hi, i have a couple feature requests I would like to see added. The context for these requests is the meatboy leaderboards https://www.speedrun.com/smb
first up: we would like to be able to reorder the submission platform list or change the default. The current default platform for meatboy, the wii u, happens to be one of the least popular consoles for submissions, and people forget to change it surprisingly often. it'd be nice to cut down that rate.
second up: adding custom platforms. We would like to be able to represent a patch version this way.
I suppose that requires explanation, since the typical way to show patch versions is to just make a patch variable (or ignore it & let ppl eat any timeloss). Well, the game is not being actively patched. For the vast majority of platforms the game is on, the latest version is effectively the only version.
pc version did get a substantial patch not too long ago. We now have v1.2.5, which is ~10-15 seconds slower in any%. Most people downpatch, but the old patch doesn't run properly on some computers (fixing this was a primary reason for new patch, actually). So a few ppl, mostly either new players or ppl with tech issues, run v1.2.5 anyways. Ideally we would like this represented on the leaderboards.
We would prefer not to create a 'patch' variable. For the vast majority of platforms, there is only one patch. In that sense, a patch variable would be visual clutter at best, and actively confusing to some new players at worst. Instead, since we are forced to show the platform variable anyways (? correct me if I'm wrong), it'd be easiest and cleanest from our perspective to just stick a "PC (v1.2.5)" in the platform list and be done with it.
so yeah, it'd be sweet if these could happen. thanks for listening.
I think these are both good ideas. Put your suggestions in this thread as well so it’s more likely to be seen:
Plattforms are used as a search variable over the whole site, i dont know how good a ton of custom variables are for that. Honestly the option to disable showing the plattform on the leaderboard and then adding a variable with plattform/patch would do it just as well. Disabeling all plattforms currently gives a similar result to that with the downside that on the site the platform cant be searched for.
Disabling showing the platform & replacing it with a new variable would work in context of viewing the LBs, but then you'd have two subtly different 'platform' variables when you go to submit a run.. problem is not entirely eliminated, unfortunately.
Can you tell me more about what searches a custom platform entry would break? At least in this particular case, searching by game would be unaffected (meatboy would still show up as a PC game), and the only thing I can think of that it would break would be, on a run page, clicking the "PC" part of "Played on PC on Aug 18 2020" -- which, let's be real, I couldn't really tell you why that's a link to begin with.
I think @survivalmichi is suggesting to remove the platform option entirely and replace it with a variable, not to have both.