Question about contributing to the database

[Clutz450]

While going through and reorganizing my NES collection in LaunchBox, I discovered that I had 24 entries for The Simpsons: Bart Vs the Space Mutants with a lot of them having the Aftermarket tag on them.  I discovered that while some of these entries were the Bart Vs the Space Mutants game, most of them were for some game called Space Mutants which is a homebrew game found here (https://t-bone1.itch.io/space-mutants).  This game does not appear in the LaunchBox Games Database so I am assuming that when I imported these games, LaunchBox did a partial match based on the filename and assumed these games were Bart Vs the Space Mutants which is incorrect.  This is just one example but there are more like it.  

I've never updated the LaunchBox Games Database before and was wondering 1) if I should add this game (and games like it) to the database; and 2) is there a guide or standard that I should be following if I do submit it to makes sure I am in compliance with how these entries should be made?  Thank you.

[C-Beats]

16 minutes ago, Clutz450 said:

1) if I should add this game (and games like it) to the database; and 2) is there a guide or standard that I should be following if I do submit it to makes sure I am in compliance with how these entries should be made?

1) Upto you, we do allow Hack releases in the DB
2) The submission page (on the DB website) has guidelines on it regarding how to fill out the form. If you have further questions you can ask on the forums like you are now.

[Clutz450]

Thank you for your reply.  I've been taking notes on the items I've found so far.  I didn't want to immediately start submitting things until I did more research making sure I was submitting quality edits.  I did come across one entry that I wasn't sure how to handle.  While searching the forums, I did come across this post from 2016 regarding some guidelines for submissions (

).  Is this still accurate?  If so, it appears that you only want one entry per game.  Meaning you don't want 3 separate entries for the same game released in 3 different regions (USA, Europe, and Japan). 

 

If that is the case, then how should I handle this entry for Afterburner (https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/details/389852-after-burner-sunsoft)  It was released in both the US and Japan.  However, it was an official release in Japan by Sunsoft, but an unlicensed release by Tengen in the US (as long as the information I read here is correct https://tcrf.net/After_Burner_(NES)).  If this game can only have 1 entry, then there is no way for me to choose the release type as both Released and Unlicensed.  As far as Publisher goes, I see that I can add an additional publisher, but I do not know if that would be the correct thing to do.  Unless I create an additional entry and put the Tegen publisher in parenthesis like how they did for Sunsoft.

 

Lastly, if that guidelines post I listed above is still accurate, would it be more appropriate to continue bringing up questions like this over there, or should I create a new post per game?  Thank you.

[kurzih]

42 minutes ago, Clutz450 said:

 

 

If that is the case, then how should I handle this entry for Afterburner (https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/details/389852-after-burner-sunsoft)  It was released in both the US and Japan.  However, it was an official release in Japan by Sunsoft, but an unlicensed release by Tengen in the US (as long as the information I read here is correct https://tcrf.net/After_Burner_(NES)).  If this game can only have 1 entry, then there is no way for me to choose the release type as both Released and Unlicensed.  As far as Publisher goes, I see that I can add an additional publisher, but I do not know if that would be the correct thing to do.  Unless I create an additional entry and put the Tegen publisher in parenthesis like how they did for Sunsoft.

If you read the overview it says: " The Famicom version by Sunsoft is considered superior to the US release by Tengen. Sunsoft cleaned up the game to remove the flicker, enhanced the music, and changed the color palette." Enough changes to merit a unique entry I'd say.

I think the idea of having 1 entry is to avoid creating "duplicate" entries of the game that is identical in all countries on the same platform - that's why we have region tags for images (unfortunately there are none for publishers). I think common sense and looking into details from multiple sources are your best guides with "grey areas" in the guidelines and the forum is a great place to find out about the general "unwritten rules" also.
 

And yes, the guidelines on the first page should still be accurate (except for the superscript breaking scraping - haven't had any technical issues with that, I would say that one is obsolete).

Edited May 15 by kurzih

[Clutz450]

Thank you for your reply.  I understand the reasoning behind not wanting to have duplicate entries, but I can also see the flaw in that as well.  One feature that I really wish they would add to the database are the file hashes and match our games and media against that and not against filenames.  I feel like this would also mitigate the issues of some games getting the wrong media all together which has happened to me recently.  They already do this for showing the RetroAchievement badges on the correct games and I think that works great.  Either way, I finally had some time last night and submitted several changes to the database.  Now I just need to wait to see if they get approved.  

One last question, is there a way to see a changelog for the various game entries like when a change was submitted and by who?  The changes I made had to do with homebrew and aftermarket games that I don't really know much about, and it would be nice to be able to reach out to the person who originally made the submissions and discuss with them the changes I found to see if we agree.  Thank you.

[viritys]

On 5/20/2024 at 10:54 PM, Clutz450 said:

One last question, is there a way to see a changelog for the various game entries like when a change was submitted and by who?  The changes I made had to do with homebrew and aftermarket games that I don't really know much about, and it would be nice to be able to reach out to the person who originally made the submissions and discuss with them the changes I found to see if we agree.  Thank you.

I get what you're saying but on the other end of that rainbow is Mobygames, which has stricter policies than professional press releases  I appreciate their approach but it wouldn't fly here as we need to be able to submit games with less information. For the most part, do your best, use common sense and trust that the moderation takes care of at least the worst screw ups or if they don't and someone is bothered down the line, they'll eventually override your entry.

Since we don't know who contributed the game entries, if want to talk about them, we should just open up a new thread for the game right here in contributions. You might even reach the original poster as I assume most submitters and moderators are reading this forum. I've had a good experiences, last time this March (that you can see couple of posts below this one, further emphasizing that we're not exactly drowning on conversations and could use some more :)