How to Organize Your JoiPlay Library: Rename Games, Custom Icons and Shortcuts

A JoiPlay library grows quietly. A few fan games become twenty, the entries all show raw folder names or the same default icon, and finding the game you actually want turns into a scrolling chore. Learning to organize joiplay library entries properly takes ten minutes and pays off every time you open the app. You can rename entries, give each game its own artwork, tidy the folders behind the scenes, and pin your favorites straight to your home screen. If you are still learning the app itself, What Is JoiPlay? covers the basics, and this guide handles the housekeeping.

Rename a Game Entry

Clean names are the foundation of a tidy library. JoiPlay lets you set the name when you add a game: after you select the game file and tap Choose, the setup screen lets you change the name, add a version note, and pick an icon before the entry is created.

For a game that is already in your library, long press its entry to open the per-game options and look for the edit option. The exact wording varies a little between builds, but the name field is there. A few naming habits help:

• ✅ Use the game’s real title, the way you would search for it: Pokemon Reborn, not “reborn final v19 folder”
• ✅ Put version details in the version field instead of the name, so the title stays short and readable
• ❌ Avoid naming two entries the same thing, even if one is an old build, because you will launch the wrong one eventually

Set a Custom Icon

On the same setup screen, and in the edit options for existing entries, you can replace the default icon with an image of your choice. Good sources for artwork:

• The game’s official page usually has a title logo or banner you can save
• A clean screenshot from the game’s title screen works well and is easy to capture yourself
• Fan game wikis and press kits often host square artwork made for exactly this job

Pick an image that stays readable at small size: a bold logo or a single character beats a busy scene. Square images fit the icon frame best, and once set, the right artwork makes a game findable at a glance, which is the whole point.

Consistency helps more than perfection. If every icon follows the same idea, official art where it exists and title screen shots where it does not, the library reads as one collection instead of a jumble of whatever each game shipped with. You do not have to redo the whole library in one sitting, either. Set icons properly for the games you play most, and fix the rest the next time you launch them.

Tidy the Storage Side: One Folder per Game

The library list is only half the system. Behind every entry sits a game folder on your storage, and a clean folder layout prevents real problems, not just mess. Extracted games dumped loosely into Downloads are how files get mixed between games and saves go missing.

A layout that works well:

• JoiPlay Games (one root folder for everything)
• RPG Maker (XP, VX, VX Ace, MV and MZ games, one subfolder per game)
• RenPy (visual novels, one subfolder per game)
• HTML5 (browser style games, one subfolder per game)
• Packages (your .jgp installers and original ZIP files, kept as backups)

Keep every game in its own named folder and never extract two games into the same directory. Our guide on How to Download Games for JoiPlay uses the same structure, so downloads and library stay in step.

One more small habit pays off surprisingly often: keep a plain text note inside the root folder listing anything unusual about your setup. Which build of a fan game a save belongs to, which Runtime Package a title asked for, where a game’s .jgp installer or original archive is stored. Memory is unreliable across months, and the note takes seconds to update when you add a game. When something breaks later, that little file answers questions you would otherwise be guessing at, and it makes moving to a new phone a copying exercise instead of an archaeology project.

Pin Home Screen Shortcuts for Favorites

Your two or three most played games deserve a shortcut on the phone’s home screen, so they open without the library detour. On many builds, the long press menu for a library entry includes a shortcut option, labelled something like Create Shortcut or Add to Home Screen. The exact label depends on your JoiPlay build and your phone’s launcher.

1. Long press the game in your library.
2. Look for the shortcut option in the menu that appears.
3. Confirm, then drag the new icon where you want it on the home screen.

If your build does not offer the option, the entry edit screen is the other place to check. And if it is missing entirely, it is a build difference rather than something you did wrong. The game still launches normally from the library.

Keeping Multiple Builds of the Same Game

Fan games update often, and plenty of players keep two builds side by side: the stable one holding their main save, and the shiny new release they are testing. The library handles this fine if you name entries like an adult:

• Name the entries after the version, not your feelings: Pokemon Rejuvenation (current) and Pokemon Rejuvenation (old build) beat “new” and “new final really final”
• Give each build its own game folder on the storage side, always. Two builds sharing one folder will overwrite each other’s files and saves
• Use a different icon for the test build, even a plain screenshot, so a half asleep tap cannot launch the wrong one
• When the new build proves itself and your save is moved or confirmed working, remove the old build’s entry, and only delete its folder when you are sure the saves are settled

This is also where the version field earns its keep. A short note like the exact build number saves you from guessing which entry is which three months later.

Removing an Entry Is Not Deleting the Game

This is the difference that matters most, and the one that causes needless panic:

So tidying the library is safe: remove duplicate or abandoned entries freely, because the games themselves survive and can be added again in seconds. Deleting folders is the destructive action, and it should only happen when you truly mean to remove a game for good. When in doubt, remove the entry first and delete the folder a week later, once you are sure nothing is missed.

Set Up Each Game Once, While You Are Here

An organizing pass is the perfect moment to finish each game’s one time setup, so every future launch is clean:

• Controls: per-game control choices and physical pad mapping live in the game settings; our JoiPlay Controller Setup Guide walks through pairing and mapping
• Tile or map glitches: the long press menu’s Optimize maps option fixes games whose tiles render scrambled, so run it once on any game that looks wrong
• Runtime needs: if a game asked for a Runtime Package on first launch, note it in the entry’s version field, so you remember why an old build misbehaves later

Finding Your Next Game

A tidy library also shows you the gaps. When your shelves are organized, it is obvious which engine you have nothing for, or which series you meant to continue. Browse our picks of New Games to Play on JoiPlay when you are ready to add something fresh, and add it the tidy way from day one: right folder, right name, right icon.

What a Tidy Library Actually Looks Like

It helps to picture the end state. A well kept library reads like a shelf of game boxes: every entry shows the game’s real name in the same style, a recognizable piece of artwork, and nothing else competing for your eye. You can find any title in one short scroll, you can tell two builds of the same game apart instantly, and the few games on your home screen are the ones in your current rotation.

Underneath, the storage side mirrors it: one root folder, a subfolder per game type, one folder per game, plus a backups corner holding your original archives. Nothing lives loose in Downloads any more, because Downloads is where organization goes to die. None of this takes upkeep once it is set up. Each new game simply arrives into the system: right folder, real name, proper icon, done in the same minute you add it.

Conclusion

To organize joiplay library entries well, you only need four habits: real names on every entry, a custom icon you can spot at a glance, one storage folder per game grouped by type, and shortcuts for the favorites.

Remember the safety rule that makes tidying stress free: removing a library entry never deletes the game or its saves, because those live in the game folder. Clean the list as boldly as you like, and save your caution for deleting folders. Ten minutes spent organizing once will quietly save you a few seconds and a little irritation on every single launch after it, which adds up faster than you would expect across a year of play.

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