Introduction
This is the page finally documenting the data model for game releases, i. e. everything that publishers throw at us.
UML overview
Property details
Game
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Type | Data List 5 | see below |
| Release Year | date | It's quite hard to browse the database of MobyGames by release year, because every game is showing up there which has a release in this year in the database. So I think we'll need an easy way to store the original release year of every game in Oregami's database, i. e. the year of the first release of any version of this game. We can later give the users the option to view their game lists by this year of original release, or by other release data like the original release year of a release group, or even every single release like Mobygames does. |
| Description | text | A short and sweet description of what this game is about. |
| Long Description | text | A long and comprehensive description of what this game is about. |
Release Group
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | text | |
| Reason | Data List 1 | see below |
| Description | text | |
Involved data lists:
Data List 1: Release Group Reason
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Original release | Every (planned) release of a game for a new platform requires a new RG. The standard case here is the first-time release of the game's full version for a new platform. RG's for unreleased games, i. e. games in development, cancelled games, or Vaporware, also get the reason "Original release", because development always aims for the original release of a full version. The information about the release state are stored elsewhere. | |
| 2 | Demo / Promo release | Release of a limited version of a game for promotional purposes. If a demo or promo version was released on a platform before the full version, a RG with the reason "Demo / Promo release" shall be chosen. This is even true if a platform saw a demo release only, like it is the case for many browser demos of Windows games or some cancelled games, because we want to clearly separate the demo versions from the full versions. | |
| 3 | Enhanced re-release | Enhanced release of a game that has already seen a Case 1. | |
| 4 | Remake | Release of a game' remake where the gameplay stays basically unchanged, but graphics / sound / UI have been adopted to modern hardware. Note: the remake shall be marketed as such. | |
| 5 | Heavily censored release | This is for game releases that have been so severely censored that they should not be grouped together with the uncensored releases any more. |
Data List 5: Game Entry Type
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Game | This is the standard case. It is used for new games that don't fall under the other types of this list, or when a new release of a previously released game fulfills the different game criteria developed here. | |
| 2 | Compilation | This is the switch for game bundles. It shall only be used if two or more games are bundled together, or one game and at least one of its significant add-ons. This rule is to exclude minor compilations like included demos, or minor DLCs coming with the release. Furthermore, the compilation shall be marketed as just that, a bundle of games, and usually comes with its own title. This rule is to exclude re-releases of games with playable goodies included. The aforementioned "technical" compilations are dealt with elsewhere in the data model, at game release level. | |
| 3 | Add-on (significant) | This is the switch for full-price add-ons. It shall only be used when the release can't be played without the base game, and when it meets Oregami's significance criteria. Basically, significant add-ons will later be handled just like a normal game, i. e. will show up in default searches and game lists. | |
| 4 | Add-on (insignificant) | Releases which can't be played without a base game and do not meet the significance criteria are flagged here. These releases will be more hidden than the significant add-ons, i. e. the user will have to opt-in to see this stuff in searches and data lists. | |
| 5 | Episodic Game | This is for umbrella entries for games that are released in episodes. Examples would be Tales of Monkey Island, or Siege of Avalon. The "mother game" gets an entry at game level with the game type set to "Episodic game", all episodes get their own entry of type "Episode". Then they're connected using the usual add-on mechanisms, enabling us to either show the whole mother game, or every episode itself to the user. This way, we can even add releases of the whole episodic game to the "mother game" entry. | |
| 6 | Episode | see above |
Open issues
References