Database Developer/Publisher names

[greatflash]

That will all be updated to match over time.

[stigzler]

Ah, so the "verified" db/wip is in reserve somewhere awaiting the right time to publish online? Forgive my ignorance/stoopidity!

Secondly, one of the major reasons for doing the logos project was so that I could include images dynamically in Adultery's GameTagger plugin (aside from the obvious further benefits!). That plugin somehow gets the Dev/Publisher/system etc from GameEx - are these values being pulled by GameEx from the .db3 files in the GE data directory? If so, are these updated to include the new, verified Dev names?

I realize I'm asking quesitons about what is essentially a very technical/laborious behind-the-scenes process - but just seeking to understand

Thanks for the reply

[greatflash]

Pretty much

The databases that I am working on are not uploaded to GX or online for every minor addition. In fact, there perhaps won't be a major db update made public until a certain GX version.

Not sure about Adultry's Tagger? I would expect it to poll the databases in GX.

[stigzler]

Phew! Just re-read the post and thanks for bearing with me on that one, Flash! You have the patience of a monk on hold, and now the developer logos project is flying

So, in anticipation of devs finishing - how much work would it be to provide a similar list for Publishers?

[tthurman]

Phew! Just re-read the post and thanks for bearing with me on that one, Flash! You have the patience of a monk on hold, and now the developer logos project is flying

So, in anticipation of devs finishing - how much work would it be to provide a similar list for Publishers?

Wow, glutton for punishment! I guess you meant it when you said publihers next.

I wish I had paid attention to this thread earlier on after getting into the project, but regardless of that I just gave it a read.

FWIW, I'm still running into dupes, but mostly from the aspect that one develpoer was acquired by another larger one. In several cases they both had a logo at one of the source sites I've been frequenting. In this case I used the appropriate logo, such as in the case of Locomotive Games.

If you click the "more logos" link under the locomotive one, you'll see they Pacific Coast Power and Light, so in this case it worked out that both got their individual logo in stigzler's sheet. Note that they where dba as DT Productions at one time too. Whew, confusing enough?

Anyway, when possible it seems advantageous to track down the alternates too, as they most likely developed individual games whilst using one of the various names, or so it would seem probable they did.

It blows my mind how thoroughly detailed all this is! I really don't know how you keep up with it, but It's very cool that you do!

[greatflash]

Phew! Just re-read the post and thanks for bearing with me on that one, Flash! You have the patience of a monk on hold, and now the developer logos project is flying

So, in anticipation of devs finishing - how much work would it be to provide a similar list for Publishers?

I am happy to say that you don't need a list for publishers. The list I gave you contains both.

The reason for this is that the amount of crossover between publishers and developers is way too vast to be worthy of separation. Many many developers are also publishers, and the same happens in reverse as well. This is also beneficial for GX as it keeps everything coherent. Within DBM, there are still publisher and developer entries, and these are used individually in GX, but... internally, they are the same list of verified names. This is a must to make sure no errors are made (well, kept to the minimum at least). Having them combined means that a name in a publisher will not be recreated incorrectly in the developer field, and vice verse.

[greatflash]

FWIW, I'm still running into dupes, but mostly from the aspect that one develpoer was acquired by another larger one. In several cases they both had a logo at one of the source sites I've been frequenting. In this case I used the appropriate logo, such as in the case of Locomotive Games.

If you click the "more logos" link under the locomotive one, you'll see they Pacific Coast Power and Light, so in this case it worked out that both got their individual logo in stigzler's sheet. Note that they where dba as DT Productions at one time too. Whew, confusing enough?

Anyway, when possible it seems advantageous to track down the alternates too, as they most likely developed individual games whilst using one of the various names, or so it would seem probable they did.

Just wanted to mention something about the dupes in regards to dbm.

In dbm, duplicate companies can exist. Take for example, Rare and Ultimate Play the Game. These are the same company (along with Ashby) that has evolved over the course. But, they are internally linked. This means that within GX, if you look at a game from ultimate and click to see other games from them, it will also list games by Rare.

I have not bothered with a great deal of them, ie. EA Australia, Sony Europe Limited, etc. These minor variations are not worth repetition. So, we would just have Electronic Arts, and Sony Entertainment. Take 'Durrell Martech' (yes, I know it is not in the list), this would also link to both Durrell and Martech (they joined forces later on).

Anyway, if you spot and companies (dev or pub) that have prior names or post names that are vastly different and they are not in the list, please message me and I will add them and link them to the relevant company.

Hope that all makes sense?

[Draco1962]

@Flash - Thanks for throwing down and helping with Stigzler and tthurman from the database perspective as they continue to source images for what is turning out to be a fairly decent project!

[stigzler]

Cheers Flash. All makes sense and actually simplifies things for the logos project. Shall await the update list

[tthurman]

Got it!

[greatflash]

Really sorry about this, but here is an updated list...

DONT panic though, it is more about additions than corrections (apart from the one noted earlier) and should be easy to integrate.

I just thought it better to piecemeal the updates rather than do a massive one later.

DeveloperList.txt

[tthurman]

Curious, is there just a changelog of additions/subtractions?

