Final documentation: GamingEnvironment (Platforms)
Introduction
Please see the extensive blog post written for this issue.
UML overview
Property details
GamingEnvironment
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | transliterated string (regional) | The GE's original release title per region. |
FirstReleaseYear | year | The year of the first release of this GE. |
| OriginalRegion | id | id of the region that the GE has its origin in (PlayStation = Japan) |
| Description | text | Here goes whatever is to say about the GE's history, impact, number of games released, etc.. |
| HardwarePlatform | id | id of the hardware platform assigned to the GE |
| SoftwarePlatform | id | id of the software platform assigned to the GE |
GamingEnvironmentToGamingEnvironment (General GE Compatibility Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | string | User shall pick a meaningful title for this compatibility, exemplary "Black/White mode of Game Boy Color games". |
| Type | Data List 12 | see below |
| Description | text | Let the user describe the compatibility option in more detail. Which other GE runs the games of the reference GE, and how? Is it a general compatibility, or is it game-specific? If it's game-specific, ~ how many games are known to support this? |
| Reference GE | id | id of the GamingEnvironment for which the compatible games were released (Game Boy Color in the example above). |
| Other GE | id | id of the GamingEnvironment which the above mentioned games are compatible to (Game Boy in the example above). |
| Different Experience | boolean | This boolean shall be set when the compatible games play differently on the "Other GE" above. This would be true in the above example, as the compatible games can be played in color using the "Reference GE" (Game Boy Color), and in Black/White using the "Other GE" (Game Boy). |
GamingEnvironmentGroup
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | transliterated string (regional) | The GE group's title per region. |
| Description | text | If there's something to say about the GE group, put it here. |
| Showcase GE Group | boolean | For the casual user's experience, and better overview, it is planned to replace the normal GE level data views by GEG level ones. Exemplary, if we'd have 10 Linux GE's in the database (for 10 different hardware platforms), we would combine them into a GEG called "Linux", and show people this instead. So, this boolean shall be set when the respective GE group shall be part of the casual user's "platform list". All the GE's not represented by a showcase GEG shall be added to a technical GEG "Other platforms" or something like this. |
HardwarePlatform
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | transliterated string (regional) | The HW platform's original release title per region. |
| FirstReleaseYear | year | The year of the first release of this HW platform. |
| OriginalRegion | id | id of the region that the HW platform has its origin in (PlayStation Console = Japan) |
| Description | text | Whatever's to say about this hardware platform shall be put here. |
| Type | Data List 7 | see below |
SoftwarePlatform
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | transliterated string (regional) | The SW platform's original release title per region. |
| FirstReleaseYear | year | The year of the first release of this SW platform. |
| OriginalRegion | id | id of the region that the SW platform has its origin in (Windows OS = USA) |
| Description | text | Whatever's to say about this software platform shall be put here. |
| Type | Data List 26 | see below |
HardwareSubPlatform
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | transliterated string (regional) | The HW subplatform's original release title per region. |
| Description | text | Whatever's to say about this hardware sub-platform shall be put here. |
| Type | Data List 21 | see below |
SoftwareSubPlatform
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | transliterated string (regional) | The SW subplatform's original release title per region. |
| Description | text | Whatever's to say about this software sub-platform shall be put here. |
| Type | Data List 30 | see below |
HardwareSubPlatformToSoftwareSubPlatform (OS Platform Support Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Support Type | Data List 31 | see below |
| Support Description | text | In this field, the user can exemplary describe why the official OS support of a hardware sub-platform was broken, or how to get the unofficial support working. |
ReleaseGroupToSoftwareSubPlatform (Software Compatibility Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Official Support | boolean | This bool shall be checked when the release officially supports the sub-platform. Example: a Windows release states on the box that the game can be run under WinXP and Win7. |
| Special Config | boolean | If a special configuration of the software sub-platform is needed for a game to run there, this boolean shall be checked. |
| SubPlatform Support Type | Data List 13 | see below |
| SubPlatform Support Description | text | In this field, the user can exemplary describe how to run the game under a given sub-platform, how far a game can be played there, or whether the game runs in normal quality or not. |
| SoftwareSubPlatform | id | id of the software sub-platform for which compatibility information shall be entered |
