How can we contribute to the Launchbox Games Database? Beta & Moderator Signups!

[releasethedogs]

Yeah that's why you check the boxes for both action AND adventure. lol.

[CADScott]

im4potato said Hi Jason, nice to get a reply straight from the top. Those rules seem like they would be very effective, but like you said would require a good group of mods to maintain. I do want to elaborate on what I was talking about regarding submission guidelines though, because I think they could be just as important as having a good mod team. In my opinion, there were quite a few issues with the consistency of the content submitted to thegamesdb, such as: 1. Lots of duplicate or hacked titles cluttering up the database. 2. A very broad range of quality for the box art. I realize that it's not always possible to get a totally clean scan, but the quality of some of the images was just terrible. 3. No set resolutions for box art. Having consistently sized images is the first step towards having a decent set of box art. The size could be chosen based on the physical dimensions of the systems original box and some PPI value. 4. This is probably my biggest issue with the other databases. The game descriptions need to come directly from the maker of the game, and in the case of boxed titles, it should be the text directly from the back of the box. There are so many games listed in other databases that have descriptions that sound like someone casually talking about it to a friend, instead of the colorful, entertaining language that's usually on the back of a box. That's most of what I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure you've already thought about some of these problems. At the end of the day, I'd really just like to see a database that had a higher focus on quality. PS. LaunchBox on Linux would sure be nice!

I must say that I agree completely with all the points above from @im4potato, but we also need to be careful that it does not become too difficult to submit data, or else people will not submit at all. I especially agree with the issues with box art quality and resolution. For me it is very important that the box art the correct aspect ration, which is the original aspect of the released media cover. There are so many cover sites where the artwork is stretched or cropped strangely, and it would be fantastic if the desired ratio per system is set in the submission guidelines. This cannot be a mandatory rule though, because every system has some strange releases that came in odd shaped boxes that don't fit the norm. I think we also need to be careful not to confuse resolution with quality. I have seen many high res covers that look awful, and many lower res that look much better because they have been cleaned and formatted correctly. Jason, would it maybe be possible to have multiple versions of the covers available for download, and by default select the most popular. This would allow for alternative covers for different regions and maybe even custom covers. Sites like The Movie DB do this for movie art and it works great.

[Jason Carr]

CADScott, yes, I do think we should allow multiple options for the various images. Duplication is a hard problem to solve for that, but I think we can get around that with moderation.

[Shades2585]

I'm sure you've noticed this but all the titles starting with "The" are in the alphabetical order of "T". Instead of page numbers up top maybe you could use the alphabet instead? Additional categories like "Series", "Related", "Related Other Platforms" Would be useful as well.

[whoozwah]

I would like to contribute as well.

[gazdaman]

Firstly congratulations on a great piece of software, well done. I have been using Maximus Arcade for years but it takes a lot of time to configure initially and is far from perfect. I like the wizards included in Launchbox and lots of other features that have been implemented so far. I only discovered your software last week and immediately purchased a license. I would be delighted to have access to beta builds if possible and if I can contribute to testing i will.

[SentaiBrad]

Beta builds of the software is available to everyone, just check the Beta Updates box in the LB Settings under Update then restart LB. This beta is specifically different just in terms on the LaunchBox Games Database, but don't worry you'll be on the DB Beta list.

[DOS76]

Forget it I read it wrong the first time.

[Freestate]

My worries are under the policy we must have with the games without existent covers or really hard to find in good shape (download services, satellital, hacks, etc). There's many people that love custom covers when is hard to find a good cover or when they have a fantranslation that converts their japanese game on a unnoficial western release. My point is adding a label to custom covers next to the regional ones, like JP, US, EUR, CUSTOM to have everyone happy. In my case i made some custom covers to satellaview, nintendo power snes titles to avoid the lack of real covers of this titles and understand some people prefer unified custom cover of systems like neogeo, etc. My suggestion is here, what do you think?

[SentaiBrad]

Freestate said My worries are under the policy we must have with the games without existent covers or really hard to find in good shape (download services, satellital, hacks, etc). There's many people that love custom covers when is hard to find a good cover or when they have a fantranslation that converts their japanese game on a unnoficial western release. My point is adding a label to custom covers next to the regional ones, like JP, US, EUR, CUSTOM to have everyone happy. In my case i made some custom covers to satellaview, nintendo power snes titles to avoid the lack of real covers of this titles and understand some people prefer unified custom cover of systems like neogeo, etc. My suggestion is here, what do you think?

