically to the dashboard.

The first time you open it your browser may show a "connection is not private" warning. Click Advanced → Proceed to localhost. This is normal: the app runs over HTTPS locally because Twitch requires HTTPS for OAuth logins.

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Setting Up Your Credentials

The dashboard needs a few free API keys to work. You set these once from the Settings page (gear icon in the top-right corner of the dashboard).

Steam Web API Key

1. Go to https://steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey
2. Log in with your Steam account
3. Enter any domain name (e.g. localhost) and agree to the terms
4. Copy the key and paste it into Settings → Steam API Key

Steam User ID

Your Steam User ID tells the app whose game library to fetch. You can use:

• Your Steam profile name (the custom URL name, e.g. gabelogannewell)
• Your SteamID64 (a 17-digit number)
• The numeric folder name inside Steam/userdata/

The Settings page can resolve custom profile names automatically.

Twitch Client ID & Secret

1. Go to https://dev.twitch.tv/console
2. Sign in with your Twitch account
3. Click Register Your Application
4. Give it any name (e.g. "Best Game")
5. Set the OAuth Redirect URL to: https://localhost:5000/auth/twitch/callback
6. Choose Confidential as the client type
7. After creating the app, click New Secret and copy both the Client ID and Client Secret
8. Paste them into Settings

Connect Twitch (optional)

After entering your Twitch credentials, click the Connect Twitch button in Settings. This lets the dashboard update your stream's game/category, title, tags, and language with one click.

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Using the Dashboard

Once your credentials are saved, the dashboard loads automatically. Game cards appear as they're processed—newest first, then your most recently played games first.

Each game card shows:

• Game title and header image
• Current Twitch viewer count and stream count
• Discovery score (higher = better chance of organic viewers)
• Whether the game is installed
• Genre tags (click to filter)
• Sale status if the game is discounted

Sort cards by viewers, discovery score, recently played, name, or installed status. Search by title, tags, or description to narrow down your options.

Tabs across the top:

• Live Games — games in your library with active Twitch viewers
• Charts — historical viewer trends and heatmaps
• Opportunities — games with proven viewership but zero active streams

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For Advanced Users

Running from the command line

python_venv\Scripts\python.exe main.py
# or activate the venv first:
python_venv\Scripts\activate.bat
python main.py

Command-line options

Flag	Description
--port 5050	Use a different port (default: 5000)
--host 0.0.0.0	Listen on all interfaces
--no-browser	Don't open the browser automatically
--http	Run without HTTPS (disables Twitch OAuth)

Environment variables (.env file)

All credentials and settings live in a .env file at the project root. The Settings page writes this file automatically, but you can also create it manually:

STEAM_API_KEY=your_steam_webapi_key_here
STEAM_USER_ID=your_steam_profile_name_or_id_here
TWITCH_CLIENT_ID=your_twitch_client_id_here
TWITCH_CLIENT_SECRET=your_twitch_client_secret_here

Optional platform settings:

ENABLED_PLATFORMS=steam,gog,epic
GOG_DB_PATH=C:\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\storage\galaxy-2.0.db
EPIC_CATALOG_PATH=C:\ProgramData\Epic\EpicGamesLauncher\Data\Catalog
RETRO_SYSTEMS=all

Optional AI tag generation (requires Ollama):

OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:11434
OLLAMA_MODEL=qwen3.5:4b
OLLAMA_TIMEOUT=60

Cache tuning:

OWNED_GAMES_CACHE_TTL=86400
VIEWER_COUNT_CACHE_TTL=600

Retro console libraries

Build the retro game catalog first, then enable it:

python_venv\Scripts\python.exe retro_collector.py

Then add to .env:

RETRO_SYSTEMS=all
# or pick specific consoles: nes,snes,n64,genesis,ps1,ps2

Data & cache locations

Path	Contents
cache/viewer_cache.json	Main game + viewer data cache
cache/viewer_history.db	SQLite historical snapshot database
cache/twitch_user_token.json	Twitch OAuth token (keep private)
static/cache/	Downloaded game images
.env	Your API keys and settings (keep private)

All cache/ and .env files are gitignored—your credentials and cache data stay local.

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Setup Scripts Explained

Script	What it does
setup_windows.bat	Full setup in a command prompt: downloads portable Python 3.13, creates a virtual environment, installs all dependencies. Recommended for most users.
setup_windows.ps1	Same as above but in PowerShell with colored output.
setup_windows_ps.bat	Tiny helper that runs setup_windows.ps1 with the correct execution policy.
run.bat	Launches the dashboard. Detects the virtual environment automatically.
setup_deps.py	Called by the scripts above. Upgrades pip, installs all packages from requirements.txt, installs Playwright Chromium.

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How It Works

1. Steam Web API returns your owned games
2. Games are matched to Twitch categories via the Twitch Helix API
3. Live viewer counts are fetched for each matched category
4. Store metadata (genres, tags, descriptions) enriches each game card
5. A discovery score is calculated based on visibility, demand, audience depth, and top-stream concentration
6. Game cards are rendered in the browser, sorted by your chosen criteria
7. A background collector snapshots viewer counts every 15 minutes for historical charts

API Rate Limits

The app throttles requests to stay within provider limits:

Service	Limit
Steam Web API	300 requests per 5 minutes
Steam Store	60 requests per minute
Twitch Helix	800 requests per minute
Twitch Auth	20 requests per minute

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Requirements

• Windows 10 or later (the setup scripts are Windows-only; Python source runs on any OS with Python 3.8+)
• A Steam account (free)
• A Twitch account (free)
• Internet connection

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This app does not modify Steam files or game collections. It only reads your public game library and Twitch category data.