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	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	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	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	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. Examples: NES Mini, SNES Mini, C64 Mini.

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	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	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	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.

Open issues

References

Forum thread