Well yea, we're flying by the seat of your pants right now, so it's all new. We certainly have thoughts and ways to expand the Database from what TheGamesDB or other sites offer. Having a custom section is a really good idea and can be the fall back for games who otherwise don't have front cover art.

[Drybonz]

I've been working on re-making the snapshot art for the older MAME games that have black and white "official" art with better pics with the full bezels and overlays, etc... Is that something that I could upload? Also, would there be any interest in this? I'll attach an example.

[Mendelson]

Sign me up for submissions!

[FistyDollars]

Drybonz said I've been working on re-making the snapshot art for the older MAME games that have black and white "official" art with better pics with the full bezels and overlays, etc... Is that something that I could upload? Also, would there be any interest in this? I'll attach an example.

So this brings up an issue that's been bugging me for a while with MAME integration into LaunchBox, and now especially with the Launchbox Games Database. What exactly should we be using as "box" art for Arcade games? Because cabinets aren't ideal given that there's a huge variety of them, and flyers can vary wildly and might not even have the name of the game visible enough to distinguish it when shrunken down. I'm looking over the database right now, and it's (kind of) a mess. Should we decide to only use title screens? Or could we have an option for the users to decide what type of artwork they want to have constitute "box" art. For that matter (and maybe this is getting off topic) could there be an option in general for people who want title screens as box art on other consoles? I know this may seem nit-picky, but it's honestly why, after trying to add my arcade games to LaunchBox, I removed them. There's no semblance of order. And yes, I realize this was due entirely to the metadata being imported from the necessary evil that was TheGamesDB. I'm just thinking that if we're starting fresh over here, we could try to nip this in the bud.

[DOS76]

I personally like to put clear logos when available in my front folder I have my Sega Model 2 emulator using all clear logos and they look really sharp. I agree with the option especially for Arcade games to be able to choose which folder to be displayed in place of front. To be honest though for my clear logos that I used I went into my LaunchBox folder D:\Emulators\LaunchBox\Images\Sega\Sega Model 2\Clear Logos and copied all of the files out of it and pasted them in the front folder then I deleted all of the flyers and ran the download metadata and images wizard in LB it was really easy when it comes down to it.

[CADScott]

I would love to see the option to select different images as the displayed image in LaunchBox / BigBox, and without having to move the wrong images into the front folder. My hope is that eventually we have the per platform option to select from a list of all available images to display as the front image. Ideally this would be a drop down with all types of images, and with separate settings for LaunchBox and BigBox. This would allow us to have flyers showing for mame in LaunchBox, but have screenshots or titles for BigBox. But the setting needs to be per platform, because I would hate to have this setting common across all platforms.

[Lordmonkus]

On my main gaming rig setup I use the clear logos but on my tv setup I use the posters, im not sure which I prefer.

[Drybonz]

I use title screens.

[Jason Carr]

The official default going forward for arcade "front box art" will be arcade posters/fliers like this: https://www.google.com/search?espv=2&biw=1920&bih=1075&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=arcade+posters&oq=arcade+posters&gs_l=img.3...0.0.0.18495.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.img..0.0.0.xIkdntsfbu0 Reason being that they resemble box art and typically do a great job of both showing off the game and the cabinet. However, I agree that ultimately we want to provide an option for that in LaunchBox, so you can use whatever you want.

[Jason Carr]

I've just released the initial changes/moderation system for the site. As-is right now, anyone can submit changes to game metadata. To make changes, just go to a game's details and click the little pencil icon that shows up as you hover over the fields. Changes are currently available for all game metadata, but not for images, developers, publishers, etc. It's also not yet possible to add new games or delete games. It's all coming soon. :) Moderation is currently restricted to only a subset of people. For these beta testing stages, we'll open it up in order of request on this thread. I'll post another update here soon with the initial set of people that I've opened up for moderation. The way moderation works is that every single change requires 3 different moderators to approve it before it gets accepted. I'm confident that this will help to ensure the quality of the database. This also means that we will need lots of quality help moderating. ;) We do still need to write detailed rules/guidelines for the data. Let me know if anyone wants to tackle that. Thanks!

[Jason Carr]

Alright, I've opened up moderation for the following people: @donarumo, @SentaiBrad, @CADScott, @FistyDollars, @DOS76, @CliveBarker, @Freestate, @DonkeyKongsVet, @DudeManL57, @Hexxxer @CriticalCid, @XxvondutchxX, @wkLeon, I tried to open it up for you guys but I couldn't find your accounts. Go ahead and register and give me your gamer tags and I'll get you access. To moderate, sign in and then click the "My Account" link at the top of the site. Then you should see a "Moderation" link if you have access.