Leaderboard/Database structure
7 years ago
United States

While cleaning/updating the information for some games, I've had a few things come to mind:

Names -- I'm assuming this is set to use Extended ASCII? I've only seen Unicode be used for Japanese names. Also, should characters 0x7F to 0xA0 not be allowed? There hasn't been any games that have needed to use them, and those who are using them shouldn't be (most notably Mickey’s Speedway USA). I pick on those ones because sometimes they can be stored as Unicode instead.

Other Translations -- Not for the site (I'm sure that's a long term goal), but for games/series. I think having at least a PAL name entry would clear up some confusion. Some games try to compensate for this (like Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando/Locked & Loaded) so that they can still be searched. If a PAL entry is added, similar to how time is now handled, the website would default the name to the region. I'm not sure if it's worth adding anything deeper than NTSC/PAL/JPN names.

Abbreviations -- Should these be overhauled? Some series have the same abbreviation as one of their games (like Portal series and the first game) and some even being different games entirely (Ib and Infinity Blade, frustratingly). Not every game can be abbreviated so easily. What about games with same abbreviations (like Super Mario Bros. and Super Meat Boy)? Is it chosen by first come first serve or popularity?

Games with off-site leaderboards -- Not all of them are treated the same. Why are there entries for the Donkey Kong Country games while others like Super Metroid and most of the Halo series are missing? Are they supposed to be left blank to redirect users like with DKC, or gone entirely? It would also be good to have a list of which games are not on the site. I tried making something of a list a little while back.

Release Date -- Which release date should be used? The US release, the Japanese release, or whatever one was first? With months being added, it would be good to clarify this.

Milliseconds -- I know choosing between centi/deci/milliseconds is planned, but shouldn't the box for milliseconds always be available? Keeping track of specifics can help when there's ties, rather than needing to dig back to videos and re-record their times to break them.

Other Game Types -- As I've mentioned in the update's thread, there may be more game types that should be added to clean up the odd 'game' leaderboards we have.

Game relationships -- I've yet to go in deep on this. Some games have relationships with each other; some being alternate versions, platforms, regions, etc. Some games are completely different with the same title while others are virtually identical. Maybe some kind of tag similar to series can connect them; I need to research this more.

Following series -- I'm unsure whether or not this is a known problem. It's not possible to follow series boards to know when there's a new post.

Maybe I've mentioned too much in one post...

Edited by the author 7 years ago
Victoria, Australia
stoot
He/Him, They/Them
7 years ago

@ abbreviations: I recently suggested treating series like users, and adding /series/ or /s/ before the abbreviation on the url. As for how they were picked, it was first come, first serve.

@ off-site leaderboards: I'm pretty sure that kirkq checks with the off-site leaderboards before adding the games, so there aren't any people taking advantage of it.

@ following series: This is on the to-do list, I believe. Like following users.

Edited by the author 7 years ago