The only reason I ask is because once stigzler intergates these into the work sheet they will sort blend into the fog of the hard to find devs that we have remaiing to hunt down. A lot of these "could be" easy picking if we knew up front without having to differentiate them from the obscure devs still remaining in the original list.

It's good to see the dev list maturing, I've noticed groups out there during sourcing stage that we didn't have listed.

[Draco1962]

Rather than merge it into the existing project, could it be staged as a separate project so as to not "muddy the waters" of what you've got going now? In the end, all images sourced will be going into the same virtual pot when all is said and done.

[tthurman]

Rather than merge it into the existing project, could it be staged as a separate project so as to not "muddy the waters" of what you've got going now? In the end, all images sourced will be going into the same virtual pot when all is said and done.

Yes that woud work just fine, and circumvent extra work that I'd rather avoid, given it doesn't create problems for anyone.

[stigzler]

Will have a look at this next week. Silly-busy week at work this week.

P.S. - Doing as a separate list may be difficult and messy - I just need to find a way to compare the two lists; extract the 'difference' between the two + then add these to the current. I'm sure there must be someway to do this....

[greatflash]

You could do a diff against the other list to see the changes. This should then show you what has changed and what is new. I am sure there is plenty of free software out there to facitate that.

Sorry, but dbm doesn't keep records of the changes and it would be rather a job to add that functionality.

[Draco1962]

Would it be possible to add a date column to the spreadsheet for the date of the data for the initial items and, on the list that Flash provided, the date he provided for each item in the new set? Then you could track the updates within one data set as new items are added.

[tthurman]

May be best to revisit this prior to stigzler intergrating the updates into the spreadsheet. Sounds like he won't be able to get to this right away anyhow, and it could very well be that I have completed the 2nd pass sweep by the time he does. If that's in fact the case, all of this becomes a moot point. Once the sources have been found, or not found and identified as such, sorting them in a fashion that highlights the changes doesn't present the problem it currently does.

In fact the best method for handling this without making a lot of extra work may be simply to complete any current source hunt before updating the spreadsheet data. This way we would always only be dealing with new content. Just a suggestion.

[stigzler]

Cheers Flash - shall pursue.

I like that idea Draco. Could keep an audit trail then of changes - also would hide the column as it's quite unwieldy as it is! Of course - could be shown for admin purposes.

Amazing, tthurman. I just can't keep up with your contribution rates!! Star.

[greatflash]

Don't worry for now. I will upload a revised one just showing the changes. Should be a lot easier.

[stigzler]

heh. Too late - I couldn't resist.

Have a new sheet on the spreadsheet that shows Removed devs and added ones. All automated so should work for future updates too.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dzg8F5aIfDva_hT6xE7RMddU-Jczo520tlgMFQYXJWk/edit#gid=376327459

Can't believe you removed Bubble Bus!!!! That was my favorite logo!!

On another note. I've noticed some devs have characters in that when converted to a filename produced illegal characters.

For Example:

Chaos89.com

Or anything with "/" in - "Lucasarts/LucasFilm" for e.g.

When saved as "Lucasarts/LucasFilm.png" - it 'breaks' the file's working (sorry, untechnical, I know) - basically illegal characters for filenames?

I'm wondering whether it is possible to do a different naming convention for these, due to the possibility for future applications to use dev names and link them to file/imagenames?

Thanks for the continued involvement, Flash. Will add new to spreadsheet in a bit....

[tthurman]

Good deal, I appreciate all the creative ideas, and subsequent solution on this.

Looks like a fair amount of edtiions, hopefully once we get to looking for them the majority are easy picking!

Oh yeah,

NG:DEV.TEAM

That was one for sure that gave me problems on the fiile name thing.

[greatflash]

Good point on the naming of devs/pubs.

What I will do is knock up a regex key that will replace any non valid filename characters with underscores within gx. The database needs to keep the correct names for presentation as text so a simple convertor will fix the issue.

In that case LucasFilm/LucasArts would become LucasFillm_LucasArts. This is the general rule of thumb in these instances.

Still find it strange that in this day and age and OS cannot give total access to Asc for filenames. Madness.

Hope this is a good solution that will also be transparent to the end user.

Also of note is that this is one of the benefits of database usage. Being able to have correct text names is essential. This is also visible a lot in the names of games when gx replaces them using the database.

Ps. Bubblebus is already back in the list, along with some others.

[Draco1962]

Good point on the naming of devs/pubs.

What I will do is knock up a regex key that will replace any non valid filename characters with underscores within gx. The database needs to keep the correct names for presentation as text so a simple convertor will fix the issue.

In that case LucasFilm/LucasArts would become LucasFillm_LucasArts. This is the general rule of thumb in these instances.

Wouldn't the reverse need to be done? To convert the filename LucasFillm_LucasArts.png to display LucasFillm/LucasArts within GameEx? This will also need to be incorporated into GameEx to convert the same. We already have a similar issue with regards to the Categories where the list cannot pickup any images with special chars reserved for the OS.

[greatflash]

No. It's exactly as I said. The database has devs in correct format so needs to replace invalid characters to find artwork of a matching name.