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Steam
Steam is a software for digital game destribution. It is developed by Valve. Steam uses its compatibility layer, Proton for running windows games on linux based operating systems.
Usage
Adding non-Steam Games
Games that are not in the Steam store can be added to the Steam application.
This is done by opening (the desktop mode) of Steam and selecting
Add a Non-Steam Game to My Library under the Games tab in the top left
corner.
A dialog window will open to select the software to add to Steam.
Check the box or boxes of the software to add to Steam and tap
Add Selected Programs.
For games such as launchers a Launch Option can be set most of the time to
skip the launcher and go directly into the specified game.
This option usually mirrors the command that would be used in the command line
of a system to go directly into the game.
Often this is done by simply appending the path of the specified game to the
command but this can also differ depending on the launcher.
Websites can be added by setting xdg-open "<url/ip>" as the Launch Option.
This will open the website with the Steam browser.
Setting Icons and Banners for Games
Images for games can be changed by downloading them and applying them manually. An easier route can be taken by using SGDBoop. To use it, you first need to install it. It is available in the flatpak package manager. After that navigate to the SteamGridDB website and log in with your Steam account. Follow the remaining steps as described on the website. Following this different images, banners and icons can be found on the website. When hovering over an asset a little blue button will appear. On the press of the button a game can be chosen that will use the asset in the Steam application. Make sure the game is a Steam game or added to Steam as a non-Steam game. After the installation of the game, the system may need to restart to correctly work with SGDBoop for the game.
Steam Cloud
The Steam Cloud allows games and the platform to utilize cloud storage hosted by Steam. Games can use this to store data including game settings and saves.
Synchronize games saves without non-Steam-Cloud
By using Syncthing game saves can be synchronized without the Steam Cloud. First set up Syncthing as described in the Syncthing entry. If the Steam Deck or another system with only user access is used the user space configuration is recommended. Afterwards move the game saves to the directory set up by Syncthing and create symbolic links to link them back to the original place.