| ReleaseGroup | id | id of the game release group for which compatibility information shall be entered |
ReleaseGroupToHardwareSubPlatform (Hardware Model Compatibility Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Official Support | boolean | This bool shall be checked when the release officially supports the sub-platform. Example: a PlayStation game release should support every officially licensed model of that console. |
| Special Config | boolean | If a special configuration of the hardware sub-platform is needed for a game to run there, this boolean shall be checked. |
| SubPlatform Support Type | Data List 13 | see below |
| SubPlatform Support Description | text | In this field, the user can exemplary describe how to run the game under a given sub-platform, how far a game can be played there, or whether the game runs in normal quality or not. |
| HardwareSubPlatform | id | id of the software sub-platform for which compatibility information shall be entered |
| ReleaseGroup | id | id of the game release group for which compatibility information shall be entered |
ReleaseGroup_To_GamingEnvironmentToGamingEnvironment (Game-Specific GE Compatibility Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Compatibility | id | id of the GE compatibility entry (from the table "GamingEnvironmentToGamingEnvironment") that the game supports |
| ReleaseGroup | id | id of the game release group (that has the Reference GE from the ""GamingEnvironmentToGamingEnvironment"" entry as attribute) that supports the above mentioned compatibility |
HardwarePlatformToHardwareSubPlatform (Connection 33)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| HardwareSubPlatform | id | id of the hardware sub-platform which shall be connected |
| HardwarePlatform | id | id of the hardware platform which shall be connected |
SoftwarePlatformToSoftwareSubPlatform (Connection 18)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| SoftwareSubPlatform | id | id of the software sub-platform which shall be connected |
| SoftwarePlatform | id | id of the software platform which shall be connected |
GamingEnvironmentGroupToGamingEnvironment (Connection 29)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| GE Group | id | id of the gaming environment group which shall be connected |
| GE | id | id of the gaming environment which shall be connected |
HardwareSubPlatformToRegion (Regional Hardware Model Release Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Release Date | date | The date when the hardware model was rleeased in the specified region. |
| Release Description | text | In this field, the user can exemplary describe under which circumstances the hardware release took place, how many units were sold at which price, etc. |
| HardwareSubPlatform | id | id of the hardware sub-platform that saw a regional release |
| Region | id | id of the region in which the hardware model was released |
SoftwareSubPlatformToRegion (Regional Software Version Release Connection)
| attribute | type | description |
|---|---|---|
| Release Date | date | The date when the software version was rleeased in the specified region. |
| Release Description | text | In this field, the user can exemplary describe under which circumstances the software release took place, how many units were sold at which price, etc. |
| SoftwareSubPlatform | id | id of the software sub-platform that saw a regional release |
| Region | id | id of the region in which the software version was released |
Involved data / tag lists
Data List 7: Hardware Platform Types:
This is meant as a general classification of all the hardware platforms, just to bring some regime to it.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Home computers of European / North American origin | C64, Amiga, Atari, Spectrum, IBM-compatible PC | |
| 2 | Home computers of Asian origin | PC88, PC98 | |
| 3 | Consoles with European / North American release | NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Xbox | |
| 4 | Consoles without European / North American release | Zeebo | |
| 5 | Handhelds with European / North American release | Gameboy, Lynx, PlayStation Portable | |
| 6 | Handhelds without European / North American release | WonderSwan | |
| 7 | Mobile hardware (cell phones / tablets) | iPhone, iPad, Blackberry | |
| 8 | Umbrella term hardware | This is for entries like "No hardware required". |
Data List 12: GamingEnvironment Compatibility Types
This lists the different cases of compatibility that two gaming environments can have.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full Compatibility downwards | This is the usual case: the other GE is younger than the reference GE, and will run all games released for the older GE. Example: The Game Boy Color will run all games released for his predecessor Game Boy. | |
| 2 | Full Compatibility upwards | A very unusual case: the other GE is older than the reference GE, but will run all games released for the newer GE, nonetheless. Example: None that I know. | |
| 3 | Specific Compatibility downwards | The other GE is younger than the reference GE, and offers specific support for some games released for the older GE. This case can occur beside case 1, when the gaming experience is different than case1. Example: Beside their overall compatibility, the Game Boy Color offers a color mode for certain Game Boy titles. | |
| 4 | Specific Compatibility upwards | The other GE is older than the reference GE, but offers specific support for some games released for the newer GE. This case can occur beside case 2, when the gaming experience is different than case 2. Example: some Game Boy Color games offer a Black/White mode for use at the older Game Boy. |
Data List 13: Sub-platform Support Types
This lists how much a game release supports a certain sub-platform, like a Windows release supporting Windows XP.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full support | The game can be played without any problem. | |
| 2 | Finishable | The game can be played through to the end, or as long as the player wishes to do so, but there's some problems / glitches involved | |
| 3 | Playable | The game can be played, but due to problems can not be finished, or played as long as the player wants to. | |
| 4 | Tastable | The game can be played, but not for long. | |
| 5 | Runnable | The game can be started, but gameplay is not possible. | |
| 6 | Unloadable | The game won't even start. |
Data List 21: Hardware Sub-platform Types:
The sub-platforms are a flexible way to add aspects like emulators, Arcade boards, or other hardware-related issues to the data model. This data list specifies the cases of sub-platforms we could be dealing with.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcade board | The Arcade hardware landscape is made of many, many different boards, each running one or more games inside a cabinet. Please see this list for further information. In order to not pollute our hardware platforms too much with all these board information, we should push those one level down into the sub-platforms, hence the entry here. The relationship to the games released for these boards can later be mapped using the compatibility facility. | |
| 2 | Hardware model | Not every machine of one hardware platform is the same. For instance, the console manufacturers used to release different generations of one console, with slight modifications, or let third party companies release clones under different names to increase game sales. See here for the Sega genesis example. This entry is to document these (official) different models, and document game incompatibilities that inevitably arose with them. | |
| 3 | Inofficial clone | This is like case 3, but regards to the illegal / inofficial re-builds of popular hardware platforms. Please read on here for further information. These clones could gain quite some popularity, especially within countries where the original hardware wasn't available, like in the Eastern Bloc. | |
| 4 | Hardware with Emulator | This entry represents all published special hardware devices that make games, that were previously available on the original hardware (console or computer) playable on a specific new game hardware using an internal emulator. |
Data List 26: Software Platform Types:
This is meant as a general classification of all the software platforms, just to bring some regime to it.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Desktop operating systems | MS-DOS, MS Windows, Linux, MacOS | |
| 2 | Mobile operating systems | iOS, Android, Palm OS | |
| 3 | Non-OS software environments | Browser, Z-Code, Flash | |
| 4 | Umbrella term software | This is for entries like "Built-in OS" or "No OS required". |
Data List 30: Software Sub-platform Types:
The sub-platforms are a flexible way to add aspects like emulators, Arcade boards, or other hardware-related issues to the data model. This data list specifies the cases of sub-platforms we could be dealing with.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Operating system variant | The different versions of operating systems (like Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP, etc.) are entered as sub-platforms into the database. Later on, the main use case for this is documenting the compatibility of game releases with the different OS variants. | |
| 2 | Emulator version | Emulation is a very important aspect of video game preservation, so within Oregami, it shall one day be possible to document emulation software and its versions as well as its compatibility to the games released for the emulated platform. | |
| 3 | Browser engine version | What the operating system is to "normal" games, the browser is to online games. |
Data List 31: Hardware Sub-platform Support Types:
The connection between hardware and software sub-platforms is a flexible way to add, for instance, hardware support of multi-platform OS's to the database. This data list is to collect the types of hardware support that an OS may offer, or not.
| id | key | text | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Official support, working | The OS variant officially supports the hardware sub-platform and, surprisingly, it works. | |
| 2 | Official support, broken | The OS variant officially supports the hardware sub-platform, but the support is somehow broken. In this case, the user shall use the description field to explain the situation. | |
| 3 | Unofficial support | The OS variant doesn't officially support the hardware sub-platform, but a patched version / unofficial build from an external source is available that adds the support. | |
| 4 | Not supported | The OS variant doesn't officially support the hardware sub-platform, and no patched version / unofficial build from an external source is available for it. |